Chocolate ganache cake

Ingredients:

Cake

• 110 g unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 cup of sugar
• 4 large eggs at room temperature
• 1 and 1/3 cups Hershey's chocolate syrup
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup premium flour
• Candied violets or edible gold, for garnish (optional)

Ganache

• 0.5 cups heavy cream
• 220 g semi-sweet chocolate granules
• 1 tsp granulated instant coffee

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Grease and flour a 20cm round cake pan, then line the bottom with parchment paper.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Stir in the chocolate syrup and vanilla extract. Add the flour and mix until the dough forms. Do not overmix, or the cake will become dense.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until just set in the center. Don't overbake! Let cool completely in the pan.
4. For the ganache, heat the heavy cream, chocolate granules and instant coffee in a double boiler over simmering water, stirring occasionally, until smooth.
5. Place the cake upside down on a wire rack and pour the ganache evenly over the top, making sure to cover the sides. You can lift the rack to direct the icing. Decorate with candied violets, if using, or carefully crumble gold and sprinkle it in the center of the cake. Do not refrigerate the cake.
6. Note
   
   In this episode, Aina decorated a cake with a chevron pattern. For the icing, she mixed 1 3/4 cups powdered sugar with 3 tablespoons water in a small bowl and transferred the mixture to a pastry bag fitted with a small round tip. She piped six evenly spaced straight lines of icing. Then, using the back of a knife, she lightly drew seven straight lines perpendicular to the icing lines in the ganache, pulling the icing along and creating a zigzag pattern. You can use a wooden skewer instead of a knife and draw lines alternating, first in one direction, then in the other.