Chocolate ganache on a vanilla sponge. What filling please?

[Cucumberscarecrow]

My soon to be 3 yo wants a vanilla sponge cake with a chocolate ganache for his birthday (a candle cake with white on the inside and brown on the outside were the precise instructions). Will that be okay? If so, what filling should I use?

More choc ganache or a jam /mArmalade if he likes chocolate orange

Thanks Molly. Jam / marmalade might look better when the cake is cut. Will have to sound him out on marmalade.

How about a raspberry mousse? It's very pink, but tasty - and works well with chocolate and vanilla.

Ooh, that sounds lovely and a little bit different. I've never made a mousse before though. Will it add much work? Can I still finish the cake the day before the party if I use mousse?

Depending on your type of ganche (one is whipped and one isn't) 'mousse' can be just a whipped ganache or whipped, flavoured cream.

You can finish the cake a couple of days before the party if you like! Ingredients which aren't stable in ambient temperatures such as cream will (obviously) need to be stored in a fridge but that's all you need to worry about!

And remember, if he's only specified 'brown' for the outside, it doesn't have to be chocolate! It could just be brown coloured- that might open up your flavour options a bit

Also, it can have the same thing on the inside and the outside!

Thank you Eden. Lots of helpful thoughts there.

Raspberry mousse is easy to make. I've used this recipe for when I've made it:

Raspberry mousse:
150 g frozen or fresh raspberries
75 g sugar
50 ml water
Maizena/corn starch
1 tsp vanilla sugar (to taste - you can use extract instead)
150 ml whipping cream

Cook raspberries, sugar, water and vanilla until the raspberries are losing their shape. Dissolve corn starch in a bit of water and add it to the raspberries to thicken. Leave to cool down completely. Whip cream and fold in the raspberries, a bit at a time.

This might make too much for your cake (as far as I remember, I had loads left for my cake) - so you can halve the recipe (or use the leftover mousse on top of the cake or for something else.
You can make it the day before no problem, or you can cook the berries the day before, let it cool in the fridge overnight and mix whipped cream and berries on the day.

You can use other berries if you want to.

Could you set orange jelly in the tin the cake was cooked in, so you have a Jaffa cake-y middle?

Thanks Vibbe for the recipe. I am torn now as I like the sound of an orange jelly Jaffa-style cake.

Do you think both fillings will be okay with vanilla sponge or should I do a basic sponge?

You can go for a whichever sponge you like - I don't think it will matter much.