Easy Ganache

Hello and WELCOME to my new subscribers!  It is so good to see you all, it has been a little but but I know you all understand "life".  It is all going a million miles an hour and I love it, mostly!

I wanted to share my easy ganache recipe.  It really is a basic that I should have shared long, long ago.  It is the glorious ingredient in so many things and it is the crowning glory of so many more!

I will show you in the video, how to use my ganache 3 ways.  Glazed topping, whipped frosting, and truffles!

You can double or triple this recipe depending on what you are doing and how much you need.   I ALWAYS use semi sweet chocolate chips.  Here we go!

2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

In a bowl, place your chips.  Then, either on your stove top or in the microwave, scald your heavy cream.  That means you need it to be bubbling around the outside but not boiling.  Pour it carefully over the chips, make sure they are all submerged and wait 2 minutes.  Let the heat of the cream work and then take a whisk and start mixing slowly.  You aren't looking to incorporate air, just mix the chocolate and cream together.  When it is smooth, add your vanilla.  Now.....

You can immediate dip cupcakes, or donuts, eclairs, cream puffs, etc in the ganache after letting it set about 5 to 10 more minutes.  

You can let it cool in the fridge, like over night.  Take a hand mixer to it and whip it.  You can see it changing color to a lighter brown as air incorporates and it basically transforms to the most decadent silky chocolate whipped cream you have ever been blessed enough to indulge in!  Pipe it on or spread it between cake layers, frost cakes, cupcakes, eat it with a spoon.  I would NEVER do that, but...I mean I have done it and highly recommend it!

Last of my choices is truffles.  Let it get really solid, use a small cookie scoop or spoon, roll into balls and then roll in anything...crushed chocolate candies, nuts, coconut, cocoa, powdered sugar, maybe stick a surprise in the center!

Here is a link to my video.  Make sure to subscribe, I would LOVE to have you!  

ENJOY!

Boston Cream Cupcakes

Hello, hello, we must KEEP meeting like this!  You stop in, I have sweet treats, we chat in the comments below, we discuss, and we do it again a couple of days later!  Let's never stop!

Speaking of sweet treats.  I asked you all on Facebook if you prefer regular cake or cupcakes.  You know I have a cupcake addictions so it is obvious what my choice is.   I like single servings and I like freezable.  I can make a batch of cupcakes, freeze half of them and have something quick for company, etc. 

I was telling my husband how I was hungry for Boston Cream Pie and he said, "make Boston Cream CUPCAKES"!   He explained how he would do them, and so that is what I did! They are so simple but SO good!  Thanks honey, you, as per usual, are the BOMB! As my friend Becca would say, " I puffy heart you "!

Enjoy these cupcakes as much as we did. 

1 yellow cake mix
1 3.4 ounce box of JELLO instant vanilla pudding
2 tsp. vanilla extract
6 ounces milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tbsp. butter

Mix up cake mix and preheat oven to whatever temperature the box cake mix suggests.  After you have mixed it up, per the box instructions add 2 tsps. vanilla and mix until combined.  Line cupcake pan with liners and divide cake batter among them.  It always says you will get 24, I get 21, every, single, stinkin, time.  When you are done, again, bake at the time suggested.  Mine took 20 minutes.

Let cool COMPLETELY.

Mix up your pudding.  Use 1/2 cup less than the package suggests for regular pudding.  I like my pudding filling to be a bit stiffer/sturdier then normal.  Refrigerate until ready to fill.

Using a tip with a piping bag, or a spoon to dig out the middle and fill, get those babies filled with pudding.  If you are using a rip and a piping bag, stick the tip almost to the bottom and squeeze slowly until you see it is filled.  If you are using a spoon, dig out a big of the middle, fill and replace cake you pulled out!  There are fancy tools for this, but I find them completely annoying. 

Next make your ganache.  Bring you heavy cream to barely a simmer, and pour it over your chocolate chips that you have put into a bowl.  DO NOT TOUCH IT.  Let the hot cream sit on the chocolate for 1 minutes.  Whisk until all chocolate is melted, drop in 1 T of butter and stir until melted.  Let your ganache sit for 5 minutes.  Then spoon over the tops of your cuppycakes!

You can let them sit for an hour at room temperature OR chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Cupcake heaven!

ENJOY!

Ho Ho Cake

Do you have ANY idea how juvenile my husband and I can be?  Oh, yea, we can be.  We just do it in the privacy of our own home!   Can you imagine the names we came up with for this cake?  I could get into detail but I will spare you the ridiculousness. 

I had never made a cake roll and it has been just screaming at me to do!  So here it is, the first one ever, that I have done.  I know a traditional HOHO or SWISS CAKE ROLL probably doesn't use a milk chocolate ganache, but can I just tell you how AH-MAZEBALLS it was on this cake?  Notice I use the past tense, because this baby was shared, and devoured!  I wanted to just experiment and give this a go, and low and behold, it was so easy.  You may get discouraged by the length of the directions.  It is a few more steps, but NOT at all hard in any way.  Just prep work to make it turn out as lovely as you had hoped! 

You can choose to just dust it with powdered sugar or cocoa.  You could eve just drizzle it with some chocolate or leave it plain.  That is all in your hands, you decide, but my HOHO Cake had to be as close to the read deal as I could get!  Now get to it!!

