Ganache Filled Walnut Cake With Citrus Cream Cheese Frosting Recipes

TOASTED POUND CAKE WITH CITRUS CREAM

Steps:

• For the pound cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a baking pan with cooking spray. Arrange the pound cake in a single layer on the prepared pan. Brush with the melted butter and drizzle with honey. Bake for 7 to 8 minutes or until lightly golden. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
• For the citrus cream: In a medium bowl, using an electric hand mixer, beat all the ingredients together until stiff peaks form, about 1 minute.
• To assemble: Spoon the citrus-cream filling on the cooled pound cake slices. Top with orange segments and serve.

GANACHE FROSTING

Steps:

• Place the chopped chocolate into the bowl of a food processor.
• Heat the heavy cream in a quart-sized, microwavable container and microwave for 3 to 4 minutes on high, or until it just begins to simmer; be careful not to allow cream to boil over. Pour the cream over the chocolate and let stand for 2 minutes. Process by pulsing several times until chocolate mixture is smooth. Use as is for glazing. If you wish to make a lighter frosting, allow it to come to room temperature, approximately 2 hours. Once at room temperature, place in the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk on high for 2 to 3 minutes.

GANACHE FILLING (FOR CAKE)

Steps:

• Heat the heavy cream in a 2-quart heavy-bottomed saucepan until bubbles begin to form around the edge of the pan. Make sure you chopped the chocolate as finely as possible to allow it to melt quickly and easily. Place the chopped chocolate in a medium-size mixing bowl. Make a ganache by pouring about half of the hot cream over the chocolate and letting it sit for 30 seconds to melt the chocolate. Then, slowly whisk until smooth and homogenous. Do not add all of the hot cream to the cold chocolate at once. The shock of the temperature extremes will cause the fat in the chocolate to separate. As the chocolate melts, you will see some elasticity if there is no fat separation. This means the chocolate still has an emulsion; the fat molecules are still holding together. If the ganache separates, it loses its elasticity, collapses, and becomes very liquid. I use a hand-held immersion blender to ensure a smooth ganache and to keep the emulsion of the chocolate. Add the remaining cream gradually and mix until all of the hot cream is incorporated and the ganache is smooth and homogenous.
• If the ganache separates, it is very easy to fix. Simply add a small amount of cold cream and whisk well. This will bring the ganache back together. The ganache should be thick, shiny, and smooth. Add the desired flavoring and mix until fully incorporated. Pour the ganache onto a plastic wrap-covered baking sheet and spread evenly with a rubber spatula. Cover the ganache with plastic wrap and allow it to cool for at least 4 hours at room temperature. I usually make the ganache at the end of the day and let it cool overnight. As it cools, it will thicken and set.
• When the ganache has cooled to the consistency of toothpaste, use an offset spatula to cover the cake layer with the ganache.

WALNUT CREAM CHEESE CAKE

Steps:

• Butter a 2 Quart Bundt or Kugelhopf pan and dust with finely chopped walnuts.
• Preheat oven to 300ºF.
• Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
• Set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter while adding the cream cheese, lemon rind, and sugar.
• Beat until smooth.
• Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until incorperated.
• The batter may appear slightly curdled, but that's normal for this batter so don't worry about it.
• Graduall add the dry mixture to the batter, then stir in the Medium chopped Walnuts.
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 1 hour and 20 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean.
• Cool on wire rack and serve at room temperature.

LEMON GANACHE

Steps:

• Chop chocolate into small pieces and place in a heat safe bowl.
• Bring cream to boil on stovetop.
• Once cream in boiling pour over chopped chocolate.
• Add lemon zest and lemon juice.
• Stir from the inside out, making sure not to let in to much air.
• Stir till chocolate is completely melted.
• That's it--you now have ganache. You can use this on cakes, to make truffles or just cool it in the fridge and snack on it later.
• You can also substitute the lemon with orange.

GANACHE FILLED WALNUT CAKE WITH CITRUS CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Steps:

• To make the cake, blend flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in large bowl. Add milk, butter, and vanilla and beat with electric mixer for 2 minutes, till well blended. Add egg whites and beat another 4 minutes. Fold in walnuts. Pour batter into 2 parchment-lined, greased 9" cake pans. Bake at 350 deg F. for 35-40 minutes, till cake tests done. Remove from oven and cool on wire racks for a few minutes, then pop cakes out of pans and continue cooling on racks while you make the filling and frosting.
• To make the ganache filling, melt chocolate and cream together in double boiler, stirring occasionally, till well combined. Place in the fridge to cool for about 30 minutes, until it reaches a spreadable consistency (don't leave it in the fridge too long or it will be ROCK hard!).
• To make the frosting, cream butter and cream cheese with a mixer till well combined and fluffy. Add sugar a bit at a time till a thick, creamy frosting forms. Finally, mix in vanilla and zest. Add more sugar or lime juice as needed to reach preferred consistency.
• To assemble the cake, place bottom layer on plate. Spread ganache filling on top, leaving a 1/4-inch border around the edge (this will fill in when you press the top layer down). You will either have a very thick layer of filling or you will have extra ganache to play with. Set top layer over filling and press slightly to stick in place. Spread cream cheese frosting over cake.
• If you're feeling fancy, shave some chocolate with a veggie peeler and sprinkle over the frosted cake.
• Can also make cupcakes with the recipe, just pour batter into lined cupcake pan and bake for slightly less time. Frost with either the ganache or the cream cheese frosting. Would make 12 cupcakes.