Time to brag about a friend and share an amazing recipe with you!

This gorgeous cake is the creation of my friend Jannine Fisk.  I may have blogged about her before in reference to the Topsfield Fair perhaps as that woman has enough ribbons to wall paper her entire house if she felt like it.  She really is an amazing baker and cook and that was just confirmed yet again yesterday when she found out that she won a lovely cash prize coming in first place from Better Recipes.com in their Dazzling Birthday Cakes & Cupcakes Challenge.

Towering Fudge Fantasy Cake by Jannine Fisk

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour four 9 inch round baking pans. Line with parchment and set aside. In a large bowl, stir together all dry ingredients. Add remaining ingredients and beat on medium speed for 3 minutes. Pour half of batter into another bowl and divide remaining batter evenly into four prepared pans. Bake 18-22 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes, then turn out onto racks, removing parchment. Wash and dry pans and repeat process with remaining batter. When finished, you will have eight thin layers. Meanwhile prepare ganache. In a saucepan over medium heat. Warm heavy cream until just boiling. Place semi-sweet chocolate in a large bowl, add instant coffee and pour boiling cream over top. Let sit for 1 minute, then whisk until melted, smooth and silky. Refrigerate 1 hour or until thickened, stirring every 15 minutes. Wash and dry strawberries thoroughly. Set aside 12 whole berries. Remove tops from remaining berries, slice thinly, and set aside. Melt 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate in microwave, then dip whole strawberries 3/4 way into melted chocolate. Let cool on waxed paper in refrigerator. Icing: Mix butter, half and half and vanilla well in a large bowl, then gradually add cocoa and confectioners sugar. Beat until smooth and fluffy. Assemble: Place one cake layer on a platter. Spread with about 1/4 cup ganache and top with next layer. Continue alternating ganache and cake layers, pressing a thin layer of sliced strawberries between every other layer. End with a layer of cake on top. Frost cake, reserving some for decoration. Press crushed chocolate wafers onto sides of cake. Pipe 12 rosettes on top edge of cake, then place chocolate covered strawberries in between. Sprinkle center with chocolate shavings and curls. Decorate bottom edge with remaining icing.

Notes: Baking the layers individually eliminates the difficult and tricky process of dividing the layers horizontally with a knife. This process ensures they are an even thickness so there is less of a chance of the cake leaning to one side.

Number of Servings: 12