“Be inspired to create masterpieces from your own kitchen”.
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Ganache GlazeGanache is made with only two ingredients, chocolate and heavy cream.
As you can see in the picture below, you can even pipe with ganache, when it has the right piping consistency. 
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In its most basic form, ganache is simply equal parts chocolate and cream by weight. However, this formula can variate when making other treats out of heavy cream and chocolate, like truffles, or a frosting for spreading ganache.
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The formula you choose remains the same whether you are using white chocolate or dark chocolate.
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Infusing Flavors into Your Ganache
Of course, once you add some sugar and butter you are upgrading your ganache to an even better level of sweet richness. |
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You will definitely need the sugar if using a dark chocolate with a high cocoa butter content, but not so much when using white chocolate. White chocolate is already equipped with enough sugar for your ganache, so you won't need to add it. |
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It's fun when infusing flavors into your ganache, like a special tea, or a vanilla bean, or even spices. Explore your creative palette. What ever flavor you choose to infuse, infuse it in the heavy cream during the heating process. Do this on a very low simmer, for at least 10 - 15 minutes, in order to achieve a deep infusion. |
Your Mise' En Place'Along with a medium sized saucepan, I'm sure , since you are a baker, you may already have some chocolate, butter and sugar on hand in the pantry.
I understand if you need to get to the store for the heavy cream. |
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But, for under $4 for a pint, this should not break the budget. If there's an Aldis supermarket by you, you can buy a pint of heavy whipping cream for $1.69, 2017 prices. One pint will give you 2 cups of heavy cream.
Tips for Preparation
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Step 1
Chocolates come in little discs, or chips, but sometimes you may have a whole piece of chocolate, like a Hershey Bar. Just chop or break up the chocolate into small pieces, to make melting faster. |
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Step 2 Heat the cream just under the boiling point. Have the chocolate ready in a glass bowl or stainless steel bowl. |
You simply pour the hot cream over the chocolate.
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The heavy cream has to be hot in order to melt the chocolate. |
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Step 3 Don't stir it yet! Allow the hot cream to sit over the chocolate, about three minutes. This gives the cream a chance to penetrate through the chocolate, slowly melting from the inside out. |
This is a good time to add the butter and allow it to melt, too.
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You can add add the butter during the heating process, but I like to add it at this time because the butter slowly melting at this moment adds an additional rich creaminess to my ganache. |
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Step 4 When it's time to stir, do it ever so gently. You are not trying to whip air into this mixture. Just blend and meld. A whisk or scraper are great tools to help you. |
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Your ganache will have a liquid flow while it's warm. Set it aside and allow it to cool down to room temperature.
As it cools, it will thicken. Look at the pictures below. You can see the shiny glaze of it all, already. When used as a glaze, this is the shine you will get. But, it's not ready to cover your cake yet. It is too thin. |
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At room temperature, your ganache will have thickened and you will have this smooth, creamy, sweet, chocolate velvet, ready for you to take your dessert to the next level. |
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You can whip a little air into the ganache for a fluffier frosting. Fold in some added whipped cream to this whipped ganache for a quick dessert mousse. All you'll need next are dessert bowls. |
Left: stirred ganache. Right: whipped ganache
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Covering Your Cake
Once the ganache cools to room temperature, you can go ahead and frost your cake, for a smooth velvet look. But if you want to pour the ganache for a glaze, just warm it , ever so gently, until your ganache is pourable. Be careful not to heat it too high, or it will become too thin.
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If you choose to frost your cake with the ganache, just let it set overnight. Room temperature is okay. The next day, your ganache with have a nice, smooth spreadable consistency. |
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