Day of the Dead Cake!

Hello, all! As some of you may know, October 31st through November 2nd is deemed El Dia de Los Muertos (or Day of the Dead). It's a holiday of Mexican origin that focuses on remembering loved ones that have passed. One big (and recognizable) characteristic of this holiday is the intricately-decorated sugar skull.

I wanted to capture that in my Beloved's birthday cake, since his birthday is so close to Halloween and the Day of the Dead celebration. After looking up many different beautiful designs, I settled on a red and black style that incorporated scroll work and spider webs. I started with a basic chocolate cake and filled it with cookies and cream (Oreos crushed up and mixed into vanilla buttercream). Yum!

I also wanted to add a topping of ganache, so I looked up a recipe and got to work! I started with 12 ounces of semi sweet chocolate chips in a bowl and 1 cup of heavy cream on medium high in a saucepan.

Then I waited until the cream came to a boil...

Then I poured the boiling cream onto the chocolate chips!

 And I stirred until the chocolate completely melted and had a glossy finish.

Yum!

 I ran the ganache through a strainer just to get the little bits out.

Then I poured the chocolate over the cake that I had put the scroll detail on already.

I added a fondant sugar skull on top, some white chocolate numbers, and it was ready to be devoured by my Betrothed!

He loved it!

And so did everyone else at the party! :)

Mmmm so good with vanilla ice cream