Chocolate Ganache

Heard of Ganache? (to be pronounced as ganaash) It is a spread or filling or icing made from heavy cream and chocolate. It is smooth & velvety! It is very very easy to make! They are different ways of making the Ganache. It can be a thick paste, or a semi-liquid. 

Ingredients

Heavy Cream/ Whipping Cream - 200 ml

Semi-Sweet Chocolate** - 200 grams (cut into small pieces)

Unsalted Butter - 2 tablespoons

Rum/Brandy - 1 tablespoon (optional)

** You get chocolate slabs in the market. Do not use any of the already cooked & sold (?) chocolates like Diary Milk, Hershey's etc.

Method 1

1. Break chocolate into small pieces & set aside. Heat the heavy whipping cream and the butter together in a saucepan over medium flame.

2. When it starts boiling, switch off the stove & pour the cream all over the broken chocolate

3. Allow to to stand for a minute or two.

4. Stir it gently with a wire whisk or a spatula. Don't beat to fast as you'll incorporate air into the ganache making it too thin.

5. If you want, you can add your brandy here! I skipped coz I haven't & will never touch alcohol! :D :P

6. Keep whisking it till you get a nice mixture. If it is too liquid-y, let it set for some time. It'll become thick. Depends upon what you want to use it for. If you want it as a filling for a truffle, you'll need it to be like a thick paste. In such cases, it helps to even keep the ganache in the refrigerator for 30 minutes! :-)

7. If the ganache is too thick, just keep the vessel containing Ganache on warm water. It'll start melting. You can whisk it once more & pour! :-

8. The measurements I've given makes enough ganache to cover a 9 inch cake twice! :-)

unfortunately, I didn't click pics for every step when I made the Ganache because I was in a hurry! But I promise some great pics the next time! :-)

METHOD 2

Got this from a cookbook

1. Break the chocolate into small pieces. Put them in a bowl.

2. Boil water in another vessel.

3. When the water boils, place the bowl with chocolate pieces on the boiling water.

4. Constantly stir the chocolate or it'll get burnt. Also add the butter to the chocolate

5. Once the chocolate has completely melted, check the temperature to be not more than 85-90 C.

6. Pour the chocolate onto cold whipping (heavy) cream.

7. Keep whipping it continuously for about 10 minutes with a manual whipper or about 5 minutes with an electric one.

8. Your Ganache is ready! :-)

If anyone has tried Method number 2, do let me know! I haven't tried it yet! 

So, now that we know how to make Chocolate Ganache, lets proceed decorating our Vanilla cake. :-) Oh, not here! You'll have to wait until the next post! :-P