Jessica's Birthday Cake (two days later)

We celebrated Jessica's birthday on Sunday with her family, and I got to make the cake! I have been dying to make a cake for months now, and this one turned out pretty well.

Cake:
adapted from Cafe Beaujolais Cookbook
3 c. flour
2 c. sugar
2/3 c. cocoa
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 c. chocolate chips
2 c. water
1/2 c. vegetable oil
2 T vinegar
1 T vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together dry ingredients into a large bowl. Add chocolate chips. Add wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Bake in two 9in. round pans, that are oiled and floured, with parchment paper for 25-30 minutes.

Frosting:
from Bride & Groom: First and Forever Cookbook
2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 c. sugar
2/3 c. milk
1 c. butter (2 sticks) cut into pieces
1/4 t salt
1 t vanilla

Put chocolate chips in the bowl of a stand mixer. In a medium sauce pan bring sugar, milk, butter, and salt to a boil and let boil for exactly one minute. Pour into stand mixer and add vanilla. Mix with whisk attachment until spreadable, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Raspberry Filling:
1 bag frozen raspberries (10 oz. I think)
3 T sugar
1 T cornstarch

Puree thawed raspberries in a food processor, then strain out the seeds. In a small sauce pan bring puree, sugar, and cornstarch to a boil. Refrigerate until spreadable, about 2 hours.

Chocolate Ganache:
1 1/4 c. heavy cream
1 1/4 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Bring cream to a simmer over medium heat. Remove from heat and add chocolate chips, stirring until combined. Refrigerate until spreadable, about four hours.

Assembling the Cake:
Cut cake layers horizontally into two pieces. Place first layer on serving platter and top with half of the raspberry filling. Add another layer and top with chocolate ganache. Add another layer and top with raspberry, then add final layer and frost top and sides of cake.

Notes: Overall, I liked this cake, but the chocolate ganache did not turn out the way I wanted. The frosting was amazing, and I will definitely use the recipe again. The cake itself is great, as usual --it is Moogie's favorite recipe and the chocolate cake I grew up on. Also, I had too much frosting and WAY too much ganache (I'll have to find something to do with the leftovers). Sam didn't like the raspberry filling but I thought it was pretty good. The cake looked nice frosted, but didn't hold up that beautifully when cut (as you can see from the picture) . . . not sure how to mitigate that problem.