Dark Chocolate Ganache Dreams

How it started…

My SO and I have recently moved into our own apartment and have never lived on my own, actual cooking has not really been something I would think about daily.

I was lucky enough to have DSTV for a few years and the cooking shows (looooved BBC lifestyle) sparked an interest in flavour, texture n all of those things we are now familiar with, however, apart from admiring the ooohs and aaahs, colours and imagining the taste I hadn’t tried cooking anything by myself apart from the occasional Saturday morning boiled egg and toast maybe adding some rocket for that creative flair lol!

Now; having to be domesticated in the kitchen (meaning lots of dishes) and wanting to impress, I have made quite a few meals since September and even received compliments!

I have been thinking about doing a blog about my first time cooking / baking something new and will post about how it went and if I would change anything… It more than likely will not be perfect on the first go, but hey, this is what my blog is about. So bear with me as we experience my challenges, successes and failures.

I turned 30 on 09 May 2016 and trying to be all adult like I attempted to make a chocolate cake for friends or family who may come over and whoa! how great did it turn out!!

The below image is all the ingredients and utensils you will require, I forgot to add the cream in this pic, hence another below:

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Dark Chocolate Ganache Recipe — Must be double thick cream, you can also use milk chocolate instead of dark…

The measurements are as follows:

For the cake –

1 egg

1 cup sugar (I used brown sugar, only because it was all that was available in our cupboard)

About 170 ml full-fat yoghurt – as per the recipe I found it says not to use fat-free or low-fat yoghurt

1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil (a cup is about 250 ml I’ve learnt)

1 & 1/2 teaspoons vanilla essence

1/2 cup coffee – when using the coffee please ensure it has completely cooled down because if too hot when added to the mixture it will scramble the egg yuk!

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 cup flour (not self – raising as we are going to be adding baking powder or try it and leave out the baking powder let me know how it turned out 🙂 )

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 x Cake bowl / holder / tin

For the chocolate ganache –

Approx 250 g dark chocolate or milk chocolate

3/4 cup double cream

Method –

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius

Line your cake tin with foil, spray with non-stick cooking spray and set aside

In your mixing bowl (make sure its big enough), combine the egg, sugar, yoghurt, oil, vanilla and whisk until smooth

Add coffee and cocoa powder and whisk vigorously until combined and lump free

20160507_142559[1] — **What you see are bubbles, not lumps… in case you’re wondering**

Next add flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and whisk until combined

Pour the now fairly runny batter into your cake tin, and place in the oven for approximately 25 mins. I used a toothpick after 25 mins to check if it is done – the toothpick should come out clean after inserted in the middle of the cake

Once done, allow the cake completely before adding the ganache (about 30 – 40 mins, yes I know it’s a looong time before we get the delicious goodness)

For the ganache –

Place your chocolate pieces in a big enough bowl – as we still need to add the cream

Heat the cream in the microwave for about 1 min or until it starts to boil

Pour heated cream over the chocolate pieces and whisk quite vigorously until the mixture is smooth and velvety hmm,

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Allow the ganache to cool and once ready pour over the now cooled cake

At this point, you get to lick the whisk and bowl 🙂

Allow the ganache to set on top of the cake for about 30 mins or if you absolutely cannot wait anymore place the cake in the fridge or freezer briefly.

Taaadaaaa!! You left with a beautiful, shiny chocolate cake ready for all to enjoy! and believe me, you WILL get all the praise… start charging if peeps want more haha!

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Things I’ve learnt while making this beauty:

Wear an apron!
Take pics of your chocolate child, I should have taken a pic of the first slice also but didn’t get that far
Because I used dark chocolate I served it with vanilla ice cream to balance the bitterness of the chocolate, however, if you using milk chocolate I don’t think this is necessary. I am a dark chocolate lover and because it was my birthday I only thought about myself 🙂

Hope you enjoyed my FIRST post!