cake.

So my mother in law works at a church and they are having a chocolate theme event at the church, and she would like me to do a show piece to try to build a bit of a customer base in her area.
I have been making cakes for a few years now and I am confident... ahht hum... until the week of, that is. and then I loose my nerve and screw up. SO, I come here. Anyway what you see here is a cake she and I found and it was so pretty and looks like chocolate decadence so we decided on something very similar.
I would like to pick your creative brains. Now I have my own ideas for this cake. Such as, every layer will be chocolate cake. The filling and coating is all that will change. Some layers will have chocolate mousse, others white chocolate mousse, and one or two with a peanut butter mousse. I think I have all this down.

I intend to cover the dark chocolate layers with chocolate ganache

I would like to cover the white layers with white chocolate ganache but here is where I fall short. I have never made white chocolate ganache and every time I try, it comes out BAD so what would you do for the white layers? and how would you do the swirls?
AND how do you suggest I dont make it come out looking really bad? (hehehe I know that part is on me)

I haven't used it myself, but I've heard that there's a good recipe for homemade white choc fondant and that it tastes pretty good. Perhaps someone with the recipe can post it here for you.

That's an amazing cake BTW.

You could do white chocolate buttercream (just use white chocolate squares instead of unsweetened ones) I think the scrolls are either thinnly rolled fondant or chocolate curls....For sure the bottom tier is chocolate curls. Sorry, Not much help, but its a beautiful cake. I like the contrast between the WHITE and BROWN.

You're post had me laughing, you're too funny!

OK white chocolate ganache....the ratio is different then regular ganache. 3 to 1 choc to cream ratio usually works for me. (use real white choc not candy melts)

For the swirls, I'd roll out the fondant, cut into thin strips and just roll them into the different swirl designs. Attach them to the cake with a bit of "glue" made out of Tylose powder diluted in water.

That's a gorgeous cake, good luck!

when I read your subject "what would you do this for... the first thing i thought was... A KLONDIKE BAR !!

What would you do for a.....

I havent tried the white chocolate fondant, please let me know how it turns out.

I make all my fondant with white chocolate. I don't measure, just dump some in with marshmallow... maybe a cup to a bag of marshmallows.. make it the same besides.
I kids think it's the best thing ever, but no fondant is good to me. it's a texture thing in my book.

Gorgeous cake! I have seen some scroll stencils on the internet. You might check something like that out.

I'm not a big time caker - so take my advice with a grain of salt. But maybe have a back up for the white choc fondant. Everyone seems to love that Satin Ice on here. I've never tried it but if your REALLY nervous about it, I'd opt for a back up plan just in case.

Also - when I actually do a cake, I try to make sure I think of each cake individually. That way, I don't freak myself out by the thought of such a large project.

OH!!!! Time management!!!! Good Luck!!!

Good Luck, you sure have your cake plate full, I'm sure you'll do great.

I just made white chocolate ganache on the weekend, and let me tell you - 2 parts white chocolate to 1 part cream is not enough to withstand the heat of the Australian summer. It set (though not as solid as I'd have liked) in the fridge, then melted in the 15mins it took to drive it to my ister's boyfriend's place. Disaster! Next time I'll definitely go 3 parts white choc to 1 of cream.

That is a stunning cake.....

I would go for cream coloured buttercream for the "white" layers so that the
chocolate curls and scrolls with "stick".

Good luck with your venture and let us see photos of the cake that you make.

I make a really easy white chocolate bc/ cream cheese frosting that might work for you
1/3 melted white chocolate
1/3 butter
1/3 cream cheese
Melt chocolate, let cool to room temp and then mix it with butter and cream cheese - voila! Tasty and easy to make.

wow thank you all so much for your thoughts and the 3:1 ratio really helps but now I am torn... do I do a fondant or do I do a white poured ganache?
hmmmm
well either way to the person in Australia, so sorry to hear that I would have defiantly cursing into my trunk when I got back there to see a puddle of white chocolate! good to know!!
and to the person who said take it one cake at a time rather than one large cake... You know it! that is definitely the way to go - especially since I plan to stack at the church since I will probably have time to do so.

I think the picture does look fondant-y and that would make the swirls easier and matching in color And if I want to stop at the white top tier and then stencil it rather than glitter it it being a form of fondant would really help.

Thanks so much to all of you!!

Okay I have decided not to do ganache for the white, so now I am thinking either making the fondant white chocolate flavored or white chocolate butter cream as egensinnig shared.
I am starting this cake as of monday and can you believe I am still going back and forth on this.... getting frustrated already
thanks for your thoughts in advance
gina

Personally I would do the white choc buttercream made with reg vanilla to give it the cream look. And for the choc I would my pourable chocolate, so that it has that shine. I use 4oz choc to 1/4c butter. Very yummy. I do a thin layer of choc buttercream then pour the choc over. The choc will set up but is not super hard that it cracks when the cake is cut.
hth

thanks and yes I believe that while sitting here looking at the cc articles I am going to do butter cream but I am going to flavor it with some white chocolate since the event is based around chocolate.

thanks and yes I believe that while sitting here looking at the cc articles I am going to do butter cream but I am going to flavor it with some white chocolate since the event is based around chocolate.

here it is thanks for the help and advice

Great job! It's beautiful!

Great Job!!!!

ummm, yeah, that outta build a customer base... WOW! What a fabulous cake! It does reflect the thought you put into creating it. Must have impressed all who saw it.

Gorgeous!

You did a fantastic job. Hats off to you!! Impressive.

oh how stunning! You did a fabulous job!

Oh, yes!!.....thats a match!!
You did a stunning job and it looks great!

I saved this as a favorite before I saw your posts here! It's gorgeous and you did a GREAT job!