Evan's Notes

Tag: chocolate

  • Chocolate Ganache

    A delicious, silky – yet dead simple – ganache that’s great for decorating cakes, dipping strawberries, or in any dessert you like.

    Original recipe: https://www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipes/chocolate-ganache/7gzr5egn

    Ingredients

    • 225g good quality eating chocolate – either dark chocolate, or a 50/50 mix of milk and dark
    • 180g double cream
    • 30mL liqueur of your choice, or vanilla essence (I use and recommend Frangelico hazelnut liqueur)

    Method

    1. Chop the chocolate up as fine as you can manage, and place into a mixing bowl (ideally heatproof)
    2. Heat the cream while gently stirring in a saucepan over low-medium heat, until it starts bubbling consistently but not too vigorously
    3. Remove from the heat, and pour the hot cream over the chocolate
    4. Begin gently mixing the cream and chocolate either by hand or with a mixer on its lowest setting – you don’t really want air in it unless you’re going for a whipped ganache
    5. Mix in the liqueur or vanilla

    Notes

    • The original recipe calls for butter, but I find I get a better result by using double cream and omitting the butter
    • DO NOT CHEAP OUT ON THE CHOCOLATE! The deliciousness of the ganache is entirely dependent on the deliciousness of the chocolate! I love the chocolate the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie sells, and their giant 1kg blocks are great value if you’re cooking with it
    • I’ve found this method to be basically foolproof – I’ve never found the chocolate splits or anything
    • Adjust the ratio of cream to chocolate to get different consistencies – this is reasonably thick (ideal for shaping cakes), but you could use less cream for little enrobed ganache balls, or more (double, maybe triple) for a glaze like consistency. Once it’s made you can always simmer more cream and mix it in, but you can’t really add more chocolate easily.
    • By introducing freshly simmered cream to high quality chocolate directly, any pathogens that might be in the cream are killed and the ability of more to grow is severely hampered. Combined with the alcohol, that means this ganache is actually safe at room temperature for a couple of days. Keep it in the fridge if you can though, it’ll be good for much longer that way.

  • Frangelico Chocolate Mud Cake

    A rich, fudgy mud cake that’s amazing decorated, carved, or just on its own, and keeps weeks.

    Original Recipe: https://web.archive.org/web/20190228182813/https://www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipe/chocolate-mud-cake-L1217.html

    Ingredients

    • 250g unsalted butter, chopped
    • 200g good quality eating milk chocolate, chopped (I get mine in delicious 1kg blocks from the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie; use half dark chocolate if you would like it even richer)
    • 450g caster sugar
    • 250mL water
    • 125mL Frangelico hazelnut liqueur
    • 1tsp instant coffee, or half a shot espresso (doesn’t make it taste like coffee, just oomphs up the chocolate flavour)
    • 115g plain flour
    • 115g self raising flour
    • 30g cocoa (replace half with flour if you would like it less rich)
    • 3 eggs

    Method

    1. In a large saucepan (don’t go too small – I use a soup pot!), add the first 6 ingredients (butter, chocolate, water, Frangelico, sugar, coffee).
    2. Melt together over a low heat until sugar is dissolved and butter and chocolate are melted. Allow to cool for 10 minutes.
    3. Sift plain flour, self raising flour and cocoa into a large mixing bowl.
    4. Add the cooled liquid and beat gently.
    5. Add the eggs and mix gently.
    6. Pour mixture into a greased cake tin and bake at 150°C for 1¾ hours or more – aim for 90°-95°C internal temperature.
    7. Allow to cool in the tin thoroughly before removing and decorating.

    Decorating Ideas

    I always pair this with ganache, usually with Frangelico in it too. Coat the outside for a Woollies style mudcake. Layer with ganache to go one further. It takes a mirror glaze or pretty much any icing you might like reasonably well too, if you want something more impressive looking. It carves really well when frozen for shaped cakes, and is dense enough to hold any shape that doesn’t have any sort of cantilevering.

    Notes

    • One quantity is good for a 15-20cm round tin
    • Divide a 1.5 quantity across two tins for a basic 2-layer party cake – more cakes, more fun!
    • Avoid baking more than one quantity per tin – it’s pretty dense so it will be hard to get to cook well
    • This cake to some extent just sets in the middle, rather than fully developing crumb (it’s not raw – 90°C is plenty high enough to pasteurise the eggs so it’s entirely safe)
    • This stuff is RICH – you won’t need much… but it keeps so well you may as well go all out ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
    • The lowish baking temperature means I wouldn’t guarantee the alcohol cooks off, but the amount per slice would be minute
    • Don’t skip the cooling after it’s done – the cake needs the time to set up properly, and will almost certainly sag if you don’t let it
    • Keep in the freezer to aid decorating, but be sure to let it sit in the fridge up to a few days to develop its flavour, and allow to come to room temperature over a few hours before serving
    • Hard to say for sure how long it will last, but I’ve left a container of this cake on the bench, unrefrigerated, for 6 weeks and it was still amazing
    • Microwave in the days following for a delicious rich warm pudding with custard, cream, ice cream, etc

    Updates

    I’m working on some improvements to this recipe, which I will post here if they go well.