Simple Cupcake Frosting - Ganache

Cupcakes are awesome. Who doesn't like a good old cupcake with a cuppa whatever. With Halloween coming around, you might want to bake some cupcakes and well, stuff your face with it. Holidays are here for a reason right? I absolutely abhor butter cream on cakes. But that's just me, I tend to be weird. If you like butter cream on your cupcakes, knock yourself out. If you like ganache like me, this is the recipe for you.

The ganache recipe
I've learnt to make ganache when I was in my pre-teens. This goes to show how simple this recipe is. I was always a lazy baker; trying to find ways around those seemingly complicated and time-consuming recipes. I wanted to make something that tastes great with minimal effort and in no time (who doesn't dream about that). I found the recipe in one of those 80s food magazine and decided to give it a try. Ganache is the perfect glaze for a rich chocolate cake but it can also marvelously top a plain vanilla cake. Let's crack on with the recipe, shall we?

Ingredients:

• 200g of dark cooking chocolate or at least 70% of cocoa content
• 200ml of cream 
• 1 teaspoon of butter
• Icing sugar (Optional - to taste)

Method

• Heat the cream in a pan and bring to a boil
• Dice the chocolate and reserve in a bowl
• Add the hot cream over the chocolate cubes and let that rest for about 3-4 minutes
• By then the hot cream would have melted the chocolate
• Stir the cream and chocolate mixture to combine
• Add in the butter and sugar
• Let the ganache cool before glazing your cake

Pretty simple recipe. You can add a layer of ganache on your cupcake and do the classic spiderweb design with some melted white chocolate.