Chocolate Sour Cream Ganache

I recently frosted a Chocolate-Mayonnaise Cake with a delicious Chocolate Sour Cream Ganache - one of the richest and most decadent frostings you can make. Ganache is thought to have been invented in Switzerland or France more than 150 years ago, where it was always made with heavy cream. 

It’s really quite simple to make - chocolate, cream, a splash of vanilla - but it’s also quite simple to ruin, if you don’t melt the chocolate with care and respect. You’ll want to use the best chocolate you can afford: Some people use a slab of Callebaut, but a pastry chef recently told me he finds the far-less-expensive Lindt brand every bit as good. 

My step-daughter, cake artist Deena Fisher of Los Cabos, Mexico, uses bittersweet chocolate and a small quantity of Kahlua in her Ganache. I can guarantee the result is out of this world! When I looked for bittersweet chocolate in my local supermarket, there was none. Unwilling to pay for a slab of premium chocolate, I used semi-sweet chocolate chips in this recipe. 

(The Cook’s Thesaurus reports that bittersweet chocolate “is a sweetened chocolate that's heavy on the cocoa solids and light on the sugar, giving it a rich, intense chocolate flavor.  Many pastry chefs prefer bittersweet to semi-sweet or sweet chocolate, but the three can be used interchangeably in most recipes. The best bittersweet chocolates contain at least 50% cocoa solids.”

(The Thesaurus suggests: “To make semi-sweet chocolate more like bittersweet chocolate, add some unsweetened chocolate or cocoa powder to it.” This excellent reference has more about chocolate at http://www.foodsubs.com/Chocvan.html)

Now, for the cream! Ganache normally uses heavy or “whipping” cream, but Deena and many other pastry chefs have turned to dairy sour cream for its lower calorie hit and excellent flavor. If you’re already on the road to calorie hell (as you are with the chocolate), you may want to use heavy cream. If so, see Julia Child’s recipe for Heavy Cream Ganache. 

As for the vanilla, use a good one, if you can afford it. If not, soldier on! Or do what Deena does - add a small amount of Kahlua. No matter which type of Ganache you choose, whether calorific or not, I hope you’ll enjoy this lower-calorie, lower-cost version of a superb treat! 

Chocolate Sour Cream Ganache:

2 c. (500 mL) semi-sweet chocolate chips

1-½ c. (375 mL) dairy sour cream

1 tsp. (5 mL) vanilla extract (or 2 tsp. (10 mL) coffee-flavored liqueur)

Partially melt chocolate chips in heat-proof bowl over simmering - not boiling - water in saucepan, effectively making your own “double boiler.” Stir until smooth to complete melting. When chocolate has fully melted, stir in sour cream and flavoring. Frost chilled cake while Ganache is still warm. 

Note: Deena makes a very thin “crumb-coat frosting” on her cakes - a smart thing to do if you want your cake to be a show-stopper. 

Deena trims cake’s rough outer edges before spreading

top and sides with thin Crumb Coat Frosting.

A “crumb-coat frosting” is one that catches and seals the crumbs that might otherwise mar a picture-perfect icing. Thick and creamy, Ganache doesn’t lend itself to “crumb-coat frostings,” but the above-posted recipe for Bake-Shop Frosting or my recipe for Buttercream Frosting will. As chocolate Ganache will be spread over this cake, add a little sifted cocoa powder to your remaining Bake-Shop Frosting, spreading it very, very thinly over the chilled cake’s top and sides. Chill or freeze the “crumb-coat frosted” cake until you’re able to spread it with Ganache, with no risk that the two frostings will bleed into one another or that any loose crumbs will spoil the texture of the Ganache.

Crumb Coat Frosting catches cake’s 

crumbs while locking in moisture. 

Deena’s Tip: The wooden, stabilizing dowels some pastry 

chefs use to stabilize multi-layer cakes may leave an unpleasant 

after-taste. Instead, drive wooden chopsticks through the cake. 

Replace chopsticks with plastic straws before frosting. Remove

straws before serving, frosting lightly over each depression.

Julia Child’s Heavy Cream Ganache

Julia Child presented her fans with this excellent, full-fat Ganache in 1989.

