A: Welcome to VOV24/7’s Food Delight – a show full of cooking tips and recipes. We’re…….and…..
B: Christmas is just around  the corner. There are sparkling lights in the streets and the shops are full of colorful Christmas decorations - pine trees, snowmen, and red flowers. Oh I wish I could go back to my childhood and wait for Santa Claus to come.
A: Oh, that’s a happy wish, but why don’t we cook something special for our family and friends for Christmas? What about making them chocolate cakes?
B: Cool. Let’s make some chocolate ganache. You know, chocolate ganache can be used to make many different kinds of bon-bons and cakes.

(Photo: womanandhome.com)

A: It sounds very versatile. Chocolate ganache is that amazing chocolate concoction used for everything from truffles to glazes and layer cakes, it's just cream and chocolate, right?
B: Not really. To make the proper chocolate ganache, thick or thin, whipped or smooth, requires an understanding of two things: proportions and temperature.
Today, we have Sicard Marc-Acban, a chef from Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi to give us some tips for making chocolate ganache.
Chef: My name is Sicard Marc-acban, chef of the Sofitel Hotel of Hanoi.
The first ganache is made with dark chocolate of 58 percent with praline and hazelnut. And the second one is white chocolate with passion fruit and cream.
For the white chocolate we need: 1 kilo of white chocolate, 300 grams of passion fruit and 300 grams of cream. You’re gonna eat cream and the passion fruit puree.
A: Oh, with cream and passion fruit mixed together, I think the richness of the cream will be lightened by the tartness of the fruit. The white chocolate we chop into small pieces. And what do we do with the cream, Sicard?
Chef:  Put it in the microwave and warm it to 35 DC. The same with dark chocolate at 35 DC. You combine the two ingredients together but drop by drop for 3 times to get a good mixture and the right texture in the mouth.
B: So, we mix the cream with the chocolate and pour it 3 times and mix it until the mixture becomes thick and shiny, right? Should we do the same for the dark chocolate ganache? 
Chef: We have 1 kilo of dark chocolate, 300 grams of pralines and 300 grams of cream. You put your pralines into your chocolate. Then you warm up your cream and pour it three times as we did with the white chocolate ganache.
A: Do I need to let the ganache rest for a time?
Chef: It depends on your use. For bon-bons, you need to cool it down for one night and cut it into squares. The same with white chocolate ganache. We let it cool for one night. Then we can cut it into cubes to make chocolate bon-bons.
B: Do I need a mould to shape the chocolate?
Chef: No, you just need a tray. You pour the ganache on it to a thickness of 1 cm and then you will be able to cut it into squares or the shape you want.
With two kinds of chocolate, we can make tarts from the white chocolate ganache with passion fruit and cream for something lighter and dark chocolate choux.
A: In your country, France, chocolate dipped orange peel is a popular dessert for Christmas Day. Could you tell us how to make this with chocolate ganache?
Chef: To make chocolate orange peel, you must peel the orange. Cut the skin in small rectangles and you have to boil it 3 times to remove the bitterness of the skin. After that, you put it in a syrup made with 1 liter of water and 2 kilos of sugar. You bake it for 30 to 40 minutes, After that you remove it from the syrup.
This way, you can keep it for 1 year, because this is sugar. It’s not gonna go bad over time.

Chocolate dipped orange peel (Photo: pinterest)

B: So, following Chef Sicard Marc-Acban’s suggestions with chocolate ganache, we can create choux, tarts, chocolate candies, and chocolate dipped orange peel.
We hope you’ll have a sweet Christmas with our chocolate recipes. Thanks for listening. See you next time.