but throughout high school i made cakes from scratch, and in junior year i started trying my hand at "real" food. (stuffed chicken, anyone?)
contrary to popular belief, cooking and baking are not SCIENCES- they're ART. measurements don't matter. just your imagination and ingredients... i really think measurements came about to help people who were beginning to cook or for those who didn't understand the food or both. if you have a bite of something, you can usually taste what ingredients (and how much of them) are in the dish.
anyways, while home at break with no car (worst case when all your friends have left already for new years in new york), i decided to have my hand at baking again, since the last time i baked a cake was almost 3 years ago.
i made white cake with chocolate ganache and it's fucking beautiful. presentation is a bit sloppy because i've never worked with ganache before but c'est la vie.
and for those of you who love chocolate like myself, ganache is the nino brown of the stuff.
Chocolate Ganache
1. thumbs length amount of butter
2. two coffee cups full of heavy cream or whipping cream
3. three coffee cups full of finely chopped dark chocolate (or chocolate of your preference)
place finely chopped chocolate (and believe me, the finer the better) into a bowl. set aside. in a saucepan, heat butter and cream together just until it begins to boil. then pour cream-butter mixture over chocolate and let it sit for 20 seconds. whisk by hand until smooth. you can poor this over cakes with fondant or if you let it sit it will firm up and be easier to spread.
