Ingredients
16 oz. Couverture Chocolate (We use the Guittard couverture in blocks.)
16 oz. Heavy Whipping Cream
Directions
Chop chocolate into small pieces and place into a large metal or glass bowl. In a heavy sauce pan, heat the cream to boiling. Pour the cream over the chocolate and stir gently. Continue stirring to melt the chocolate. Once the chocolate has melted and the mixture is glossy, you can use an immersion blender to more thoroughly mix the ganache and make it smooth.
Let the ganache sit at room temperature to cool.
To prepare the cake, place it on a board the same size as the cake, ice it smoothly with buttercream and refrigerate to chill the icing. The cold cake will help the ganach set on the cake. The ganache will become thicker and thicker as it cools. You want the ganache consistency to be like a very thick paint for pouring. A thicker consistency is needed for spreading and even thicker (but not hard) for whipping. If the ganache gets too cold, re-warm it by placing in a heat-proof bowl over a pan of hot water while stirring. Place a wire cooling grid over a sheet pan so that you can collect the extra ganache that will drip off of the cake. Place the chilled cake onto the cooling grid. Pour the ganache over the top starting at the center and pouring towards the sides. Lightly tap the grid to release any air bubbles.
Refrigerate to set the ganache. Decorate with fresh fruit, dipped strawberries or pipe detailing on with additional ganache. This recipe is enough ganache for a 2 layer 10” cake. Collect the excess and use the extra ganache to make truffles.
Ganache is such a delicious and beautiful icing. How can you go wrong when you are pouring chocolate on a cake? It is used many times on groom’s cakes and on cakes for Valentine’s Day. Usually decorated with fruit or with piped detailing, these cakes are very elegant.
