Chocolate Ganache with Sea Salted Caramel and Brazil Nut Crumble.

I probably shouldn't tell you this online, for burglars and dodgy types to see, but I'm going to be home alone for a month, the Mr is in Chile playing with seals or whatever it is he does for a living...and a month is a looooong time, long enough for me to definitely want to complain about it on here at least once and long enough for me to go mental and start talking to myself more often than usual, and I feel I should alert you, so you can be on the look out for any signs of crazy-pants-dom and come and save me.

Anyway....I really don't think anyone would bother coming allllll the way to deepest darkest Fife just to rob be of my things...which mainly consist of second hand teapots, and if they did, well, HA, I just sorted us out with contents insurance and am now officially protected and a grown up (a grown up with 17 German Shepards and a highly proficient alarm system of course).

So anyway...yes. Last weekend I was sad because I had been abandoned for said seals (or is it porpoises this time mmm?), so turned to chocolate...obvs. This, however, is not you're average 'sad snack', oh no, this is no family sized Dairy Milk. This is Chocolate Ganache with Sea Salted Caramel and Brazil Nut Crumble. Read those words again. Chocolate. Caramel. Crumble. SALTED CARAMEL.

AND. The bloomin' ganache is only made of 2 things; chocolate and water. WATER? Who knew this was even possible? Chocolate is good for you yeah...so you add water and it can only be even better. They should serve this in gyms. Can you tell I'm not sad anymore. With Love and Cake.

Chocolate Ganache with Sea Salted Caramel and Brazil Nut Crumble.

Adapted from a delicious. magazine recipe

A few notes:

• So this is a dessert of 3 parts, ganache, caramel and crumble topping...and they are FAB.U.LOUS together, but if that just sounds like too much to be bothered with for you, they work equally well as individuals. The ganache on its own would be a divine pud, or you could top it with just the caramel. And if you're looking for a salted caramel recipe for any other purpose, well, your search is over.
• This makes a lot more caramel and crumble than you need; you could halve the recipe and still have enough....but atop vanilla ice cream, well, there are worse ways to eat leftovers.
• I made 2 rather greedy portions...my excuse being that I don't really have any smaller receptacles, but you could definitely use the same amount to serve 4 in little ramekins or dainty espresso mugs.

Serves 2-4 (see notes)

You will need

either 4x200ml ramekins or 2 larger ones (see notes)

For the caramel

100g unsalted butter

100g light brown sugar

1 tsp sea salt

25g milk chocolate, finely chopped

For the crumble

30g Brazil nuts

50g plain flour

15g demerara sugar

15g caster sugar

50g cold butter

pinch sea salt

For the ganache

170ml water

140g dark chocolate, finely chopped

60g milk chocolate, finely chopped

pinch sea salt to serve

• First things first, we make the caramel. Heat the butter, sugar and salt over a medium heat until the butter has melted; stirring all the time.
• Bring to the boil and let bubble for a few minutes; still stirring constantly.
• Add the cream and stir in.
• Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate until it it melted and smooth. Set aside to cool.
• Now for the crumble. Preheat the oven to 180°c. Toast the nuts for 10 minutes in the oven.
• Chop the nuts roughly when they're cool enough to handle.
• Rub together the flour, sugars and butter until the mix looks like fine breadcrumbs.
• Mix in the nuts and salt and spread out the crumbs on a baking sheet. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, then set aside to cool.
• Now the final part; the ganache. Pop your ramekins in the fridge to chill.
• Bring the water to the boil in a pan. Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate until melted and smooth.
• Pour into a bowl and beat, hopefully you'll have an electric hand whisk, for 10 minutes or until the mixture is cool and just beginning to thicken.
• Pour the mix into your ramekins and chill for 20 minutes; it may still look wobbly in the middle but will set after a while don't worry.
• When you're ready to eat, sprinkle the salt over the ganache, drizzle over some caramel and finish with a a few spoonfuls of the crumble.