Paula Deen's Chocolate Ganache Cake

This is from Paula Deen's magazine called Holiday Baking from 2007.It is amazing!I love the store bought cakes that have the buttercream icing and this is just like it,plus an added bonus of ganache over the top.This will be my new birthday cake to make every year! I didn't use buttermilk I used milk with lemon juice.For the 1/3 cup buttermilk called for I added 1 tsp of lemon juice to the milk. Prep time does not include freezer time

• Ready In: 52 mins
• Serves: 16
• Yields: 1 cake

Ingredients

• Cake

• 1⁄2 cup butter, softened
• 1⁄2 cup vegetable shortening
• 2  cups sugar
• 4  eggs, separated
• 3  cups flour
• 2  teaspoons baking powder
• 1⁄2 cup  whole milk
• 1⁄3 cup buttermilk, plus
• 1  tablespoon buttermilk
• 1⁄4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2  tablespoons vanilla

• Vanilla Buttercream

• 1 1⁄2 cups butter, softened
• 1  cup vegetable shortening
• 8  cups icing sugar
• 2  teaspoons vanilla

• Chocolate Ganache

• 3⁄4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 5 (1 ounce)  squares  semisweet chocolate

Directions

1. Cake:
2. Preheat oven to 350°F.
3. Grease and flour 3 (9 inch) cake pans.
4. In a large bowl,beat butter and shortening at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy.
5. Add sugar,beating until fluffy.
6. Add egg yolks,one at a time,beating well after each addition.
7. In a medium bowl,combine flour and baking powder.
8. In a small bowl,combine milk,buttermilk,cream and vanilla.
9. Add flour mixture to butter mixture,alternately with milk mixture,beginning amd ending with flour mixture,beating until just combined.
10. In a medium bowl,beat egg whites at medium speed with an electric mixer until stiff.
11. Gently fold egg whites into batter.
12. Spoon batter evenly into prepared pans.
13. Bake for 22-24 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes clean.
14. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes.
15. Remove from pans and cool completely on wire racks.
16. Spread Vanilla Buttercream in between layers and on top and sides of cake.
17. Place cake in freezer for 30 minutes.
18. Pour warm ganacheover top of cake letting it run down sides.
19. Garnish with chocolate covered strawberries if desired.
20. Vanilla Buttercream:
21. In a large bowl,beat butter and shortening at medium speed with a electric mixer until creamy.
22. Gradually beat in icing sugar until smooth.
23. Beat in vanilla.
24. Chocolate Ganache:
25. In a medium bowl combine cream and chocolate.
26. Microwave on high in 30 second intervals,stirring between each,until chocolate is melted and smooth(about 2 minutes).
27. Let cool for 10 minutes.