Growing up there were always all these Aunts around - lots of them and it wasn't until I was at University that I discovered that most of them were actually long time friends of my Grandmother who were such a part of the family, for generations, and that they were bestowed the title of Aunt. Aunt Karla on the other hand was an actual aunt, a great aunt actually, but being the linguist that I was, even at an early age, I am sure the family conspiried to not call her a great aunt because I would have come out with something like "
why is she a great aunt, what if she's just a mediocre aunt."
Well if there was any doubt about whether Karla was an okay aunt or a great aunt, the proof lies in her 250-250 chocolate ganache.
She called it "250-250" because the ingredients were simple : 250 grams of bittersweet chocolate and 250 mililitres of heavy cream. (that translates to 8oz bittersweet chocolate, 1 cup heavy cream)
Aunt Karla's 250-250 Chocolate Ganache
250 grams (8 ounces) bittersweet chocolate
250 ml (1 cup) heavy cream, also called double cream
Finely chop the chocolate set aside in a large bowl.
In a small saucepan over medium heat, warm the cream just until bubbles form around the edges. The goal here is to get the cream warm enough to melt the chocolate without actually cooking the cream.
Carefully pour the cream over the chocolate and stir until smooth.
Allow the ganache to cool a bit; usually less than 4 minutes is fine, then stir just in case some of it has started to thicken before the rest. Then pour over your cake. It's really simple and looks oh so impressive. (If you poured the ganache right after adding the warm cream, it would be too thin and would run right off of your cake)
We're made this ganache with half and half and a combo of half and half and milk (that version was the result of having had run out of half and half). Both alterations turned out well.
We're fans of
Scharfenberger 60% Cocoa and have always received raves from guests with that option. For kicks we once tried semi-sweet chips and the results were way too sweet for anyone's liking.
Ganache is especially fun for kids to pour over Bundt cakes because of it is so lava-eqse! Who knows, playing with chocolate might inspire a career among the kinder!
Once you get your ganache groove going, try adding a bit of orange or almond extract for an interesting indulgence!
