Blackout Cake

Last night when I went out to put my horses away, I noticed that my three year old horse, Sancho Juan Pablo, had a huge gash on his nose. It looks like he has three nose holes! There was a bunch of hay stuck in it so I decided I had better clean it out so it wouldn't get infected. He is so awesome - he just stood there and let me stick my hand clear up to the my knuckles inside the gash to get it all cleaned out. Yuck!

When I was little I wanted to be a veterinarian but when I found out you had to give shots and deal with blood, I decided it wasn't for me. Now that I have all these animals, I have to give shots, wormer, and deal with massive wounds and blood all the time! I should have gotten my degree so I could get paid for doing all this stuff! Once Lakota was being sassy and she backed into a trailer which resulted in a huge gash in her butt. Every time her heart beat the blood squirted out so I had to put my hand up inside the wound to put pressure on the artery until we could get her to the vet and get her stitched up. I was covered with blood. It's a good thing I love these animals so much!

Tonight is the big twelve year old Jurassic Park birthday party. Ken LOVES chocolate cake so I am going to make a version of the Cheesecake Factory's Linda's Fudge Cake that I found on line and decorate it with little dinosaurs. He wanted to watch a Jurassic Park video and make homemade pizza's. Sounds like a party to me!

Blackout Cake

In a large bowl, beat together 3/4C. butter and 3C. sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy (about 1-2 minutes). Add 3 eggs and 2t. vanilla and beat until well blended. Add 4 oz. unsweetened chocolate - melted and beat another 1-2 minutes then set aside.

Mix together 3C. flour, 3t. baking soda and 1/2t. salt. Add this to the chocolate mixture in two additions alternately with 3/4C. buttermilk. Beat until well blended. With mixer on low speed, add 1 1/3C. boiling water and beat until smooth (the batter will be thin). Pour the batter into two 9 inch round cake pans that have been dusted with flour.

Bake at 350* for 35-40 minutes. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes then take them out of the pans and let cool completely on a wire rack.

To make the chocolate ganache:

In a 2 quart glass measuring bowl, combine 3 - 6oz. packages of semisweet chocolate chips (about 3C.) and 1 1/2C. heavy cream. Heat in the microwave for 3 minutes or until smooth when stirred. Stir in 2T. butter and 1t. vanilla. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or until the ganache holds its shape and is thick enough to spread onto a cake.

To assemble, cover a cake layer with a little more than 1/3C. of chocolate ganache. Set second layer on top. Frost top and sides of cake then refrigerate for 3-4 hours or until the ganache is firm.