Julia Child’s Heavy Cream Ganache:

8 oz. sweet cream chocolate (or 6 oz. sweet and 2 oz. unsweetened)

1 c. (250 mL) heavy (“whipping”) cream

2 tsp. (10 mL) vanilla extract

2-to-3 tbsp. (30-to-45 mL) light rum (optional; see Note) 

Confectioners sugar (“icing” or “powdered” sugar), as required

Chop chocolate coarsely. Add to large, heavy saucepan with cream. Stir over medium heat until chocolate has melted and cream starts to simmer. Stir vigorously to combine cream and chocolate. Remove from heat and add vanilla and/or rum (see Note). Transfer hot chocolate mixture to a large stainless mixing bowl set into a larger mixing bowl filled with ice. Beat with an electric mixer or balloon whisk until mixture thickens to spreading consistency. Sift in confectioners sugar, to taste (see Further Note). 

Note: I prefer Kahlua or other coffee-flavored liqueur.

Further Note: The verb “sift” is extremely important! Ignore at your peril!

- Adapted from“The Way to Cook” © Julia Child (Alfred A. Knopf)

Love Bites

I pinched this recipe from the side panel of a box of Rice Krispies, converting it to a Valentine’s treat children and grandchildren are sure to love! Kids always want to use the heart-shaped cookie cutter … be sure they cut right through to the bottom of the pan. I’ve modified the original recipe, making these extra tasty!

Prepare this, and you’ll feel like a kid, again! Simply put: Find the joy in your life. Here’s a little something to inspire you, Dollinks!

Love Bites:

1/4 c. (60 mL) butter or margarine

5 c. (1.2 mL) mini-marshmallows

1/2 tsp. (0.25 mL) vanilla extract

6 c. (1.4 L) Rice Krispies cereal

1 c. (250 mL) white chocolate melting wafers

Valentine’s (or other candy) sprinkles, as required

In a large, microwave-safe bowl, heat margarine and marshmallows on full powder for 3 min., stirring after 2 min. Add vanilla. Stir in Rice Krispies cereal until well coated. Using lightly buttered hands or buttered spatula, press into greased 13 x 9-in. pan. Allow mixture to cool slightly. Using a heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut and remove from pan, cooling further on a wire rack.

Heat melting wafers by placing a metal bowl over - not in - simmering water, stirring until partially melted. Remove from heat, continuing to stir until fully melted. Quickly paint each heart with a thin coat of melted chocolate, scattering top with sprinkles. Re-warm chocolate as needed, repeating until all heart-shaped Love Bites have been cut out.

- With thanks to the Kellogg Corporation

Cherry-Almond Nanaimo Bars

Love is in the air! I have a clutch of Valentine’s Day recipes coming your way over the next few days! Forgive me, but I’m not going to photograph every recipe I’m presenting for this romantic day. These sweet treats are lusciously calorific, but if your darling has a sweet heart and an even sweeter tooth, these pink, cherry-filled triple-layer bars are really quite wonderful! They’re among my tried-and-true favorites.

Cherry-Almond Nanaimo Bars:

To Prepare the Bottom Layer:

½ c. (125 mL) butter or margarine

¼ c. (60 mL) granulated sugar

⅓ c. (80 mL) unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp. (5 ml) vanilla extract

1 egg, beaten

1 c. (250 mL) sweetened medium-thread coconut

1-¾ c. (390 mL) graham wafer crumbs

½ c. (125 mL) finely chopped almonds

Add the butter, sugar, cocoa, vanilla and beaten egg to a medium saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly until mixture starts to thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in coconut, graham wafer crumbs, and almonds. Pat firmly into greased 9-in. square pan. Chill at least 1 hr.

To Prepare the Filling:

¼ c. (60 mL) butter or margarine, softened

2 tbsp. (30 mL) cherry juice

1 tsp. (5 mL) almond extract

2 c. (500 mL) sifted icing sugar

⅓ c. (80 mL) coarsely chopped maraschino cherries

Cream butter, cherry juice, and almond extract. Gradually beat in icing sugar until mixture is completely smooth. Stir in cherries. Spread over chilled bottom layer in pan. Chill at least 30 min., until firm.

