Simple Vanilla Cake With Chocolate Ganache & Fresh Strawberries

In honor of my Dad's birthday today I made him a little treat to celebrate all 56 years!

My dad is the King of sweet tooth's out there making it hard to top each dessert I make him, so this time around I opted for a Simple Vanilla Cake with a delicious Chocolate Ganache I stumbled across on In Her Kitchen (The Looks for Less's other fabulous blog). Adding strawberries to the ganache filling for a little added flavor. Mmm.

Recipe(s):

Simple Vanilla Cake

2 C Sugar

4 Eggs

2-1/2 C All Purpose Flour

1 C Milk

3/4 C Vegetable Oil
2 1/4 TSP Baking Powder

1 Tsp Vanilla

*Preheat Oven to 350 Degrees, Line two 9-in round cake pans or one 9x13-in rectangular baking pan with parchment paper. Grease the paper and the sides of the pan well. 

*In a large mixing bowl, with an electric mixer, beat the sugar and eggs together until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Add flour, milk, oil, baking powder, and vanilla and beat for another minute, just until the batter is smooth and creamy. DO NOT over beat. 

*Pour batter in greased/lined pans

*Bake in pre-heated over for 30-40 mins or until tops are golden and toothpick poked into the center comes out clean (remember if you use a 9x13, it may take slightly longer to bake). 

*Loosen the sides of the cake from the pan with thin, then turn out onto rack and remove paper. 

*Let cool completely before covering with frosting.

Chocolate Ganache With Fresh Strawberries

1 1/2 C Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips

1/3 C Heavy Whipping Cream

1/2 C Sliced Fresh Strawberries

White Chocolate Drizzle

1/4 C White Chocolate Chips

1 tsp vegetable or canola oil

*While cakes are cooling, make two double boilers by having two pots 1/4 full of water barely simmering with a glass bowl on top of each pot. Do Not allow bowls to touch the water or your chocolate will burn!

*To one of the glass bowls, add the semisweet chocolate and heavy cream to make the ganache. Continually stir the chocolate and cream until only a few lumps remain and remove from heat. Continue to stir and the residual heat will keep melting the rest of the chocolate and it will keep getting smoother.

*In the other double boiler add the white chocolate and oil and continue to stir until only about halfway melted. 

*White chocolate is much more fickle and will burn easier, so only melt it halfway before removing it from the heat. Keep stirring until smooth. 

*Put cake on serving dish and add ganache, follow with fresh strawberry slices. Add second layer and add ganache to top layer. 

*Swirl the white chocolate on top of the ganache before cool, then with a toothpick swirl the white chocolate until it looks how you want. 

*Add fanned strawberry as garnish and ENJOY!

Happy Birthday Dad!