Don't fear the ganache!

One of the most decadent forms of chocolate icing is chocolate ganache.  It's takes only TWO ingredients to make it....and it's SOOOOO yummy!  It's kind of like making "chocolate soup."  

As pictured above, the two ingredients are chocolate chips and heavy whipping cream.  You need a big bowl and a sauce pan. Chocolate chips go in the bowl with a whisk ready to go.

Heat the heavy whipping cream until it almost comes to a boil. Then simply pour the heated cream into the bowl of chocolate chips and allow the chocolate to start melting.  Stir with a whisk until it becomes nice and melted and smooth....like chocolate soup!

The recipe is all about ratios.  To make normal chocolate ganache with dark chocolate, the ratio is 2 parts chocolate to 1 part cream. If you use 12 ounces of chocolate, use 6 ounces of cream.  If you want it to be thinner, add a little more cream.   For milk chocolate, the ratio would be 2.5 to 3 parts chocolate to 1 part cream.  For white chocolate, use 3 to 4 parts white chocolate to 1 part cream.

After you have stirred your ganache to a beautiful chocolate soup, it's ready to use.  If you want it to thicken up a little, you can let it cool for a bit.  It's perfect for dipping your cupcakes in or pouring over a cake.  

At the bakery, we would make it and pour it into a cake pan to cool. Once it was cool and SOLID, we could store it in the fridge for a week and cut chunks off (it resembled fudge) and melt it to use. You can melt it right back to a great consistency with the microwave.  I recommend using half power so you don't burn the chocolate or only microwaving in small increments.  

Just remember, the more stable you want the chocolate ganache to be, the more chocolate you'll want to use.  If you want it to be more runny, use more cream.  

I wish you much chocolate success!!