To Prepare the Top Layer:

Two 1-oz. (28 g each) squares semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped 

1 tbsp. (15 mL) butter or margarine

Partially melt chocolate and butter over - not in - simmering water. Remove from heat and stir until completely melted. Drizzle chocolate over chilled cherry-almond filling. Chill until set. Makes approximately 30 bars.

Note: If you love this sweet treat, try The Original Nanaimo Bars, too.

Marshmallows in the Embers

When our grandchildren play “pretend camping” in our living room, we play along! These marshmallows can be had “over the camp fire” - a small fan set on low, with attached strips of red crepe paper blown by the fan.

Marshmallows in the Embers:

Milk chocolate melting wafers, as required (a comfortable handful for each marshmallow)

Large, soft marshmallows, as required

Orange-and-black sprinkles left over from Halloween) or toasted, sweetened, short-thread coconut, as required

Heat chocolate melting wafers by placing a metal bowl over - not in - simmering water, stirring until partially melted. Remove from heat, continuing to stir until fully melted. Using one fondue fork per marshmallow (see Note), coat each marshmallow in chocolate, allowing excess chocolate to drip off. Stand fork upright in tall, straight-sided drinking glass until chocolate has partially set. Dip ends in bowl of sprinkles and allow chocolate to harden fully.

Note: Because this treat is intended for kids, don’t use skewers or sharp sticks - a fork is safer. These treats are rich and filling, so I suggest you offer no more than two per child.

Poke fondue forks into marshmallows

Melt chocolate over stove top

Allow excess chocolate to drip off

Place in tumbler to partially set chocolate

Dip in sprinkles the color of "burning embers"

Be sure to "blow out the coals" before eating marshmallow!

Bûche de Noël

As I’m doing this year, I sometimes make a Bûche de Noël for Christmas dinner. Made to resemble an old-time Yule log, this cake is intended to represent a log for the ancient Winter Solstice fire festival. Not only is this recipe showy, but it’s fairly simple to make. As with any baking, be sure to have all ingredients at room temperature when you start, ensuring the proper distribution of butter and egg molecules and lessening the chance of failure. Because I’ll be baking and decorating this cake today, I’ve relied on a photograph from Wikipedia, to show you how the completed cake should look. 

Bûche de Noël with Mocha Cream Frosting:

To Prepare the Cake:

5 medium eggs, separated

⅔ c. granulated sugar, divided

¼ c. sifted cocoa

1 tsp. vanilla extract

⅛ tsp. salt

Icing sugar (confectioners sugar or powdered sugar), for sprinkling

Preheat oven ro 375 deg. F. In large bowl with mixer at high speed, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Beating constantly, add 4 tbsp. of the sugar, a tablespoon at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. In medium bowl with mixer at high speed, beat egg yolks until well mixed. Gradually add remaining sugar 1 tbsp. at a time, beating about 5 min. until thick and lemon colored. Stir in cocoa, vanilla, and salt until well mixed. With silicone spatula, gently fold cocoa mixture into egg whites until well mixed. 

Spread evenly in a 15-x10-x1-in. jelly roll pan that has been greased and lined with waxed paper. Bake 15 min. or just until cake springs back when lightly touched. Sprinkle clean dish towel with icing sugar. Quickly invert pan over towel, carefully turning out warm cake. Peel away paper. Roll up cake with towel from wide side. Cool.

To Prepare the Cream Filling:

1 c. heavy cream, whipped

1 tbsp. icing sugar (confectioners or powdered sugar)

1 - 1/3-oz. (10 g) pkg. whipping cream stabilizer (optional; see Note)

1 tbsp. coffee-flavored liqueur such as Kahlua or 1 tsp. vanilla extract

When cake has cooled, beat cream until soft peaks form. Add icing sugar and whipping cream stabilizer, continuing to beat until cream stiffens further. Fold in Kahlua or vanilla extract. Unroll cooled cake, spreading whipped cream filling to within ½-in.of edges. Reroll. Diagonally slice a 2-in. portion off each end of cake; set aside. Refrigerate cake until ready to frost.

