I have my first commissioned cake this weekend. It is a baby shower and the mom to be wants chocolate cake. She requested one layer to have buttercream filling and said to surprise her one the second layer. I am still very new to caking and am looking for some suggestions as to your favorite or most requested fillings for a chocolate cake. I was planning on doing a butter recipe chocolate cake, but am not against trying something different before this weekend.

Also, if anyone has any suggestions as to decorations...I would appreciate them. The theme is western/farm animals. It will be a two tier cake. I've got a few ideas from cakes that I've seen here on CC, but I'm open to other ideas too.

Thanks,

Kim

You could do a chocolate ganache filling. I like to do that with a thin layer of raspberry jam. Tastes like a Ghirardelli candy bar.

I saw a farm animal cake on the pinkcakebox.com website today that is so cute. You could use it for an idea, perhaps.

Good luck!

How about a fruit type mousse? I found a nice recipe for a Raspberry Mousse in the recipe section here. I haven't tried it yet, but it got really good reviews. It is essentially cream cheese, coolwhip and a seedless jam. That would be good with chocolate I think. Personally I'd do both layers with it.

Nutella mousse? If she likes hazelnut.

I do what caincakemaker suggests all the time...yummmmmm. Make a fresh raspberry puree if you can; if not seedless jam works well. I whip the ganache too.

Nutella is a GREAT suggestion WOWEEE is that good with chocolate cake, but I generally would not want to surprise someone with a nut filling, in case of allergies.

passionfruit.

I love Bavarian cream filling, counter-balances the blatant sweetness of the frosting and chocolatey-chocolate of the cake.

Or, I'd go with raspberry....tried and oh so true!

Black cherries and chocolate ganache with cream is really delicious. Chocolate with a caramel filling works well too.

Whipped white chocolate ganache, or white chocolate mousse.

Or how about a whipped cream cheese filling? Oh YUM!!!!

LadyMike

Fruit based, strawberry, or raspberry thickened puree.

Pastry cream.

Chocolate mousse.

Mike

Thanks everyone. The mousse or cream cheese style filling sounds great...I'm think raspberry might be a good one to go with.

Another question though, how stable is the mousse with cream cheese? How long can it be out after being filled or decorated?

Favorites around here: Chocolate raspberry ganache, caramel IMBC, cookies and cream, sweetened whipped cream (with or without chopped toffee bits). Yum!

Melanie Mc.

Just wanted to thank everyone again for there suggestions.

I went with a chocolate cake with raspberry mousse. I was a huge hit with everyone. I'm still getting phone calls about how delicious it was. I posted a pic of the complete cake. Let me know what you think. I feel it was ok. I ended up with an absessed tooth and a trip to the ER with a killer migraine, the day before the cake was due.

I would appreciate honest feedback so I know what I am doing right and what needs improvement. That's how we learn.

Kim