The Essence of Chocolate Ganache

This was something else that I wasn't sure about making an Essence out of. But I decided to go for it. After looking at a lot of recipes, they all seemed pretty much the same, which I took as a good sign.

Ganache is basically a mixture of chocolate and cream. The finished texture will depend on the temperature it's being served at, and the amounts of ingredients you use. It can be made as a smooth almost runny sauce-like topping for cakes and so on. But it can also be used to make solid, soft (and delicious) truffles.

I know every other post I say that it's the simplest ratio ever, but seriously, this one takes the biscuit.

1 Chocolate : 1 Cream

That is genuinely it.

• The generally accepted method is to heat up the cream until it's just about simmering, and then pour it over broken up chocolate. The chocolate will melt just from the heat of the cream and become deliciously smooth and runny.

• If you want to make truffles, then refrigerate it for a few hours until it's fully cold, and then you can shape it. I just rolled it into balls by hand. But be warned, this will happen, all over both of your hands:

Just be ready for it.

• Then you can coat them in something to make them look and taste nice. I rolled mine in cocoa powder, dessicated coconut and chopped almonds, which all looked great. You could try covering them with melted chocolate, or anything else you like really.

• To make it as a sauce or cake covering, you could use a bit more cream - as much as two parts cream could work. But if you don't chill it, it will still stay pretty liquidy with the original ratio. It just depends on what you're using it for.

It's so easy, and it looks so good if you decorate them nicely! Why would anyone ever not make chocolate truffles again?!