Saturday, January 2, 2010

Ganache

Ganache is made when hot cream is poured over chopped chocolate and the mixture is stirred until chocolate is melted and is velvety smooth. The proportions of chocolate to cream can vary depending on its use, and you can use dark, milk, or white chocolate and add different flavorings such as liqueurs and extracts to make Ganache variations.

This ganache can be used as a filling in between cake layers, as a sauce to sindaes,as a glaze to cakes, as truffles with chopped nuts and to use as a fondue to coat fruits. Here, I have used it to coat strawberry which serves as dessert for tonights party! Can't wait to get these plump goodness!

Ingredients
Makes about 1&1/2 cup of ganache

8 ounces semisweet chocolate - shredded into pieces
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tbsp liqueur (optional, like grand marnier, kahlua, etc)

Method
Place the chopped chocolate in a medium sized bowl and set aside.
Heat the cream and butter in a heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Bring it to a warm but not boil (making sure to not over-heat).
Now pour the cream into the chocolate and whisk until smooth. Add the liqueur to flavor the ganache.

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