Cake design 101, take TWO

Take two turned out SO MUCH worse than attempt one. Firstly I got a better tip for piping, that was good, but my cheap butt used a zip lock as a piping bag...and it burst at the end and frosting shot out all over the cake....UGH! Ruined. Also I made ganache for the filling, which tastes great...but clearly I added waaaay too much, it seeped out the sides and made a total mess! I need much more practice I think. ;-)


The better tip I purchased. The tip worked great! It was thicker, easier to use.

I bought 'frosting gel' coloring and made this Tiffany blue, that aspect of today was a success.

Can't just look good, MUST taste good and ganache tastes good! Double-boiler, chocolate chips, heavy cream...stir, done! Yum...made a yummy filling!

But...I CLEARLY added waaay too much ganache.

Looks like a pumpernickel sandwich. LOL

Eh...not my best work, hell it's some of my worst but the colors are good and the "W" isn't as bad...

I did better on borders, needs work though.

What's this? A rosette? Well whatever it is, it turned out good.

Tasted great though!

Reeses Pie with chocolate ganache

Much simpler than it sounds. It's a glorified brownie baked in a pie-pan and then topped with chocolate sauce.

8 ounces semi sweet chocolate chips, 6 ounces peanut butter chips, 1/8 cup of all purpose flour, 1/4 cup 'hot' water, 3/4 cup sugar, 1 stick room temperature butter, 4 large eggs, 1 tablespoon creamy peanut butter, 2 teaspoons vanilla.

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a 9 inch pie-tin or pan. Put half of the chocolate and peanut butter chips along with the flour into a blender or food processor. Grind until the chips are chopped. Remove from blender and set aside in a bowl. Add the remainder of the chocolate and peanut butter chips and sugar into blender, blend until the mixture is finely ground. With the machine running, slowly add the hot water (you'll see the chips begin to melt). Then add the vanilla, eggs (one at a time) the butter which has been cut into cubes, and peanut butter. Return the bowl of previously chopped chips and flour back into the mixture. Continue to blend until incorporated.

Pour into a pie-pan and bake for 35 minutes. The top of the pie will crack and rise. Let cool on a cooling rack for 1 hour and then refrigerate for 2 hours.

Top with whipped cream or chocolate ganache. (Honestly I eyeball this). Make a double boiler by using a medium sized pot with 2 inches or so of water. Place on stove and bring to boil. Place a safe-glass mixing bowl over the pot so the steam will melt the chips. Add 3-4 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1/2 cup heavy cream along with 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Stir gently until the chips have melted. Top cooled pie with ganache and refrigerate for another hour before serving.

(I MUST give credit where it's due. This is a Giada recipe from foodnetwork.com. However I modified it. Hers is a chocolate/hazelnut pie with cinnamon flavored whip cream. I made it, it was great but Chris loves peanut butter so I modified the recipe and today I had chips left over and thought ganache would be good.)