Black Pearl Ganache

Sometimes I think I should rename this blog to "bipolar baker girl" or something along those lines. whoosh! The pendulum swings one way and I can go for weeks on end without so much as reading a recipe or chopping an onion, content to let myself and my family eat take-away or frozen leftovers from the last manic bouts in the kitchen. whoosh! The pendulum swings the other way and I’m furiously making lists, gathering ingredients, running to the far reaches of Manhattan for items that are hard to find, then back in the kitchen, making a mess, getting in over my head, doing too much at once, sweating and panicking and making Tom crazy. I suppose I could try to be more organized and methodical in the kitchen, I guess I could try to be much more normal and less adventurous but--that’s just not who I am. SO! What did I find myself doing over the weekend when I should have been doing laundry? Why I was making lists, gathering ingredients, making a mess and getting ready to bake a somewhat involved cake and loving every minute of it, because my friends do the hokey pokey that's what I'm all about. yeah!

The cake I'm making is from a recipe I found on Epicurious.com It doesn't seem to be a very complicated cake but it does have several steps that really should be made ahead of time and NOT left to be done all at once, (like I have been known to do in the past). In an effort not to freak myself or my husband out, and because I think I have finally learned from those past marathon episodes in the kitchen, I am now trying to pace myself by making each step in advance. So far everything is going according to plan and I am very relaxed. But then, this only the first step, there are three more plus the final assembly. ack! breathe Deb, breathe.

MH5 note: This is the first step in a series of steps for Black Pearl Layer Cake a recipe I found on Epicurious.com I will post the other steps and then the full recipe as I go along.

I bought a pound of good quality bulk chocolate and ate it on the way home weighed it in on the fancy schmancy kitchen scale I bought several months ago but have not used until now, doh! I needed six ounces for the recipe and then the rest I crammed into my mouth, no, no NO! The rest I wrapped nicely in cling wrap and am saving for another recipe or even another cake. I found that using a serrated knife to chop chocolate is much easier than using a regular chef's knife and so from this day forward a serrated knife is what I'll use for chopping the chocolaty goodness.

This is the cream, ginger and wasabi just before I stirred it all around and brought it to a boil. My camera didn't white balance on this shot for some reason, but I kind of like the yellowish color of everything, its sooo pretty.

If you are like me and have never had a use for wasabi powder before this recipe and just in case you were wondering what to do with the leftover wasabi powder, might I suggest dumping it on the counter just like I did! c'mon, you know you want to

Pouring the cream/wasabi/ginger mixture over the chopped chocolate took great concentration. Care was taken to make sure that any splashes or spill-overs were (licked up) wiped up accordingly. Luckily there weren't too many accidents with this step or there might not have been any left.

Whisking the cream and chocolate together was fun, I made a little game out of swirling everything around and making patterns, luckily the husband and little girl weren't home so I was able to lick the whisk undisturbed once I was done with it. mmm creamy, gingery, horseradishy chocolate

The black sesame seeds came from my favorite store Kalustyan's This trip to Kalustyan's was an especially interesting one because I eavesdropped on a group of pre-teenaged girls who were there. At first I thought they were with an adult and they were just killing time by touching everything in the store, but after listening to them for a while, it became apparent to me that these girls were there on their own and they were shopping for ingredients for a recipe, AND they were really into it! How cute is that?

Years ago I read a tip, although I forget where or from what magazine, that if you sprayed a little flavorless cooking spray on a measuring spoon or measuring utensil beforehand, then sticky ingredients like honey or corn syrup would slide out more easily, too bad I forgot to do that this time.

After stirring the sesame seed/corn syrup mixture into the chocolate/ginger/wasabi/cream mixture I thought it was hard to tell that they were even in there but they were. You can just sort of make a few of the sesame seeds out in the picture above.

There is nothing that says love better than adding butter to chocolate mixed with heavy cream, am I right or am I right?

I gave everything a final stir with a clean whisk and then ran into the other room and ate all with my fingers covered it with cling wrap and put it aside to rest overnight, hopefully it will make it through the night because well, you know how it is when there’s chocolate around… mmmm chocolate ganache

Black Pearl Ganache

• 6 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon wasabi powder*
• 2 tablespoons black sesame seeds*
• 1 tablespoon corn syrup
• 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, room temperature

For black pearl ganache:

Place chocolate in medium bowl. Bring cream, ginger, and wasabi to boil in small pot. Pour hot cream over chocolate; cover with plastic wrap and let stand 15 minutes. Whisk cream and chocolate until smooth. Mix sesame seeds and corn syrup in small bowl to coat; stir into chocolate mixture. Let cool to lukewarm. Stir in butter. Cover and let stand at room temperature overnight to set.

*Available in the Asian foods section of some supermarkets and at Asian markets.

Written by Deb on February 13, 2005 02:35 AM