Hello all! Happy St. Patricks day . Today i made a cake and attempted (for the first time) to cover it in dark chocolate ganache, it did not go well. It was a chocolate cake recipe made with mayo, its my fav because it is really rich chocolate flavor and very soft and moist.I then carved the cake into a heart shape, not my forte' but it turned out pretty well.  Then I  filled the layers with chocolate mousse (YUM) and covered the whole thing in the ganache. When i poured the ganache on the cake it did not smooth out well on the sides of the cake (the part that was carved). It was bumpy and did  not look pretty at all. Also when i attempted to move the cake from the rack to a cake board the whole thing split and fell apart! BUMMER. So i have two questions if any of you can help me out i would appreciate it. 1: How do you get the ganache to look smooth, especially on the sides of the cake, and is it possible to achieve a seamless look on a cake that is carved? And 2: when moving the ganache covered cake from rack to cake board is it best to wait untill the cake is completly cool and the ganache is set or do you do that when the ganache is still wet?? Thank you all for any help! And sorry for such a long post.

APlace the cake on a board that is the same size as the cake before pouring the ganache over it. Then it will be easy to move. Maybe try a crumb coat of cooled ganache before pouring. Either that or the ganache was too hot/thin consistency when you poured it. A thicker consistency would hide more imperfections? Just guessing.

Thanks all for the info. I read through the post about covering cakes in ganache. I may have not seen it but does anyone know how to keep cake crumbs out of the ganache? When i poured over the ganache a lot of crumbs fell off the cake and landed in the extra. What can i do with the extra ganache that has crumbs in it now? TIA

I crumb coat with ganache before pouring, takes care of the crumb issue and keeps everything smooth.

As far as the ganache you have with crumbs in it, you could use it as a crumb coat or filling.

AHeat the ganache and strain through a sieve.

If my first coat is a bit lumpy, I do a second coat with thicker gnache.  Also, use the lumpy, crumby gnache with more cake crumbs and turn them into cake pops.  I do lots of carved cakes and always coat with gnache.  Since i discovered cake pops, i keep my crumbs (much to my husband and son's horror as they used to get the leftovers) and freeze them.  then when i want to make cake pops i use the gnache with the cake and squish them altogether.  Good luck

Also, I found to get the really straight edges, i use a teflon coated paint scraper.  it works even better than an offset knife/spatula.