Chocolate Espresso Fudge Cake

So here's the deal.  I don't post a lot because I'm waiting to make something worth posting or getting the right picture of it to post.  I'm done with all that.  The great food bloggers of today did not start out perfect.  This is a total learning process.  Practice.  Failure.  Success.  It really doesn't matter.

I look at the blogs that I love and they have three things in common.  Great food/recipes, great pictures, and personality!  Speaking of personality this recipe comes from Jen at Use Real Butter.  Yes, she posts STUNNING pictures and amazing food but she is also super witty and is a great read.  

The moral of my disjointed story?  Blog readers come to a blog to see a great recipes and pictures and stay for the person.  So here I am world!  I'm a 22 year old working a 9-5 in Florida.  I love to dance and bake.  If I go a week without baking something I get a little crazy...just ask my family!

So without hesitation I present to you the Chocolate Espresso Fudge Cake...

This cake came together very nicely.  Of course, as usual, I started it after dinner and was putting on the final touches after midnight.  

I think my favorite part of this cake (besides the icing pattern on top!) was the textural difference between the buttercream and the ganache.  The middle layer was iced with the ganache.  It just had a thick, decadent taste and feel to it.  I used 60% dark chocolate for the ganache.  It was a good choice.  It kept it rich without being overwhelmingly sweet.  

The dots on the top were just fun to eat as the smooth and creamy buttercream combined with the think, rich ganache.

A piped ring of buttercream was a must to keep the ganache from escaping.

Crumb coat!

I used my cake leveler to make a grid for piping the top.  

My grid wasn't perfect but it was close enough.  

I was so happy with this cake.  It is one of the prettiest things I've ever made (in my opinion) and it tasted of pure happy.  If you ever try it you won't be disappointed!