Step 1

Chop the chocolate. Finely chop the white chocolate and place it into a large bowl. Or, use these couverture white chocolate chips.

Step 2

Heat and infuse the cream. Pour ½ cup of cream into a 1-quart stainless steel saucepan with the scraped vanilla bean seeds (and I also add the scraped pod because there are still lots of seeds in there!) and place over medium heat. Watch it as it comes to a simmer.

Step 3

Make the ganache. Once simmering, immediately pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate, cover the bowl and let stand for 2 minutes. Uncover the bowl and whisk until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth and silky. Let it cool for 5 minutes so it is no longer hot. Add cold cream. Pour in the remaining cold cream while whisking until combined.

Step 4

Chill the ganache. Place the bowl in the fridge and chill for at least 2 hours or overnight until completely cold. If you choose to chill overnight, then cover the bowl after 20 minutes.

Step 5

Whip it until thick and fluffy. Once thoroughly chilled, add the vanilla extract and beat with an electric hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment on medium speed until thick, airy and fluffy. This will take about 2 minutes but it depends on your mixer. Watch the video below to see the consistency you should be looking for.