If you're looking for more intensity and a more "chocolate-forward" sauce, it's hard to beat a water ganache. There's no dairy to mute the chocolate flavor. This is one I adapted from James Peterson (he calls it "chocolate butter sauce.") It takes a bit more care in reheating than ganache-based sauces.
Use chocolate in the ~70% cocoa solids range. If the sauce will be featured in a dish, use a good one.
120g / 4 oz bittersweet chocolate
(if liquid used is sweet, you can use 3-1/2 oz. bittersweet and 1/2 oz unsweetened)
90g / 3 oz liquid (water, strong coffee, liqueur, fruit brandy, fortified wine, whisky, etc.). Mix 'n match to taste.
45g / 1.5 oz butter, cool, in small pieces
-melt chocolate in the liquid over medium-low heat in a saucepan. keep liquid well below a simmer.
-lower heat or remove from heat, and swirl in the butter. if you do it a few chunks at a time and keep the temperature moderate, the butter and chocolate will stay emulsified, and you will have a glassy-smooth texture, like ganache but with a greater sheen.
notes:
-amount of liquid can be varied to control consistency
-this is a more fragile emulsion than ganache, so be careful if you need to reheat it. let it come to room temperature slowly, without disturbing it. then heat in a water bath over water that's below a simmer.
