Basic Ganache

Sharlene~W's Note:

How to use ganache: Truffles, ice cream sauce, chocolate fondue, hot cocoa (heat 1 cup milk per serving and stir in about 1 tablesoon ganache), chocolate glaze, frosting (beat in 1/2 cup soft butter). The proportion of cream to chocolate in this recipe is right for semisweet or mildly bittersweet chocolates--not the darker eating chocolates (higher than about 60% cacao). For darker chocolates, use more cream.

• Total Time: 12 mins
• Prep Time: 7 mins
• Cook Time: 5 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 2 cups

• 12 ounces good-qualitysemi-sweet chocolate chips or 12 ounces semisweet chocolate or 12 ounces bittersweet chocolate , bar,cut or broken into bits
• 1 cup whipping cream

Directions:

1. Put chocolate into heavy bowl.
2. Heat cream in saucepan over medium heat just until bubbles form around pan.
3. Slowly pour hot cream into chocolate, stirring constantly.
4. Do not whip--stir until chocolate is melted and you have a creamy emulsion.
5. Store in covered container in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Reviews

[Mommy2two]

Taste was as expected, considering the chocolate I used. It was a little grainy, but that also could have been the chocolate I used. Great easy recipe, thanks!**Update 18 Sep 2010: I used this recipe again and instead of stirring as I poured the cream over the chocolate, I let it sit for a few minutes to melt the chocolate. After the chocolate had a chance to melt, I stirred it together and continued to stir it until it became glossy. I stirred it off-and-on after that for about an hour (as my cake was cooling) and this time I didn't have any problem with graininess. This is a really great recipe for topping cake--thanks!!**Update again--I don't know what happened to my stars, but I came back to put them back on this rating! :-)

[Halcyon Eve]

The ganache was very tasty, but I had some trouble with it. It hardened up pretty fast, and it was brittle and cracked pretty badly when cutting the cake. I used Valrhona extra bittersweet (71% cacao) and a high-butterfat organic cream, but since the recipe didn't specify how much more to use, I didn't increase the amount of cream. I don't think that would've caused it to be too brittle, though? Other than that, the taste was excellent--with the chocolate I used, it was rich but not too sweet, and it was perfect with the rich, black Devil's Food cake I'd made. Thanks for posting, Sharlene!

[PickyEatersRUs]

Wonderful and easy ganache recipe. I had never made before and it turned out great. I used it to frost a truffle cheesecake and make mini truffles to go on top. Thank you.