Tag: chocolate

The sort of ganache you will make depends on what you want to use it for. It’s a question of proportion between the chocolate and heavy cream. These proportions are based on weight.

– Layer cake filling and thick glaze: 1:1, equal parts chocolate and cream.
– Chocolate truffles: 2:1, two parts chocolate to one part cream.
– Soft icing and pourable glaze: 1:2, one part chocolate to two parts cream.

1. Weigh out the amount of chocolate called for in your recipe. If you aren’t following a recipe, start with a small amount and make more as needed.
2. Based on the ratio chart above and how you’re intending to use the ganache, weigh the amount of cream needed for the ganache in a separate bowl.
3. Pour the cream into a double-boiler. It just needs to get hot. The cream is ready when you can place a finger in the cream and keep it there for 3 to 4 seconds. Turn off the flame and remove the cream from the stove.
4. Chop the chocolate into fine pieces while the cream is heating.
5. Scoop the chocolate into the cream. Stir gently to distribute the chocolate through the cream and then let it sit for a few minutes to give the chocolate time to soften and melt.
6. With a spatula or wooden spoon, stir the ganache. At first it might look spotty and broken but keep stirring until it comes together in a creamy mass.
7. Cool the ganache:
– If you plan on pouring the ganache over a cake, pie, or pastry, it will need to be loose enough to flow but thickened enough to stay on the pastry.
– To whip the ganache for frosting or for layer cake filling, cool the ganache until it is thick, but still soft, and then beat in a stand mixer or with a hand held mixer, until the ganache is fluffy and has lightened in color, about 1 or 2 minutes.
– To use the ganache make truffles, you may need to set the pan in the refrigerator so the ganache cools. Remove the pan every 5 minutes or so and stir so that the ganache cools evenly. As the chocolate begins to stiffen, stir it more frequently — it will go from soft to very hard quite suddenly. If this happens, soften the ganache over gently simmering water, stirring until you’ve reached the right consistency again.

2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk (*)
1 cup strong black coffee
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

(*) Buttermilk can be substituted by adding 1 tbsp vinegar to 1 cup milk and letting stand for 5 minutes.

DIRECTIONS:
1. Heat oven to 175C. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or in a large bowl with an electric mixer, combine the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix on low until dry ingredients are thoroughly combined. Add eggs, buttermilk, coffee, oil and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for about two minutes; the batter will be thin. Pour batter evenly into prepared pans.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.
4. Frost as desired. You can either use the coffee mascarpone filling as described below or glaze with a simple ganache.

Coffee mascarpone filling/icing

500g tubs mascarpone
85g golden caster sugar
4 tbsp very strong coffee
50g dark chocolate, for grating

Beat the mascarpone and sugar together, then beat in the coffee. Use half the mix to sandwich the cakes and spread the other half over the top, swirling with the back of a spoon to make pointy curls. Finely grate the chocolate over the top, then serve.

Ingredients

1 cup high quality coffee beans
125g chocolate (dark or milk, to your preference)
3 tbsp cocoa powder (optional)

Method

Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Spead the beans on a baking sheet and roast them for 8 to 10 minutes. Let them cool to room temp.

Melt chocolate in a double-boiler until smooth.

Mix the beans into the chocolate and stir gently until well coated.

Remove the beans with a slotted spoon (or two forks) and let the excess chocolate drip. Spread out the beans on a piece of grease-proof paper so that they don’t touch each other. When the beans have cooled sufficiently but the chocolate is still malleable, roll the beans to form small balls.

Optional: dust the balls with cocoa powder and set aside until completely firmed up.

Alternatively, make a bark!

Roast the beans as previously described. Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Melt 200g milk chocolate and 200g dark chocolate separately then allow to cool slightly.

Pour most of the chocolate onto the tray, roughly swirling together. Sprinkle over the coffee beans, then drizzle over the remaining chocolate. Optionallydust with cocoa powder and cane sugar. Chill until set, then break into big chunks before serving.

Ingredients

200g dark chocolate
200g milk chocolate
150ml double cream
28g / 2tbsp butter
5-6 tbsp you favourite cream liqueur (baileys,  tia Maria,  etc)

Directions

In a heatproof bowl set over simmering water, heat the cream until hot to the touch and turn off the heat. Meanwhile, chop the chocolate into small pieces. Add the chocolate and butter to the hot cream, and stir until the chocolate melts. Let the mix cool down a bit and stir in booze.  Line a square tin with parchment paper and spread chocolate mix.  Leave to set in the fridge for a couple of hours.

When set,  cut into 1 inch square cubes.  Truffles can either be dusted with cocoa powder or dipped into tempered chocolate to make a hard chocolate shell.

To make the tempered chocolate, chop the 400 grams of milk chocolate and place 3/4 of it in a small glass bowl in the microwave for 20 seconds exactly. Stir the chocolate and continue to microwave for 20 seconds at a time, stirring in between, until the chocolate is smooth and shiny. Add the remaining 1/4 of the chocolate and stir until smooth.

With 2 small spoons, pick up each true and cover it with tempered chocolate. (You can also use your hands to coat them.) They can look a little messy and “truffle” like. Place the truffle back on the parchment paper. Continue to coat each of the truffles until they’re all coated with milk chocolate. Allow to sit for a few minutes until the chocolate hardens. Serve at room temperature.