Award-Winning Chocolate Cake Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened, plus additional for pan
• 3 cups Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 8 large eggs, cold
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup ghirardelli milk chocolate chips
• 2 ounces ghirardelli white chocolate baking bar, chilled

Directions

1. 1

   Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. 2

   Arrange rack in center of oven. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9 by 2-inch round cake pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.

3. 3

   Melt butter and semisweet chocolate chips over double boiler until smooth; cool slightly. Meanwhile, with a hand mixer or in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whip attachment, whip eggs and salt on medium speed until doubled in volume, about 5 minutes.

4. 4

   Gently fold, in thirds, whipped eggs into melted chocolate.

5. 5

   Pour batter into prepared cake pan and place pan in water bath. Bake until the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan and is set in the center, about 40 minutes. Remove pan from water bath to a cooling rack and cool cake completely in pan. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

6. 6

   To remove cake, dip the bottom and halfway up the sides of the pan in warm water and run a thin metal spatula around the inside of the pan. Invert onto a plate to unmold, remove parchment paper.

7. 7

   To prepare ganache, bring heavy cream to a simmer and pour over milk chocolate chips. Stir gently until smooth; cool slightly.

8. 8

   Pour ganache over top of cake and spread with an offset spatula to evenly cover. (There will be some ganache leftover.).

9. 9

   Chill cake until ganache sets, about 30 minutes. To garnish, use vegetable peeler or grater to grate white chocolate bar into curls or shavings onto top of cake.

10. 10

    * Note: It's recommended that the cake be refrigerated overnight before frosting.