I promised myself that I would look through my scores of cookbooks to find a ganache recipe. I almost gave it up to the Internet (my lazy habit) until I found one in the Silver Palette Good Times cookbook:
Ganache:
Melt 4 ounces of best-quality bittersweet chocolate in a double boiler over boiling water. (Or use a microwave method.) Stir in 1/2 cup of scalded* whipping cream. Mix in 1-1/2 preferred alcohol. Refrigerate until cold, but not hardened.
Beat the chocolate cream until light and fluffy.
Beat 1/2 cup cold whipping cream and until soft peaks form. Fold into the ganache and refrigerate until ready to use.
*Use a large heavy-bottomed pan and heat milk until JUST BEFORE it boils and stir so that it does not burn.
Glaze:
Personally, I like a ganache frosting the shines like melted chocolate. Here's one from a recipe I've made many times. It's from a Pecan-Chocolate-Strawberry Torte recipe given to me by Rose Tasca in Lunenburg way back in the 1980s. The last time I made this cake was over a decade ago - perhaps 2010.
3 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips, 1/2 c. water, 3/4 stick butter, 3 T safflower oil, 3/4 c. cocoa and 1/2 c plus 2 T sugar. Add all these off heat and then heat to melting in a double boiler. Stir until smooth and shiny. Cool but not too cool. Pour over a cooled cake.
