I have been wanting to try a front facing cake ever since I saw one on Facebook, and today was the day! I used a recipe I was familiar with (makes two 8″ layers, a dense but moist and firm cake – Black and White Cake from Vintage Cakes by Julie Richardson). I’ve made this recipe before and on a whim I added in 1 tsp of baking powder as my previous notes state it didn’t rise that much. I thought the baking powder made it a little on the dryer side around the edges (did not overbake), so this was my first time using a cake syrup to soften the cake just a tad. (Equal parts sugar and water boiled and then cooled and then brushed on the cake). I had leftover cream cheese frosting (this really is my favorite frosting, despite the fact I keep trying so hard to like the different buttercreams) so that went in the middle. My ganache was 8 ounces chopped semisweet chocolate to one cup of heavy cream; I chose semisweet choc as the cream cheese has the tang to it. The trick was lots of fridge time – cool the cakes and fill with cream cheese frosting. Chill. Cover with ganache. Chill. Cover with another layer of ganache. Chill.
Next was to slice off a section to make for a flat side, and to tilt the cake on it’s side. Chill. And then the stencilling (using some of the leftover cream cheese frosting). And chill.
I’m super pleased! I think this would be much tougher with a buttercream frosting that slid around – the ganache, when chilled, served as a solid chocolate coating to hold the cake in place.
This is delicious!
https://www.thesweetsensations.com/2013/06/vintage-cakes-black-white-cake/