Note: The addition of Whipping Cream Stabilizer allows you to prepare the cream a couple of hours in advance, with no danger that it will lose its shape by the time you’re ready to use it. I’m mentioning this product because many cooks don’t know it exists. It doesn’t affect the flavor of the whipping cream.

To Prepare the Mocha Cream Frosting:

1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 tsp. instant coffee powder

½ c. butter or margarine

2 tbsp. brandy

½ c. icing sugar

2 tbsp. chopped, toasted walnuts, as garnish (see Index: How to Toast Nuts)

Melt chocolate at 60% power in microwave oven or over low heat in small saucepan. Stir in coffee powder; set aside. Beat butter or margarine in medium bowl with mixer at medium speed. Add cooled chocolate mixture and brandy, beating until smooth. Gradually stir in icing sugar (confectioners or powdered sugar). Cool just until mixture is thick enough to spread. Reserving about ¼ c. of frosting, spread cake with remaining frosting. Using a fork, make ridges in cake to resemble “bark.” Position reserved cut ends of cake against frosted log to resemble “knots.” Ice edges of knots with reserved frosting. Randomly sprinkle walnuts on knots of log. Store cake in refrigerator. Just before serving, sift a little icing sugar over cake. Serves 10. 

With thanks to The Vancouver Sun (I have modified this recipe)

and to Wikipedia, for illustration

The famously delicious Yule log cake! I recommend
that you make your knots smaller than this one, Dollinks!

Chocolate-Peppermint Shortbread Cookies

This final shortbread recipe is the one I marked “Superb!” on the file card I mentioned in my introductory post.

Chocolate-Peppermint Shortbread Cookies:

To Prepare Cookies:

¾ c. (180 mL) butter, softened

½ c. (125 mL) icing sugar (confectioners sugar or powdered sugar)

¼ tsp. (1.25 mL) peppermint extract

One 1 oz. (28 g) square unsweetened chocolate, melted

1-½ c. (375 mL) all-purpose flour

1 c. (250 mL) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Unsweetened cocoa powder, as required

Preheat oven to 375 deg. F. Combine butter, icing sugar, peppermint extract, and melted baking chocolate in mixing bowl. Beat at medium speed 1-to-2 min. until creamy, scraping bowl often. Reduce speed to low. Gradually mix in flour, beating 1-to-2 min. until dough forms a ball. Mix in chocolate chips by hand. Roll dough into 1-in. balls. Place 2 inches apart on parchment-covered baking sheet. Flatten to 1-¼-in. circle with bottom of glass dipped in unsweetened cocoa powder. Bake 5-to-7 min., until set. Do not over-bake. Let stand 2 min. before removing from cookie sheet. Cool completely on wire rack.

For more shortbread recipes, see One Click: Shortbread.

To Prepare Chocolate-Peppermint Frosting:

1 c. (250 mL) icing sugar (confectioners sugar or powdered sugar)

2 tbsp. (30 mL) butter, softened

1 tbsp. (15 mL) milk

¼ tsp. (1.25 mL) peppermint extract

1 drop green food coloring

½ tsp. (2.5 mL) vegetable oil shortening

¼ c. (60 mL) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Combine icing sugar, butter, milk, peppermint extract, and food coloring in small mixer bowl. Beat at low speed until smooth. If frosting is too thick, add more milk 1 tsp. (5 mL) at a time. Frost cooled cookies. Place on waxed paper (or parchment paper). In a glass measuring cup, melt shortening together with chocolate chips in microwave at 60% power, stirring every 30 sec. until most chips have melted, about 1 min. Remove from microwave and continue stirring until smooth. Drizzle chocolate in measuring cup over cookies. Cool until chocolate is fully set. Makes 2-½ dozen cookies.

Chocolate-Peppermint Shortbread Cookies: 
Mouth-watering! Best shortbread ever!

Marbled Chocolate-Peppermint Bark

Before we move on to some traditional Christmas confections that take a little more time and effort, I want to pass along one more recipe that uses chocolate melting wafers. Not only is this treat easy to make and inexpensive, but it produces a lot of bark for your bite!

