ESPRESSO-INFUSED WHIPPED CHOCOLATE GANACHE

Espresso-Infused Whipped Chocolate Ganache image

Provided by Dan Langan

Categories dessert

Time 25m

Yield 6 1/2 cups (enough to fill and frost an 8-inch cake)

Number Of Ingredients 5

27 ounces semisweet baking chocolate, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups whole espresso beans
32 ounces heavy cream
3 tablespoons coffee liqueur, optional
Pinch table salt

Steps:

Place your chopped chocolate into the bowl of your stand mixer.
Place the espresso beans in a sealable gallon-size bag (or between two pieces of parchment) and crush them with a rolling pin. Combine the heavy cream and espresso beans in a small pot and heat over medium-low heat until simmering. Remove from the heat, cover the pot and allow the cream to infuse for 10 minutes. Strain the cream through a cheesecloth-lined sieve into a clean pot. Return the cream to medium-low heat and bring back to a simmer.
Pour the warm cream into the bowl of chocolate. Add the coffee liqueur if using and the salt. Gently stir the mixture with a spatula until smooth. Allow your ganache to cool until the outer edge of the ganache is a spreadable consistency; the center of the ganache may still be a bit loose.
Fit your stand mixer with the whip attachment and whip the ganache on medium-high speed until the ganache lightens in color, 2 to 3 minutes. Don't over whip or you run the risk of breaking your ganache. Use immediately as a filling or frosting.
Once the whipped ganache sets up it can be rewarmed in the microwave in 20 second bursts. Rewarmed ganache can be re-whipped or poured.