The Groom's Cake of Doom ;)

This is one of my ALL time favorite cakes.  This recipe is a twist and turn from my bff, Kim's black forest cake (THAT IS AWESOME!!!).  My other bff, Michelle, wanted the black forest cake with out the fruit and whipping cream for her birthday, so I devised this bad boy ;)  It turns out it makes a pretty tasty Groom's Cake too!

Here is the recipe for the original black forest cake :)  Keep on scrolling down for the Groom's Cake

Black Forest Cake     by Kim Robison
Cake-
Add in order
½ C shortening
2/3 C cocoa
2 C Sugar
1 C hot water
1 C buttermilk
2 C flour
2 t baking soda
½ t salt
1 t vanilla
2 lg eggs
Bake in 2- 8” round cake pans at 350 for 30-35 min.  Let cakes cool for 5 min and remove from pans.  Let cool 10 min and then wrap in plastic wrap.  Let cool then refrigerate or freeze.

Cherry Filling
2- 15oz Bing cherries (NOT pie filling)
1 t almond extract
2 T cornstarch
Simmer until thick, let cool

Chocolate Cream filling
1 C cream
1 C Semi sweet chocolate chips

Warm on stove, do not boil.  Remove from heat and stir until chocolate is all melted.  Refrigerate until chilled and then whip until thick.

Whipping cream:
Whip 3 C cream and sweeten to taste (¾ C Sugar)

Assembly:
Slice cakes in two.  Place the first half down
¼  of the plain whipped cream & ½ of the cherries
2nd ½  of cake (you should probably insert a few toothpicks at this point)
Chocolate whipped cream
3rd ½ of cake
¼ of the plain whipped cream and ½ of cherries
4th of the cake (you should probably insert a few toothpicks at this point)
Frost with remaining whipping cream
Sprinkle with chocolate shaved rolls.  Refrigerate!

Mike's Groom's Cake of Doom     By Marion McClellan

Make a chocolate cake of your choice.  I use Kim's black forest cake recipe(above).

Bake cake in 8 or 9" round's or square pans.  Let cool.  Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze over night.  Put in the fridge the day you are going to assemble the cake to defrost.  I have made this cake with out the freezing process and I have done it without defrosting the cakes.  It works, but my favorite is to freeze the cake layers and then frost them frozen. *the wrapping and freezing makes the cake more dense, moist and smooth.  It's worth the extra effort ;)

Chocolate Mousse Frosting-

Bring 1 quart (4 Cups) of heavy whipping cream to a boil in a heavy sauce pan.  Pour immediately over 4 cups of semi sweet chocolate chips.  Let stand for about 10-15 minutes on the counter.  Using a whisk, gently stir until all of the chocolate is melted and VERY smooth :)  Cover and refrigerate.  This can be done the night before and refrigerated until you are ready to frost the cake.  Just before cake assembly, using an electric mixer, whip up the cooled chocolate and cream into a thick mousse. ...try not to whip it into butter ;)

Cake assembly:

Put one of the cake layers onto your cake platter. (You may split the cake layers at this point if you prefer to have 4 layers in your cake.  There is plenty of mousse to do this... I prefer the split layers ;)  Scoop a very thick layer of chocolate mousse on.  Spread.  Add second cake layer and frost the entire cake with the remaining mouse.  At this point, put the frosted cake into the refrigerator or freezer.  You want this bad boy to be VERY cold for the next part :)

Ganache-

Bring to a boil, 2 C heavy whipping cream.  Pour over 4 Cups of semi sweet chocolate chips.  Let stand for 10-15 minutes.  Gently stir with a whisk until the mixture is perfectly smooth and BEAUTIFUL!  It should be glossy and pretty thick, but still pourable.  

Now, take your REALLY cold frosted cake out of the fridge or freezer and drizzle the ganache over the top.  Be sure to get some to drizzle over the sides.  This amount of ganache will totally cover the cake and puddle on the cake platter.  If you prefer less ganache, cut the ganache recipe in half.  Once you have all of the ganache on the cake, put the cake back in the fridge.  It will be ready to serve in a few hours.  The cake is best served SEVERAL hours later (like 6 or more).  It is AMAZING the second day!