Valentine's Day Strawberry Chocolate Truffle Cake!

I thought it was necessary to share with you this mouth-watering chocolate truffle cake recipe! I loved making it because it was so easy to make, amazingly moist and delicious, and just beautiful to look at!

Cake:I found this fail-proof recipe for a chocolate cake on the Add a Pinch blog, thanks for providing me with this great recipe! This difference between this recipe and others is that it uses 1 cup of boiling water, which combines with the baking soda to aerate the cake and make it SUPER moist!! 

Chocolate Ganache frosting and Truffles: Contrary to it's fancy-sounding name, chocolate Ganache is ridiculously easy to make! All you do is heat up heavy cream and mix chocolate chips into it. This mixture yields both the frosting as well as the truffles!

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CHOCOLATE CAKE
INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1½ teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon espresso powder (I just used coffee grounds)
• 1 cup milk
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350º F. Prepare two 9-inch cake pans by spraying with baking spray or buttering and lightly flouring.
2. For the cake:
3. Add flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt and espresso powder to a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk through to combine or, using your paddle attachment, stir through flour mixture until combined well.
4. Add milk, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla to flour mixture and mix together on medium speed until well combined. Reduce speed and carefully add boiling water to the cake batter. Beat on high speed for about 1 minute to add air to the batter.
5. Distribute cake batter evenly between the two prepared cake pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
6. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes, remove from the pan and cool completely.

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Chocolate Ganache Recipe (from Allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:

• 9 oz bittersweet chocolate
• 1 cup heavy cream
  

Method:

1. Place the chocolate into a medium bowl. Heat the cream in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Bring just to a boil, watching very carefully because if it boils for a few seconds, it will boil out of the pot. When the cream has come to a boil, pour over the chopped chocolate, and whisk until smooth. Stir in the rum if desired.
2. Allow the ganache to cool slightly before pouring over a cake. Start at the center of the cake and work outward. For a fluffy frosting or chocolate filling, allow it to cool until thick, then whip with a whisk until light and fluffy.
   

Frosting: Let ganache mixture cool a little bit (10 min) and then frost the cake with it, using a knife

Truffles: Cool ganache mixture in fridge (30 min, mixture should be cold but still pliable) and then take out small ball size pieces with a spoon. Shape into a ball shape with your fingers, then dust in cocoa powder, and you're done!!

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Putting together the Cake:

• After baking and cooling cake, make the ganache mixture, and allow to cool

• Slice strawberries for decorating the cake

• Spread 3/4 of ganache mixture as frosting over the cake, cool the rest of the ganache in the fridge, and use for the trufflesVoila! Enjoy! Great for birthdays, Valentine's Day, etc..!
  
• Boil 1 tblspn strawberry or other kind of jam with 1 tblspn water, and brush mixture onto strawberries for a pretty glaze