CAKE:
4 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
3 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Sift together flour and cocoa powder into a bowl.  Set aside.  In a heat safe bowl whisk together eggs and sugar until combined.  Place over a pot of water water and whisk until it begins to warm the mixture.  Switch to an electric mixer and continue to beat constantly until it has tripled in volume (or close to it!)  Remove from the heat, and gently fold in the flour/cocoa mixture. 

Prep your pan, a 12x16 jelly roll/cookie sheet pan.  Spray with nonstick spray, lay a piece of parchment on the bottom to cover the entire bottom and then spray again.  Spoon mixture into the pan and smooth until even.  Bake for 7-9 minutes or until the cake springs back in the center when slightly pushed in.  Remove and let cool 5 minutes.

While it is cooling, lay out on your counter or table a lint free dish towel.  Dust with cocoa powder and flip the cake out until the towel.  Carefully roll the cake up in the towel.  Flip the end of the towel over the end of the cake and roll.  Leave in the towel and refrigerate for 1 hour. 

FILLING:
1 3/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Whip with a stand mixer or electric hand mixer until stiff peaks.  I like to over beat it just a few seconds.  I like super stiff peaks!

ASSEMBLY:
Remove cake from the fridge and roll out carefully on the counter.  It is OK if it won't flatten all the way.  That means it won't crack when you roll it back up! YEAH for you!  Spread the whipped cream all over leaving about a 1/2 inch border all around.  (you may have some cream leftover, just keep it to serve along side!). 

Now roll the cake back up using the towel to help push it along.  Place it on a platter seam side down and prepare your ganache!

GANACHE:
2 cups milk chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp. butter

Warm heavy cream until fairly hot.  Put chocolate chips in a bowl and pour the hot cream over the top.  Add butter and vanilla let it sit for 1 minutes.  Whisk until all ingredients are combined and the chocolate is melted. 

Place cake on a piece of parchment paper (I used foil) or cooling racks.  Pick up carefully and dip each end in the ganache and let it drip off.  When both ends have been dipped, place the cake back on the racks and slowly spoon over the ganache until it is all covered. 

If you have extra ganache you can do two coats, let the first one set in the refrigerator first.  OR, you can let it cool, whip it with your beaters and have the best frosting for cupcakes, EVER!

It is not difficult, just a few steps to this fantastic, DELISH, GIANT, HO HO cake!  Enjoy!

Black Tie Affair Cupcakes

Happy Monday!  Well actually it is Sunday, but since you will be reading this on Monday we will go with that, OK?  I hadn't planned on putting this up until next week but decided since it was Valentine's Day this week, you might want to make these for your Valentine!

I feel like sometimes, people think food has to be complicated to be good.  I see dishes with a mile long name, and think to myself, "I can't even remember the name unless I am looking right at it".  Food does NOT have to be complicated!  I think when you do simple flavors and do them WELL, they are the best food there is.  You won't find "Roasted Lamb Lips and Root Vegetables drizzled with a beet and plum infused white wine reduction" around here. HA!

I feel like chocolate cake with a sweet, creamy vanilla buttercream is a classic combination.  It is like a tuxedo, elegant, classic and when well fitted is in impeccable fashion.  Now adding some whipped ganache to the center, is just like adding the white gloves and top hat!  So, that being said, I call these my "Black Tie Affair Cupcakes" and I hope you enjoy them!! 

There are a few steps here, but nothing major.  Don't let ganache scare you.  So many people are afraid of it.  It is heaven, CHOCOLATE heaven!  You can do SO much with it too!  So let's get started. 


Double Chocolate Cake (yields approx 25 cupcakes or 2-9inch pans)
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup oil
1 cup boiling water
1 cup milk
2 eggs (well beaten)
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup milk chocolate chips (can use semi sweet)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Line cupcake pan with liners.  Combine all ingredients.  Mix just until combined as to not overwork your flour.  Fill cupcakes and bake 20-22 minutes.  Remove and cool completely. (this is a good time to make your ganache)

 

Ganache

6 ounces milk chocolate chips

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 tbsp butter

 

Place chocolate chips in a heat proof bowl. In a small saucepan heat cream until just before it boils. Pour over chocolate chips, add butter, and let sit 2 minutes. Using a whisk combine cream and chocolate until combined. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours. Put into mixing bowl of your stand mixer with the whisk attachment and whip for 3-4 minutes. You can also use a hand mixer, chip until creamy and light. The color will change to a lighter brown color. Use a piping bag or Ziploc with the corner snipped off to fill the holes!

 

 

Using the end of a wooden spoon or something of a similar size that is round, poke a hole in the middle of each cupcake. Wiggle the spoon to make the hole slightly bigger. See below.

 

 

Using a Ziploc bag or a piping bag, fill each middle with the whipped ganache. 

Until they are all filled like this.....

Vanilla Buttercream
3 sticks of room temperature butter (1 1/2 cups)
2 lbs powdered sugar
2 tbsp vanilla extract
3/4-1 cup heavy cream (depending on consistency you want)

Combine all ingredients in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer. Beat until creamy and fluffy.  Frost cupcakes with a knife, or use a piping bag for a decorative look. 

Now get in the kitchen and make these!!  Sweets for your sweet!!

Your "already has her Valentine picked" Chefwannabe