The Basic Ganache

If you’ve never made ganache…PLEASE don’t be intimidated!

I love ganache for the following reasons:

1.) It’s fantastically easy

2.) It sounds fancy

3.) It’s shiny and gorgeous

The majority of my ganache ends up on top of cheesecakes, however you can whip it to frost and pipe cupcakes, and even use it to roll up some gorgeous truffles.

I’m going to focus this post on topping a cheesecake…I just happened to have one in the fridge

Ingredients:

12 oz. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate

1 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 tablespoon liquor of extract (optional)

Directions:

Start by chopping the chocolate into small pieces. Place in a heat proof bowl.

 

 

In a medium pot, bring the heavy cream and butter slowly to a boil. Right when it starts to boil, pour the cream over the chocolate and let it set for a few minutes WITHOUT stirring.

 

Gently stir the cream into the chocolate, being careful not to whip or incorporate a lot of air into the ganache.

If desired, add the 1 tablespoon of liquor or vanilla extract. I used a tablespoon of Bailey’s Hazelnut Liquor for this one.

 

While the ganache is still warm, ladle on to the top of a very well-chilled cheesecake.

 

Using a long metal icing spatula, sweep the ganache from the center out to the sides, allowing it to cascade over the edges of the cake.

Take your spatula vertical and smooth out the ganache on the sides, adding more if necessary.

Alternately, if you’d like ganache only on the top of your cake, you can stop short of letting it cascade over or pipe decoration along the edges and let ganache pool in the middle.

 

Allow the ganache a few hours to set up. If your cheesecake, or regular cake, was cooled or chilled before adding the ganache it will stay nice and shiny. Place in the refrigerator to set more quickly.

Signing Off,

Modern Mrs. Cleaver