The easiest icing for cake (though pricey) is gently melting good chocolate, and then mixing in room temperature butter (not margarine). For ages, I thought this was ganache until one day Rita asked me how to make ganache.

Because I frequently second-guess myself, I did a quick search on YouTube. I am glad I did. I realized my “ganache” was missing one key ingredient: whipping cream (or American heavy cream). So here is the real ganache recipe—thanks Rita!

Measure 220g and 45g milk (or rum) and heat on the stove until it comes to a boil.

In a separate bowl, measure and chop as evenly as possible 220g chocolate. The cream to chocolate ratio is 1:1.

When the cream has come to a boil, pour half of it over the chopped chocolate. Walk away and leave it for a minute or two. Don’t stir. Let the heat from the cream melt the chocolate. (There is additional cocoa for a bit more acidity, but that is optional.)

Not all the chocolate has melted, so pour the remaining hot cream. Using a spatula, gently but continuously mix until all the chocolate is melted and the ganache is shiny and smooth.

Finally add 45g of room temperature butter to the ganache and mix in. Step back and enjoy your work. This stuff is for the gods! This quantity can be used to sandwich a 2 layer cake and completely cover it.

• When it is left to cool, it thickens; but it will still be easy to spread.
• If you want to pour it over the cake for a mirror effect, use when it is still warm and runny.
• If it has thickened but would like it pour-able, place the container with the ganache, on a plate or shallow bowl that has warm water. The gentle heat of the warm water will warm the bowl and “melt” the ganache.

Recipes that can be converted to formulas make my heart sing.
A ganache recipe as a formula would be cream:milk:chocolate:butter=1:0.2:1:0.2. So for instance, 100g cream, 20g milk, 100g butter, 20g butter.

cream:milk:chocolate:butter =1:0.2:1:0.2.