I'm doing a cake for 80-100 people. It's a non-profit organization and I'm not getting much money for it but she is a friend. She is having an event to thank the volunteers. It will be an all adult, wine and cheese type affair. She said she doesn't care a lot about the flavor but wants the cake to be elegant and impressive. Any ideas? Maybe a fruit topped cake but I think that might be pricey since it's fall now.

I made a "Silver White Cake" made from my betty crocker cookbook flavored with Almond extract and used raspberry jam for the filling and covered it with BC (also with almond extract - not vanilla). It was simple, but I got a lot of compliments on it. It didn't cost much either.

You could do that or something similar but with more "fall" flavors.

I meant to say that I used raspberry preserves...not jam.

I love ganache, but it isn't cheap. i'd make the white cake filled with strawberry or raspberry preserves. smooth icing and a minimal amount of decoration will give you your "elegant look for less."

I like the "package" cakes...simple, elegant and inexpensive to make...the bow and ribbons can be made with MMF, which is very cheap to make!

i too would go for the simple, dark chocolate ganache (with perhaps seedless raspberry jam and/or chocolate mousse filling). it's an adult party, with wine and cheese, so likely few people will be hacking off huge pieces of cake, so it needn't be too big or terribly high.

you can make very fine ganache using a generic (store-brand) semi-sweet baking chocolate or chocolate chips. i would do a 1:1 ratio of chocolate to whipping cream (which you may be able to find on sale somewhere now that we're approaching the US holiday season) and let it cool and apply thinly with a palette knife. it might actually turn out less expensive than fruit would be.

i remember a nice big slabby cake i made once for a very appreciative bunch of adults with yellow cake and mocha buttercream, with rows of rosettes on the top, each topped with a little chocolate scroll decoration that i piped onto wax paper with melted coating chocolate...it's a nice look and it also directs people how to cut each piece, encouraging even, identically-decorated portions.

http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=coppermine&file=displayimage&album=10&pos=7
You could do something like this link above. Only on a much smaller scale and have fruit around the outside edge instead of covering the entire center. You could leave the center plain or have some shaved chocolate or something.

You make a thick ganache and let it cool when you want to use it as a frosting instead of as a glaze. It looks like hot fudge, but will spread very easily and leave a smooth finish.

Sometimes I just go ahead and put my cake on my board (not one cut to the size of the cake) and slip strips of wax paper under the edge of the cake. That way all of the extra ganache drips off of the wax paper onto my cooling rack (with foil underneath to catch drips). When it is set, I run a sharp knife under the edge of the cake to cut the ganache and carefully pull out the wax paper strips. No mess on the board and you don't have to worry about picking up the cake to set it on another board.

DiH,

indeed, i wasn't disagreeing with your method, which is great for smaller cakes (especially rounds, as corners on squares can be tricky), but my response was based on lwsmith saying that the proposed cake (singular) was to feed 80-100 people. also, when i mentioned moving the cake off the rack, i meant AFTER pouring the ganache, which would be near impossible to do without disturbing the ganache finish at least a little on such a large cake, regardless of whether the underlying cake was frozen.

just pouring ganache onto a cake, especially a large slab can result in a VERY thick layer of ganache. spreading it when cooler can allow you the control to apply it quite thinly, which answers lwsmith's budgetary concerns for this particular cake.

you can ice it in BC (one of the meringues since it will be adults - italian or swiss). Smooth it, and just do a simple swiss dot in the same color. I did that for a bride on a tight budget - and to tell you the truth - i think its one of the most elegant cakes to come out of my kitchen.
(pic in my pic portfolio)

I'm I making a cheaper form of ganache because all I used was semi sweet morsels , butter, and whipping cream. Is it something I am missing?

i've found that the bar chocolate and heavy cream give a richer, more intensely chocolatel taste. the only choc chips around here are nestle or storebrand and they are harder for me to work with. i've used them, but had to keep reheating or adding more milk...it was a pain.