Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

Could you use stork instead of butter? I have used stork for many years since my nan taught me to bake. I tried using butter but always went back to the stork. Also you baked two different sized cakes for the same amount of time yet they seamed to have baked perfectly, all the recipe books I have give longer baking times the larger the cake. I’m glad you freeze your cakes as I have done this in the past but I usually do this after filling and covering with buttercream (will be trying ganache from now on, to avoid that problem with bellowing out round the cake) .

Hello Petticoats

The recipe really does need butter. Stork margarine would make the crumb far too soft. Butter also helps the structure to be more solid for carving purposes.
Both cakes are fine baked together providing they are both the same depth. The overall heat distribution in the oven will allow both cakes to bake equally at the same time.
If you type in the above search box ‘freezing cake’ you’ll see many answers related to storing ganached cakes for freezing and how to defrost.
If you’d like help with ganache quantites, my ganache chart is here:
http://www.cakeflix.com/blog/how-to-ganache-cakes-without-gnashing-your-teeth
The quantites are based on a cake cut in half filled and covered. If you cut your cakes into three just increase the quantites by approx 25% or make a little more up if you run short.
To learn a little about ganache shelf life take a peek here:
http://www.cakeflix.com/blog/the-shelf-life-of-ganache-by-madeitwithlove

Happy ganaching!