Hello!

We are invited to a lunch Sunday after church with people we have never met before. I am supposed to bring a cake. Since this is such late notice, I do not have time to bake somthing fresh. I do however have a naked chocolate cake in the freezer.

Any ideas on how I dress it up nicely to make it more of a nice grown-up cake rather than a simple chocolate birthday cake. I am open to any and all ideas. If all else fails, I can just put some chocolate buttercream on it, but Iam hoping to find somethign a little more fancy.

Thanks so much!
Brandi

fill with whipped cream. Cover with dark chocolate ganache, pipe shells of ganache around base. Decorate top with swirls of whipped cream and chocolate truffles. Very rich and decadent

I agree with MissBaritone. That would make it very grown up and elegant. Instead of whipped cream, you could make it into a ding dong cake. Here's a recipe I found :

4 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
1 cup sugar
1 cup Crisco
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 chocolate cake, 2-layer

cook milk and flour untill thick and cool.
beat sugar and crisco 4 minutes.
add vanilla and beat 2 min more.
spread between cake layer (all of it).
then frost it with your favorite frosting and refrigate for 2 hours.


Joe

Miss Baritone....your idea sounds wonderful!!!

My mouth is watering....

Thank you both for your great ideas. I sometimes get stuck in a rut and can only think along the lines of a basic birthday cake.

Thanks!

for a slightly lighter alternative to ganache (the texture is much lighter, but the taste is just as rich) try my Moussey-Cream for frosting and/or filling (you can pipe simple decorations with it too) -- i haven't posted this in its full form yet in the recipes section, as i need to test it for precise setting time (which i never pay attention to), but i will soon:

Ingredients:
350g (12 oz) chocolate
1 tablespoon (15 ml) butter or margarine
500ml (2 cups/16 fluid oz) whipping cream (35% BF of MF) or liquid non-dairy whipped topping, such as NutriWhip
(vanilla, sweetener, powdered whipped cream stabilizer)
Step 1:
Place the chocolate and butter/margarine in a microwave-safe dish. Cook on 50% power for 2 minutes. Remove, and stir to melt (microwave another 30 seconds if not melted yet). Set aside to cool.
Step 2:
Pour cream or liquid whipped topping into a large bowl. Add vanilla and/or sweetener to taste, and add powdered whipped cream stabilizer, if using (follow the package directions for amounts; usually theyre sold in packets, with directions for one packet for each cup of cream). Whip the cream to firm peaks (preferable with an electric mixer). Do not discard or rinse your beaters yet; you will be using them in the next step.
Step 3:
Stir the chocolate mixture and test for temperature. It should be cool enough to touch with your finger, but soft enough to stir. Add a small amount of the whipped cream to the chocolate mixture, and use your electric mixer on lowest speed to incorporate the cream into the chocolate. Repeat this process once more, and then add the chocolate-cream mixture to the remaining whipped cream, and incorporate with mixer. The mixture is fairly soft at this point, so allow the it to sit at least 10 minutes at room temperature or in the fridgethe cold of the cream is setting the chocolate, which will result in a firm mousse-like texture.

The surface of the moussey-cream will become somewhat dry and tacky, but will not crust like buttercream. A cake filled or frosted with it should be refrigerated, but can be left out for several hours without problems.

Awesome! Thanks Aunt Judy!

I can't wait to try it. Thanks for sharing with me!

My favorite thing to do with choc cake is to cover in chocolate buttercream (using Tollhouse cocoa, it's better than Hershey's IMO), then use a chocolate ganache buttercream (someone posted the recipe here a while back) for decorations. I just recently did one like this (in my profile) and used some white chocolate shavings as a garnish. You could do that or slivered almonds or chocolate covered cherries?! Sounds YUMMY!!

You could either flavor the buttercream with Grand Marnier or your favorite spirit, or do a ganache.

A whipped, white chocolate ganache would be lovely. (Although if you don't have good white chocolate on hand, you may not be able to get some before Sunday. )

In that case you could do vanilla buttercream and a whipped dark or semi chocolate ganache filling.

Raspberry, hazelnut, or caramel goes well with chocolate too.