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

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 the saucepan over medium heat. Watch it as it comes to a simmer. If you're using vanilla bean paste instead of a pod, then you can simply just heat up the cream alone.

Make the ganache. Once the cream is simmering, immediately pour it over the chopped chocolate, cover the bowl and let stand for 2 minutes so the heat can gently melt the chocolate. Uncover the bowl and whisk until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth and silky. It is important that the chocolate is completely melted at this stage. If it is cold in your house and the heat of the cream isn't enough to melt it, then place the bowl in the microwave for about 30 seconds on medium-high power and whisk again. Once smooth, let it cool for 5 minutes so it is no longer hot and then pour in the remaining 1 cup of cold cream while whisking until combined.

Chill the ganache. Cover the bowl and place it in the fridge for minimum 4 hours or overnight until completely cold. It must be thoroughly chilled before you move to the next step. This long refrigeration time not only cools it down, but it also allows time for the melted cocoa butter crystals to fully re-crystallize which will stabilize the whipped ganache.

Whip it until thick and fluffy. Once thoroughly chilled, add the vanilla extract (and the vanilla bean paste if you're not using the vanilla bean) and beat with an electric hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment on medium speed until thick, airy, fluffy and stiff. This will take 2-3 minutes but it depends on your mixer. Watch the video below to see the consistency you should be looking for because if you over-beat, then it will become grainy. Use immediately or cover the bowl and keep refrigerated until ready to use within a few hours.