I have a couple more cake questions if someone has a mo

[lucysmam]

Firstly; I am going to make a chocolate cake for MIL for her birthday. The recipe I have found on the internet says it's lovely topped with ganache (sp?), but what is ganache? & is it difficult to make?

Secondly; the 'drizzle' you pour onto a lemon drizzle cake that all the recipes I have come across say should go crunchy, never seems crunchy. How do you do it so it is crunchy?

Thanks very much

spelling is correct
not sure what ganache is or how to describe it but here is a link for you and there might be a recipe too? hth xx

Is it the sugar which makes it crunchy? I just put lemon juice and sugar on mine - think it is a bit crunchy. Maybe use coarser sugar (ie not caster)?

Ganache info here - not that I've ever made it

ganache is just double cream heated up and mixed with melted chocolate, so a cream and chocolate mix.

If you do a google you should find some good simple instructions for making it.

I sometimes just whip up the cream and add the melted chocolate for a variation, not quite the same as ganache,more like moose, but easy to make.

You get the crunchy bits by cooking the syrup for quite a long time, it's like making sweets, the sugar needs to reach a certain temperature and this affects the texture it cools to.

Thank-you. I'll try cooking the syrup for a bit longer if that's all it is. I didn't realise if it cooked longer it's texture changed.

Will have a google for ganache when the lo is in bed if it's really that simple! Looking forward to trying the cake before it's even cooked

I don't cook the drizzle on my LDC. I just mix lemmon juice with granulated sugar - that makes it lovely and crunchy once it has set.

will try it that way Cadbury, sounds like a lot less faffing around. If that doesn't work then will try heating it again.

Gives me a good excuse to make more cakes that way

Hello,
lemon drizzle topping I do is just juice of 1 lemon (2 Tbsps) and 4 oz sugar. Mix them together and quickly pour it on the top of a still warm sponge.

aaaaah, maybe the quantities are a bit wrong for the size of my cakes!

I'm going to try out everything suggested here at some point so thanks teasleepfood, will write oyour way down as well. BTW, love yur name