Chocolate cake with basil ganache

What a delight to come home from work on Friday and find this in the fridge:

Kurt made chocolate cake with basil ganache for a barbecue he was attending, and he made me my own little portion!

I needed a "real" dinner first, so I walked over to the area around Washington Square and ordered a burrito inside a place that seemed to cater to NYU students. It was pretty forgettable, but I ate it in the park and had a lovely time watching the people pass by and listening to a pianist. (Not sure how he gets the piano in the park? I must investigate.)

This is a part of the city I really haven't done enough to maximize, even though it's pretty close to my apartment. I look forward to spending a lot more time in the park and am curious to see how it changes with the seasons.

After a stop by Gourmet Garage to buy a pint of vanilla Haagen Dasz, I enjoyed my dessert at home. Delicious! Kurt used a storebought cake but made the basil ganache.

It was really quite similar to a mint chocolate flavor. He said you could use any standard chocolate ganache recipe. He just steeped some basil in the cream for a few minutes so it took on the essence of the basil, then melted chocolate in the hot cream. I think one thing that made it so yummy was he used very good chocolate from Li-Lac, the specialty chocolate shop around the corner.

I still feel so lucky to have ended up with such a creative roommate!