I made the mistake of showing this recipe to my daughters, and now I have to make a special trip to the grocery store to pick up supplies!

The recipe comes from Chef Andres Jimenez, who is the Executive Chef for The Ritz-Carlton in Denver, Colorado. Made using the standard truffle method of cooled ganache, these truffles are put on a stick and decorated with bits of candy to resemble spiders. These would be great for kids to help out with, and to give away to teachers or for a class party!
Halloween Chocolate Spider Truffles
from Chef Andres Jimenez
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate …read more

This week’s Chocolate Zen is a “Chocolate Bumpy Cake,” which is a chocolate cupcake with buttercream frosting dipped in chocolate ganache.
Sadly, there’s no indication where flickr user flirtykitty bought it, though!

[images: flickr]

This week’s Chocolate Zen is a simple chocolate birthday cake I found on flickr. It was made with a ganache frosting and looks delicious!
[image: flickr]

During the summer months I try to avoid dessert recipes that require turning the oven on, but I make an exception for this one! We like ours topped with strawberries and peaches.
Chocolate Pizza Pie
3/4 c. butter or margarine
1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 1/2 c. flour
FILLING:
10 oz. chocolate chips
1/4 c. whipping cream
8 oz. cream cheese
GLAZE:
1/4 c. sugar
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1/2 c. pineapple juice
1/2 tsp. lemon juice
Mix butter, sugar and flour and press in pizza pan. Bake at 300 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Melt chocolate chips and whipping cream in microwave, then beat cream cheese into the mixture and spread on top of crust. …read more

There’s been a lot of hype over the release of the Sex and the City movie this weekend, and though I was never much of a fan (I think I can remember the character names), I thought it’d be fun to see what kinds of chocolate I could dig up with a SATC theme!
The cute little purse above is by Chocochocohouse (their site seems to be down for maintenance) and is made from milk chocolate from Belgium and France and is molded to look like pink crocodile with a gold clasp. The chocolate ganache also has a little vodka in …read more

If spending $1000 for dessert isn’t extravagant enough, check these out:

This is called “The Fortress Aquamarine” and is available at Wine3 at The Fortress in Galle, Sri Lanka, for a mere $14,500. According to ForbesTraveler:
This dessert, which debuted in March, was inspired by the success of the restaurant’s other gem-studded treat, the Bombay Sapphire Martini. The star of the show is an 80-carat aquamarine gem that rests on a sliver of chocolate shaped to resemble the traditional stilt fisherman that’s part of the resort’s logo. Handmade glass utensils (not included in the price) complete the presentation. And yes, diners can …read more

Perfectly acceptable use of leftover ganache, am I right?
We went camping over the weekend and I didn’t think to take pictures of the s’mores we made. We did have a lot of leftover graham crackers, though (can’t imagine why there was no leftover chocolate bars), which tasted fantastic with leftover ganache.
The ganache has been in the fridge so it’s about the consistency of frosting. Perfect!

For my friend’s birthday yesterday we did a little “petits fours party.” I used Gale Gand’s recipe for the cake and fondant glaze (way too sweet) and made my regular ganache.
As tasty as they are I don’t know that I’d use the ganache for any kind of formal serving unless you made them a day ahead to let them set up a bit more. I had draped them only a couple of hours before we decorated and they were still pretty tacky, so they’d be messy at a wedding reception or dinner unless you pass out forks with them. We …read more

Ganache. Even the name sounds rich and chocolatey and decadent, doesn’t it? I gathered up my courage last year and made it for the first time for my husband’s birthday cake. I’m not sure why I had always found it a bit intimidating, maybe it was the thought of all that wasted chocolate if I messed up. But I found a recipe that was very user-friendly and I haven’t looked back:
1 lb semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 cups heavy cream
That’s it. Put the chocolate chips in a food processor. Warm the cream just until it starts to simmer and pour over …read more