Corazon de Chocolate

[Deliriously Ganached Chocolate Cake]

This week went by eventFULLy. My valentine got lucky by being presented (in his words) his first ever heart-shaped cake; and I got unlucky, a few hours later, with a violent bout of viral gastroenteritis, which ended with me pxxxing my guts out, and fainting, and a doc called-in. Gosh, what a nightmare. That explains why I did not post this in a more timely manner (was bed-ridden for the last 48 hours before this morning).

Anyways, with respect to the objective of this food blog, let's go back to the subject... ah, food!! (Oh, in case you wanna know, i was fed on glucose and rice porridge when my very own's food-processing system was down.) Oh, ok, back on cake, yes, cake.

I did a basic chocolate cake and enrobbed it with chocolate ganache. Hmm, that's the fun part. Here's my recipe for the ganache i.e. a deliriously delightful concoction of chocolate, cream, and butter.

Dark Chocolate Ganache
1 part cream (liquid or creme fraiche)
1 part baking dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa)
half part butter

For one normal-sized cake, I would use 100g cream, 100g chocolate, and 50g butter. Now, heat the cream on slow fire and when it it just about to start boiling, get it off the stove. Add in chocolate (broken into smaller pieces) and butter, and watch them melt nicely. Keep stirring until you get to the consistency of a nice and smooth ganache.

If you like, you can also learn how to enrobe a cake like a pro on Food Network's special feature. I only read about it after my first novice attempt. Bummer.

After you've enrobe the cake successfully, leave it to cool for 15 minutes before chilling your almost-completed ganached cake in the fridge.

You can sprinkle icing sugar or dark cocoa powder on the surface before serving, and decorate it with chocolate shavings. Have fun ganaching!

P.S. Oh, in case you're wondering. I baked my Corazon de Chocolate in this wonderfully space-saving and non cake-clinching silicone heart-shaped baking pan like this one from Crate and Barrel.

P.P.S. In hindsight (after making cake), I thought about the idea of expressing our affections. We do not need to bake heart-shaped cakes only on a Hallmark holiday. Every day is a V's Day when we tell someone we care. And yes, there are all kind of excuses to use our bright crimson and heart-shaped kitchen gear!