Lets talk about Chocolate Ganache

As a cake decorator, I always strive to create flawless cakes and a good solid foundation. Chocolate ganache is by far one of the best ways to create a solid base for your cake. Ganache is very versatile and can be used underneath Sugarpaste, on its own to cover your cake, or can be used a filling.

Ganache is also great to use during the summer months as it holds up better then buttercream which is not as stable and can easily melt.

What is Chocolate Ganache?

Chocolate ganache is made up of two ingredients which is chocolate and double cream. You can make ganache using white chocolate, milk chocolate or dark chocolate.

Lets start off with my favourite, white chocolate ganache. This is what I use here at Kookies Kakery all the time. I love to use white chocolate ganache underneath all my sugarpaste cakes. White chocolate ganache is the best to use underneath sugarpaste especially if you are using a white sugarpaste to cover your cake. This will eliminate any shadows and if you use a milk or dark ganache you can sometimes see this through the sugarpaste which is never a good look.

How to you make Chocolate Ganache?

When making white chocolate ganache, I use a 3:1 ratio. This is 3 parts of chocolate and one part double cream. The most important thing is to ensure you are using a good quality chocolate. My preferred brand is Belcolade white chocolate buttons.

In a microwavable bowl, I add the white chocolate buttons and double cream together and heat in the microwave for 2 minutes. I then mix with an electric hand held whisk for around 30 seconds. If there are still bits of chocolate visible, pop back into the microwave for 30 seconds bursts, mixing in between with the hand held whisk.

The biggest tip I can give you is not to overheat. This can cause the fat in the chocolate to separate and the ganache will split resulting in an oil layer and a grainy mess. Should this happen, you can pop into your fridge and leave for an hour and then whisk back up and this should help it combine together again.

Once the chocolate has fully melted, it will need time to set before you can use it. In the summer months you can make up your ganache a few hours before you want to use it. In the colder months, ganache usually firms up within a couple of hours. This is left at room temp to firm up.

If you leave your ganache for a few hours and you come back to it and it has solidified, you can pop in the microwave for short bursts of 20 seconds mixing with the hand held mixer in between until it has softened and is a spreadable consistency, but it should not be runny where it is not easy to spread onto your cake.

Milk Chocolate and Dark Chocolate Ganache

When making milk chocolate ganache, this is also a 3:1 ratio, however if making dark chocolate ganache, I use a 2:1 ratio e.g 284ml double cream and 568g dark chocolate.

How much Ganache do I need to cover my cake?

6 inch cake with 4 layers

284ml Double Cream and 852g of White Chocolate

8 inch cake with 4 layers

426ml Double Cream and 1278g of White Chocolate

You may have some ganache left over which you can freeze for up to 3 months.

Some tips when using Chocolate Ganache?

• If using ganache only to cover your cake, you can add a whitener to it to make it a nice ivory colour as the ganache can have a yellow tone to it. A whitener I highly recommend is colour mill white. You just add in a few drops and it will immediately get rid of the yellowness.

• In the summer months you can increase the chocolate quantity for white or milk ganache. Instead of a 3:1 ratio, you can increase to 4:1 (Four parts chocolate and one part cream)

• If you want to colour your ganache, use an oil based colour rather then a gel colour without oil as this can cease the chocolate. Colour mill gel colours are amazing for colouring ganache.