baking

How To Make Chocolate Ganache

- Alex 2 Comments

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Very often I don’t bother icing cakes because I am lazy. Making icing takes time, putting it on the cake takes time (and it takes even more time if you want it to all look pretty) and actually, washing up from the icing making takes time and effort.

However, most cakes are actually better if you do bother. And it might come as a surprise to know that making a chocolate ganache is much quicker than messing around with icing sugar.

Firstly, you have to commit yourself to paying a little bit of attention because you are going to microwave your chocolate. If we were to start using a bain-marie for this, it would take a long time and we’re here to be quick.

These quantities make enough chocolate ganache for a 1lb loaf cake but would also do for a 23cm round cake.

Take 50g of dark chocolate and 50g of unsalted butter, chopped, and melt in the microwave. I do this in 30 second bursts on full power and I hover by the microwave, keeping a beady eye on what is going on. After each burst, I give the chocolate and butter a stir and decide whether or not it needs another full 30 seconds or not. I suggest the first time you do this, you check more often than you think. If you melt chocolate this way regularly enough you’ll get a feel for it – but a mid-melt stir or two remains essential.

Allow the chocolate and butter mix to cool slightly and then stir in one generous tablespoon of pure (NOT thickened!) cream. Give it a really good stir – the mixture will start to thicken and in no time it will be at the right consistency to spread on your cake.

There may even be a little left for a taste test of your own …

Chocolate Brownies

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It’s been a while since I’ve had an opportunity to try out another brownie recipe, but a family lunch at Easter provided the perfect excuse to tick a recipe off the list. This one comes from Chocablog, which, not surprisingly, is a blog all about chocolate. Although based in the UK, Chocablog has contributors around the world – and the Australian correspondent is based in Adelaide!

This recipe was excellent. The brownie comes out all fudgy and dense (and chocolatey, of course), but the crust is a proper crust – crisp when you bite into it but deliciously chewy. I rate this as a contender for best brownie recipe yet. Note that I say contender only, as I am yet to try it out on the Brownie Approval Panel.

Preheat oven to 160°C (I used it on the fan setting) and line your baking dish (something roughly 18cm square – I found my trusty roasting pan did the trick) with baking paper.

Begin by melting together 140g unsalted butter and 200g good quality dark chocolate. As always, I did this in the microwave, but on the stove in a double boiler will work too (it will just take you longer).

The chocolate and butter goes into the KitchenAid (flat beater attached) and beat in 200g of light brown sugar. Beat this in really well – the mixture should be smooth and glossy, not at all grainy. Add 2tsp of vanilla extract and a generous pinch of salt and then beat in three eggs, one at a time. Finish with 85g of plain flour (not self raising, plain). Beat really well – the mixture eventually will turn into a sort of cross between a butter cream and a chocolate mousse. It’s quite light in colour but don’t let that worry you – the finished product will be appropriately chocolatey.

Resist the temptation to gobble it all down. Although it tastes really good, it’ll probably make you feel a bit ill if you eat it all!

Finish by folding in 75g of roughly chopped walnuts (or other nut of choice … and I’m even tempted to try caramel chocolate), then spoon it into your baking dish and bake for 40 minutes. A toothpick should come out a bit moist and crumbly, but not covered in batter.

When cool, slice and enjoy. Ensure you nab one of the pieces with edges on it because they’re definitely the best bit!

You can find a collection of our chocolate brownie recipes here.

Dan Lepard’s Toll House Yo-Yos

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One of my Christmas presents was Dan Lepard‘s new book Short and Sweet. I’m a huge fan of his thanks to his column in the Guardian – his recipes never seem to go wrong.

I’ve made these toll house yo-yos before and I have mucked around with the recipe a bit – mainly because the original makes use of custard powder and this is something we never have in the house.

These are easy to make and you can pretend they’re healthy, as they contain oats. In addition, you can make the mixture up, wrap it in cling film and freeze it for when you need it.

Grind 75g of rolled oats to a powder.

Then beat 150g unsalted butter with 175g of icing sugar, until light and creamy. Add 175g of plain flour, the ground oats, 2 tsp vanilla essence and 2-4 tbsp of milk (enough to bring the mixture together). Finish by adding 150g of dark chocolate, broken up. Lepard says to cut the chocolate into ½ cm chips. I am way too impatient for that type of thing. Typically, I roughly chop the chocolate and then throw it into the MagiMix. However, I think this is the wrong approach. You are better off using a stand mixer to make the biscuits (yes, you’ll need to make sure you butter is slightly soft and not rock hard out of the fridge) and mixing in good quality dark chocolate chips/buttons at the end.

Why?

Because if you use my slap dash approach, you end up with biscuits that have a kind of uniform brown background to them, and if you take a bit more time, you’ll have cream biscuits attractively studded with chocolate.

However you get there, roll your dough into a log approximately 5cm in diameter, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for around ½ an hour.

When you’re ready to cook, preheat your oven to 180°C, line a baking sheet with baking paper and simply cut your log into discs 1-1½ cm thick.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden and cool on a baking rack. Dan Lepard sandwiches the biscuits together with an icing made from icing sugar, vanilla essence and milk. I am FAR too lazy health conscious for that! The biscuits are perfectly good to eat without sandwiching!