Chocolate Ganache

Alright! Last night was the night for ganache and pulling it all together

Ingredients:

6 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

2 Tbs. unsalted butter

1/2 cup heavy cream

I can't even begin to explain how incredibly simple it is to make ganache. Well... yes, yes I can. First of all, if you're making this ganache to top off the flourless chocolate torte then let me first say you're going to want to actually double the recipe. You're not going to need all of it, but you'll definitely need more than just that single batch. So be prepared to make a double batch and have some left over. As if that's a problem, having extra ganache in your fridge... mmmm...

OKAY! First you want to get your chocolate and butter into a large bowl. Just let it hang out there for now. Then put your cream in a small pan and get it to the point where it's JUST starting to boil. Once that's happening, pour it into the bowl with the chocolate and butter. Go to town on it with the whisk (or double fork like I mentioned during the torte recipe). Get it all mixed together to where there are no chunks of anything and it's nice and dark and creamy. There! You made ganache! Simple, huh?

Once it's all mixed together, let it cool until it's spreadable then pour it all on top of your torte (which should have been in the fridge since the night before). The whole thing, even the stuff that's not going to stay on it. Once it's all on, spread it evenly across the top, let it drip down the sides and spread it along all sides. It doesn't have to be perfect. The great thing about this particular treat is that even when there's pools of ganache along the sides, it looks (and tastes) awesome. Once you pour the ganache onto the torte it will already start hardening. That's what you want to happen. Put it in the fridge to cool and allow the ganache to harden further. Once hardened into a sort of shell, it's ready to plate!

Beware! This torte/ganache combo is VERY rich. VERY decadent. You really only want to serve relatively small portions.

Please note that the plate in the second picture is about 1/3 the size of the picture of the full torte. Speaking of 1/3, when you're done, you're going to have a treat that's layered at about 1/3 ganache and 2/3 torte. As such:

Well, there you go! Flourless chocolate torte with chocolate ganache topping. Rich, sweet, decadent, delicious. Have milk handy and enjoy!