Foodie Friday - Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Ganache

If you follow us on Facebook you are familiar with the Sunday Yummy.  Last week I decided to bake chocolate-chocolate chip cupcakes topped with ganache. Well  I just have to tell you this was one super dangerous, but a-ma-zing idea! 

You know I'm a pretty lazy cook and baker.  So since I was tackling ganache for the first time, I took the easy but yummy way out with the cupcakes.  I used Tastefully Simple Chocolate Pound Cake Mix.  The mix already has some chocolate chips in it, has a wonderful flavor and is very moist.  I added a few more mini chocolate chips simply because I love love love chocolate. I got 12 nice-sized cupcakes out of one mix. 

I baked them per the temperature directions on the package for 23 minutes, did the toothpick test, and let them cool completely. 

Then came the ganache!  I've always been scared of making this, I guess the word  "ganache" seemed scary.  I found several different recipes online with the main difference being the type of chocolate used (bittersweet versus semi-sweet)  but this is the one I went with:

Ganache:

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

2/3 cup heavy cream

Combine ingredients in a heavy saucepan.  Melt chocolate chips with cream over low heat.  I stirred constantly to keep it from scorching, plus the two ingredients needed a little help melding :) Once the chips are melted and the two ingredients well combined, remove from the heat.  You don't want to bring it to a boil, simply melt the chips and combine the two.

The recipe called for refrigerating the ganache for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.  I put it in the fridge and checked it at 15 minutes.  After that period of time it was a great consistency - so check for yourself off and on and take it out when it is the consistency you want to work with. 

Don't you just want to dive into that?

I put about 1 heaping teaspoon on each cupcake, spreading with the backside of the spoon to completely cover the top.  You can then chill your cake, cupcakes, etc., until set (if you can wait that long). 


I only used half the ganache on the cupcakes, which left plenty to use as sauce for the top for that super chocolatey experience. 

I have to say, these were AWESOME!  The ganache was very easy to make, I was expecting it to be difficult. 

 They truly were  as wonderful as any decadent chocolate dessert we have ever had.


Luckily 8 of them went to a friend's home home so only 4 were left for us to eat. 

If you love love love chocolate... or need a little destressing these will do the trick!



Enjoy...



and Happy Friday!