Chocolate and Cherries
The flavours of chocolate and cherry are a match made in heaven; they are flavour best friends. I have a lovely recipe for a simple but fancy chocolate and cherry dessert.
In the last post I showed you how to make a jar of cherry compote.
It is quick and easy so I hope you have already whipped up a jar and it is sitting in the fridge ready to go. If not, then head back to the ‘Seasonal Cherries’ blog post to catch up and join in.
British cherries are fully in season and easily available at your local greengrocers or supermarket. Once you have a wonderful jar of the cherry compote, there is no end to the yummy delights that you can create. For now, I am bringing out a chocolate treat with this amaretti chocolate cherry ganache dessert.
Amaretti Chocolate Cherry Ganache
400ml double cream
400g 70% dark chocolate
100g hard amaretti biscuits, crushed
Jar of cherry compote (made from previous post)
20cm square baking tin lined with baking parchment
First finely chop the dark chocolate and place into a large heatproof bowl.
Tip the crushed amaretti biscuits into the base of your lined square baking tin.
Heat the double cream until almost at boiling point. Immediately pour all over the chopped chocolate and allow to sit for a couple of minutes to give the cream a chance to melt the chocolate.
Slowly and gently stir the chocolate and cream together until thick and completely combined, then pour all over the top of the crushed biscuits. Using a small palette knife or the back of a spoon, smooth the chocolate ganache to the edges of the baking tin.
Leave the ganache in the fridge to set, which will take about 4 hours.
When you are ready to serve, cut a thin slice of the amaretti chocolate ganache and place on a plate. Spread a small amount of the cherry compote on the top of the chocolate and place a few of the compote cherries by the side.
You can serve it as it is, or take the decorations up a notch by adding fresh cherries, sprinkles or even edible flowers on top.
What a pretty dessert to bring out at the end of your dinner party!
