Life Update

Well, things are still pretty crazy. As I type this I am taking care of my little brother, who is fighting off a possible flu. My dad is up at the hospital with my stepmom, who has pneumonia and it doesn't look like he is far behind her. Ugh.

Grandma is still also in the rehab hospital and they are not optimistic that she will be able to go back to her apartment, much less live with me. They think she is going to require too much care.

Sigh. Prayers needed, please, for this uber stressful start to the New Year!

Blessings to you and yours,

How to make whipped chocolate ganache!

Chocolate Ganache. *sigh*

Whipped Chocolate Ganache. *drool*

Doesn't it sound like heaven? Ever since I discovered how ridiculously easy it is to make ganache, it has been my go-to for frosting cakes and cupcakes, as well as decorating.

My step-mom's birthday was yesterday and she is a chocolate fiend. Can't get enough! So I made her a devil's food chocolate cake and put sugar free chocolate pudding between the layers. (I only had sugar free on hand) I will do another tutorial later about using pudding as a crumb coat and filler-it works great (Thanks, mommy for teaching me this trick!)

I decided to make whipped chocolate ganache to frost the cake, because for her birthday she deserved no holds barred chocolatey goodness!

Here is the very short list of what you need to make this wonderful treat:

• 9 oz of chocolate
• 8 oz of heavy whipping cream

That's it! Follow my tutorial here which shows you how to heat the cream and melt the chocolate. It even has video!

Once you have followed those steps and melted the chocolate, put it into the fridge for about 20 minutes or so. The more it cools, the thicker it becomes. Using your handheld mixer begin to whip it and you will see the chocolate begin to lighten and fluff.

Whip to your desired consistency.

On this particular cake, I did not top it, which was very hard for me! However, I knew my step-mom would love every crumb and I hated to waste it.

I put on a crumb coat of frosting and then I grabbed my Wilton 104 decorating tip to try something I saw via a linky party (which I thought I had bookmarked but I did not! So if the gal who made the fabulous white ribbon cake sees this, please let me know so I can link you!!).

I was a little bit intimidated to try it, because I do not have a steady hand at all, especially doing this left-handed (I am a righty)! However, I decided to push forward. Worse case scenario is that I would have to whip out my frosting knife and flatten the decorations- no harm, no foul!


One thing I would recommend in hindsight would be to pop the ganache back into the fridge to chill it a bit more before you do the decorating. Obviously chocolate melts very fast and I found the heat from my hand was not helping matters while squeezing the ganache out of the decorator do-hickey (Yes, I did just call it a do-hickey. What else should I call it? It's not a bag! :o) )

I would also suggest if you are not in a hurry that you chill the do-hickey in between decorating rows as you feel it warming up.

I was in a hurry when I did this cake, but honestly I was very happy with how it all turned out. The ribboned ganache looked gorgeous and I can't even begin to tell you how good it all tasted together. The sugar free chocolate pudding really offset the sweetness of the cake and ganache; I think this will become a staple for me now.

Here is the finished result, I hope you enjoy it!

P.S. Linking up at all my favorite party place listed on my link party page, as well as a new place to kick up my heels --The Stewart Estate!

Some thoughts and a prayer request

Today is my step-mom Gale's birthday! I am baking a chocolate cake for her and will frost it with whipped ganache. I will post a tutorial later on the whipped ganache, it is heaven!

It's been a fairly quiet day today, woke up not feeling the best this morning so I skipped the gym, which I hate to do! But I figure one day playing hooky is allowed, right?

I can not get over how beautiful the weather is here today. It's about 69 and normally we are down in the 50's by now. Not that I am complaining at all, but it makes it hard to start getting into the Christmas spirit.

My cousin's daughter, Syerra, is selling Christmas trees for school as part of FFA, so I plan to go get one tomorrow and have my step-sister, Kristen, come over and help me decorate. She offered the other day and I think I will take her up on it!

My Grandma turned 92 last week, which is amazing. She is still in really great shape considering her age, but is starting to get more and more forgetful, which makes me sad. I worry that we won't have many Christmas's left together. I don't like to think about that.

My cousin Darin, Pete's older brother, will be putting insulation in my attic and finishing off the sheet-rocking in my garage sometime next week. I can't wait to have that done. It will be so much easier to keep the garage clean, I still hope to have the front part of it (it is super long) turned into a laundry room some day!

Last, but not least, I do have something on the somber side to share. My friend Heidi, whom I have known since pre-school, is currently taking care of her mother, who was recently diagnosed with stage 4 cancer that has spread throughout all her bones in the thoracic region, spine, ribs, sternum, shoulder blades- just everywhere.

At this point in time their goal is to simply manage her pain. Obviously this is very, very hard on Heidi and her step-dad. Please say a prayer for her mother, Ursula, Heidi, and the rest of their family. Ursula has had a very long life, caring for other people as a nurse. She also survived World War II and the Nazi invasions, living in a Danish refugee camp for Germans at the end of the war.

Blessings,