I got a last minute order for a cake for tommorrow! I only agreed since it is for a friends surprise birthday party. I need to make a cake for 25-30 people...the bday girl is a chocoholic! I need some ideas please. I usually only do all kids cakes(star method) because I can not frost a smooth cake to save my life so please keep that in mind. I was thinking maybe ganach and chocolate covered strawberries? I've never done ganach before but I read its pretty easy. Please help...I'm desperate for some ideas. I need to have this cake ready for pick up at 9 in the morning. Thanks for all your help!
Shellbell,
I agree with cakepro- I just did a chcolate cake with strawberry filling, chocolate ganache frosting, and chocolate covered strawberry tuxedos for my son's birthday (in my photos). It was sooo much chocolate, no one ate a big piece (except my dad, who is King Sweet Tooth). It as a to die for cake though, and my son loved it, so if your friend is a chocoholic, she would love this cake!
Kerri
Yes please!!!! Instructions would be wonderful! I have so many questions! I am soo new to cake decorating, some of these questions will probably sound silly! Do I cover the strawberries with the ganach also?
Does the cake need to be kept in the fridge after decorated? Do you have any easy recipe? Thanks so much! Also, what size cake would you use?
Can you do the basket weave. People love a round chocolate cake, covered with a chocolate buttercream basketweave and topped with chocoalte covered strawberries. NO smoothing involved. The sides are basketweaved, and the top is covered!!! If you cant do a basketweave i'd just pour ganache on the sides like others said above!!
Yum Kerri, that sounds even better with strawberry filling!!
Ganache is very simple (although alot of people make it kind of hard)...rough chop 9 ounces of chocolate - I use half semi-sweet and half unsweetend because I like it to taste like dark chocolate. In a glass bowl (I just use a 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup), measure out 8 ounces of heavy cream (if the label says 'heavy whipping cream' that's fine too) and heat it in the microwave just until it's very hot but not boiling (do it in 45 second increments or so). Add your rough-chopped chocolate and leave it alone for a few minutes to give the chocolate time to melt. Add a tablespoon or two of room-temp butter (salted or not, doesn't matter) and stir until smooth. Let it cool down some in order to thicken up a bit to be a pourable consistency. You can pour it directly from your measuring cup onto your cake and use a spatula to push it over the edges to form nice drizzles.
Beware, though...ganache is ADDICTING!! Let the leftovers cool all the way down and you have truffle filling! 
I saw a picture in a book (don't remember which one at ACMoore) this cake looked heavenly and I HAVE to try it someday. They made a square cake, ice and fill with whatever. Melt some almond bark chocolate that you can get in the grocery store and spread it out fairly thin, probably 1/4 inch or so on parchment or wax paper. Let it cool completely. Meanwhile, measure the length and width of the side of your cake. Cut the chocolate "sheet" into squares (cut a little taller than the cake is). Put the chocolate on the sides of the cake and tie a ribbon around the cake. Top with fruit, fresh or choc covered strawberries. The cake will end up looking like a box made of chocolate, tied with a ribbon. I hope this makes sense. The squares you cut cover the entire side of the cake, one square per side, not a lot of small pieces. HTH
If you want to use the ganache to spread or like cakepro said, pipe, let it cool for a short time in the fridge or on it's own. Don't refrigerate too long, though- I left mine in the fridge over night, and it became an almost disaster, until the experts here told me how to reheat it to get it back to it's beginning state. 
I did my strawberry tuxedos ahead of time, then placed them on the cake whil the ganache was still soft, so they would set in when it hardened. I suppose, though, you could pour the ganache over the cake and strawberries at the same time, just make sure you have washed and patted your strawberries dry. You do need to refrigerate it, because the ganache has whipping cream in it. I am thinking that you will need a 10" two layer round cake for 25- 30 people, maybe 12" if you cut your pieces a little bigger.
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