The Miracle and Cakes 18 and 21

Tropical Chocolate Cake
with White Chocolate Ganache Frosting
 and Coconut on Top

   Mysteriously, miraculously my very own copy of 150 Chocolate Cakes has appeared in my mailbox!  Couldn't be more pleased or more grateful.  I have no idea who did me this gigantic kindness, but whoever you are, thank you very, very much.
    We had Rastafarian Friday at work, so I made Nigella Lawson's Tropical Chocolate Cake, page 284, in her Feast book.  The book is incidentally an excellently superb resource to have on one's shelf, supplying ideas and recipes for just about any occasion.  Nigella flavors her delightful chocolate cake with rum, but making it for work, fruit juice had to do instead.  She describes the cake as flat, so I added an extra egg.  And I decided to make cupcakes this time, just because.  The pineapple in this cake gives it a moist, fresh flavor that I love. The frosting was a little out of my depth.  Although I made it twice, the texture remained a little on the runny side, a frosting-maker's skill issue, to be sure.  Even so, no one complained, and Chocolate Cake #18 went well with Reggae music and a sweet island menu including jerk chicken wings, coconut bread, pineapple upside down cake, and a red hibiscus drink. Overall, a good day to show up in the break room.
  Cake # 21 - Tropical Chocolate Cake, again, because I just can't quite leave this one alone.  This time I did include the coconut flavored rum just like Nigella, and like Nigella, I thought it was a great ingredient.  This is definitely a make-again recipe.  For the frosting, this time it was Michelle Urvater's White Chocolate Ganache sprinkled with coconut, which worked well for me on the first try.    I'm soft for a frosting with a butter or cream base and can't wait to make this cake again  and ice it just this way.  It's the perfect confection when you are longing for the tropics.