Marbled Chocolate-Peppermint Bark:

4 c. white chocolate melting wafers

¼ tsp. peppermint extract

26-to-30 miniature candy canes or 3 - 6-inch canes

1-½ c. dark chocolate melting wafers

Heat chocolate in metal bowl over a pot of simmering water, removing before fully melted and stirring to complete melting. Stir in peppermint extract and set aside. Lightly tap candy canes with flat side of meat mallet or hammer to break up. The larger the cane, the larger the resulting chunks. You now have one of two choices - or choose some of each! Combine broken candy canes with white chocolate or set aside for sprinkling over chocolate bark a little later. 

Pour melted white chocolate onto clean, ungreased baking sheet, spreading thinly with silicone spatula. Tap pan on work surface to level chocolate and force out air bubbles. Set aside at room temperature. 

Using same method and unwashed bowl as previously, melt dark chocolate. Pour randomly over white chocolate. Using knife or thin spatula, make large swirling motions through both layers of chocolate to achieve marbled effect; do not over-mix. Sprinkle broken and powdered candy canes over both layers of chocolate. Tap pan on work surface as before. Chill until completely hardened. Wearing latex gloves, break bark into randomly sized pieces. Refrigerate or freeze in airtight container.

Tap to break wrapped candy canes

   

Melt wafers as recipe directs

Stir to complete melting; add extract

Add broken candy canes (Even better: sprinkle over bark later)

Spread thinly; set aside

Melt dark chocolate using earlier method and bowl

Pour dark chocolate randomly over partly set white chocolate

Use every last bit!

Swirl, using broad patterns. If candy canes
were not mixed in, sprinkle over top now

Chill until firmly set

Break into serving-sized pieces

Chocolate-Dipped Drumsticks

More chocolate! More chocolate! These treats are made with chocolate melting wafers or discs. Melting wafers come in a variety of colors and flavors including white, milk, and dark chocolate, and are specially formulated to liquefy easily for use in molded chocolates. Butterscotch chips and chocolate chips have a higher melting point than chocolate melting wafers, and make a very poor substitute for them. If you use chips in place of melting wafers, you’ll have nothing but frustration unless you add fat to liquefy them. 

Making chocolates with melting wafers is extremely easy - and I’m into easy Big Time! Until I gave the idea more thought, I considered dipping pretzel sticks into melted chocolate and covering them with sprinkles. You know those giant, straight pretzels that are fat as a baby’s arm and look like batons? Gourmet food stores sell them. When they’re dipped in chocolate and covered in candy sprinkles - whew! What a heavy hit of sodium, fat, and calories! Much too much for me! Instead, I thought I’d try to capture the idea of those pretzels with a smaller version of the same treat - and without all that salt. 

Bypassing the pretzels in my supermarket’s snack food aisle, I found a whole-wheat snack called Pringles Baked Wheat Stix. I didn’t count the number of sticks in each foil-wrapped packet, but there were plenty. When I read the label, I found salt way down the list of ingredients, which I liked. Unfortunately palm oil - a highly saturated fat - was way up the list, which I didn’t like, so this product will be a rare treat at our house. 

Still ... it’s for the holidays! I bought a package and set to work creating! The proportions are up to you, because only you know how many of these you’ll want to make. Served with coffee, tea, and a selection of chocolates, these would be an interesting after-dinner nibble on a holiday table.

Chocolate-Dipped Drumsticks:

White chocolate melting wafers

1 pkg. Baked Wheat Stix

Candy sprinkles

Using a clean, dry, narrow-necked jar, heat a sufficient quantity of white chocolate melting wafers at 60% power in microwave oven, stopping before wafers have fully melted. Stir to melt fully. Dip Wheat Stix into melted chocolate to a depth of about 2 in. Allow excess chocolate to drip back into chocolate in jar. Holding chocolate-dipped stix over a small bowl, shake sprinkles over warm chocolate. Rest each tiny Drumstick on a rack so chocolate can harden and set. Re-melt chocolate as before, reusing sprinkles in bowl. Chill and store Drumsticks in airtight container.

White chocolate melting wafers

I chose these stix over pretzels 

Dip each stick into white chocolate

Pour on the sprinkles!

These are fussy to make, but yummy!