Hi, I'm new to baking/decorating - but very excited to dive in. I am making a sports cake for a 50th birthday party. Half is going to be Steelers, the other half Yankees...I am going to attempt to top with a Yankee Hat Cake and baseball on one side, and then a Steeler's Fondant Jersey and football on the other. I've come up with half being chocolate, the other probably cookies and cream. I'm not sure about the filling though... I want to use ganache- but do you use that on every layer, or every other?? Maybe ganache and chocolate buttercream? And does anyone have a great recipe for cookies and cream?

I'm a total ganache fanatic, so I'd use it on every layer. It's delicious and easy to make. I'm also a big fan of internal coherence in cakes, so I like all the fillings to be the same and both layers of each tier to be the same flavor and color. But that's just my obsession!

Would you mind sharing your easy ganche recipe please?? When ever I make it it is always too thin, and never sets up right

Glad to. For dark or milk chocolate, I use 2 parts chocolate to 1 part cream, by weight. So 1 lb. of chocolate for 8 oz. of cream. I also add a glob of butter, because the recipe assumes you use 35%-fat cream, but what I get has a little less. I'll admit I just eyeball it, though - a tablespoon or two for that amount of chocolate, probably. Grate the chocolate or chop it very fine and melt it in the microwave in 20-second bursts, stirring each time. Heat the cream in a saucepan till it's bubbly, then pour it over the melted chocolate and stir till combined. It will be runny at first. You have to let it set up several hours or overnight and it will have the consistency of peanut butter (don't refrigerate - it'll get hard as a rock!). Then it will be nice a spreadabe. If you're using white chocolate, the ratio is 3 parts chocolate to 1 part cream,but the procedure is the same. Hope you enjoy it!

Thank you so much I will save that to my computer!!!!