Tag Archives: chocolate

Ganache: Magic

Note: If this is your first time to TotalFluff, please visit this brief explanation. Thanks!

Hello, Fluffsters!

I was doing a bit of stuff with a nearly magical substance today. It’s something called “ganache.” It’s just cream and chocolate, and amazingness. It’s one of my two favorite cake frostings at this point. (The other is cream cheese frosting.) I mean seriously. Cream and dark chocolate: Where do you go wrong?

So the direct recipe is about a half-cup of cream to 3.5 ounces of chocolate. (About 3/4 cup of chocolate.) Heat the cream until it starts to bubble or boil, and pour it over the chocolate. Whisk together. (Optional: Add about a 1/4 teaspoon of mint extract for flavoring.)

The real magic, though, comes in whisking it together. It’s seriously amazing. First you have your cream over your chocolate chips. As you whisk it together, you get more chocolate shreds, and it starts to look like an oreo-cookie milkshake.

Ganache that looks like oreos

Doesn’t it look a bit like oreos crunched up in cream?

Within about 5 more strokes, though, the real ganache starts to appear.

Ganache forms in the center of the ingredients

Ganache forming in the center of the ingredients.

It’s really very astonishing how quickly it happens. And it’s a total change, too! There’s no way to separate the ganache back out into its cream/chocolate parts. (At least not easily, as far as I’m aware.)

I seriously think that making ganache should be a science experiment for kids just starting to learn about chemistry. It would be a “sweet” way to learn science.

Do I want to know if you wrote this post just to be able to use that pun?

…Probably not. But happy Friday, Fluffsters! And just a reminder, my current new design in my cafepress store is on sale until sometime either today or tomorrow. Check the New and Now section for the current low prices, and the other part of my store for all my other designs!

Have a great weekend!

Forms of Chocolate Comfort

Note: If this is your first time to TotalFluff, please visit this brief explanation. Thanks!

Hello, Fluffsters! Happy Saturday!

Today, I am going to talk about some of my favorite forms of chocolate.

How… thrilling.

Please tell me that you aren’t going to propose moldy chocolate as one of your favorite forms…

Eww. That’s just gross. Can chocolate even mold?

You know, I have no idea.

Huh. Anyways, back to the fluff, not the fuzz.

Three Fantastic Forms of Chocolate

One) Dark Chocolate. In large chunks. I’m not quite to the point of liking baking cocoa, but almost. There’s a delightful taste that pure chocolate has. Regardless, the 72% dark is wonderful

I’d add chiles to that. Dark chocolate with chile in it, or cayenne, is simply amazing. It’s both sweet and spicy. And sharp and smooth, and so good.

…No. Just, NO. Chocolate should be fairly sweet. Or at least smooth. NOT spicy!

…Says the person who doesn’t object to fluffy cups…

…You’re never going to let me live that down, are you? And those are completely different!

Anywho.

b) in Hot Chocolate form. Maybe with a bit of peppermint. And a LOT of whipped cream, if possible! And maybe some chocolate sprinkles? Ooh, now I’m wanting it to get colder out again so I can justify a huge cup of hot chocolate!

3) As a flourless chocolate torte. I am seriously going to need to upload that recipe soon… Add a ganache on top, and that’s a dessert to die from!

Die… from?

Oh, yeah. Hasn’t happened yet, but yes. It’s so rich. It’s basically chocolate 3-7 ways. Especially when I make it.

You see, my rule of thumb for baking is “add more chocolate-chips!” (Or dark chocolate M&Ms.) Sometimes both.

Some time, when I make the torte, I really want to have a bit of fun with chocolate sprinkles, too. Seriously. If the recipient of the cake can have a slice of flourless chocolate cake that has a widest section of more than 1.5 inches, and is perfectly fine after, then you’re making the cake wrong. And it therefore needs more chocolate.

I’m suddenly understanding why you said “from.” Webmaster, I’m just as glad I don’t need to live en your actual world. I don’t want to worry about surviving desserts!

Well, anyways.

Happy Saturday, everyone!

What’s your favorite form of chocolate?