Chocolate ganache

Hello everyone, I was lucky enough this morning to be the "Gifted Gourmet" on Simon Marnie's program on ABC radio. It was a lot of fun. I listened to the suggestions of fresh and seasonal ingredients from the providores, and then gave Simon a menu of dishes that I would cook for my friends using those ingredients. I chose a mixed leaf, zucchini and sashimi salad to start, followed by lamb cutlets cooked on the BBQ and served with a mint pesto and some caponata on the side, with a peach flan to finish. It was really hard to narrow it down to those dishes, as there were so many different recipes I could think of. Anyway, hopefully it will give some home cooks some inspiration in the kitchen! The recipes for the sashimi salad and the lamb cutlets can be found on this blog and if you want to listen to the audio you can find it at this link: http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2009/02/07/2482194.htm?site=sydney

During the week I baked a chocolate coconut cake to share with some friends and iced it with a chocolate ganache, which is so luxurious and much, much better than normal icing. I thought I'd give the recipe for the ganache today (you can find the cake recipe elsewhere on the blog too) as it's a very easy thing to make, very impressive and really versatile. I am pretty sure that the recipe I use is a Belinda Jeffery, always an indicator of something good.

Go and play under the sprinkler - we're allowed to now in NSW!

Love from Jane xx

Chocolate ganache

What you need:

· 1 ¼ cups thickened cream
· 200g good quality dark cooking chocolate, chopped
· 1 teaspoon unsalted butter

What you do:

1. Bring cream to the boil in a saucepan.
2. Reduce heat and mix in chocolate until it has all melted.
3. Remove from heat and whisk in butter. The ganache is now ready to use.

Cakes can be iced with ganache while cooling on a rack. Gently pour the ganache over the cake, letting it spread by itself over and down the sides (use a spatula if necessary). Alternatively, you can allow the ganache to cool and thicken and then spread it on the cake.

Place cake on a plate or a stand and let the icing set. Avoid handling the cake and refrigerate if necessary.

Leftover ganache can be reheated and used later on another cake or warmed very gently to make a lovely chocolate sauce. It also makes great icecream if you stick the leftovers in the freezer.