Okay, the first time I made this, it whipped it too much and it almost, for lack of a better term, unwhipped itself, the second time I made it, it came out perfect!!!! I made it again now and I don't think I whipped it enough. How on earth do you check to make sure that it is whipped enough. My husband said that the second time we did it, I put a spoon it to see if it made peaks. I honestly don't remember doing that...Is that how you check? I am making a bridal doll cake for my neice's bridal shower which is in two weeks!!! i was hoping to do a trial run on decorating today, which now cannot be done, because the icing is running and the cake is falling over...So, I will have to make another one...Oh, and I followed the directions to a T. I made the filling and let it sit in the fridge overnight so it was completely cool...I need to get this right for her shower...any suggestions????

Oh it is so tricky isn't it?!

You don't have to actually refrigerate it overnight, you just need it to sit out on the counter to come to that creamy consistency.

As for the whipping itself, my rule of thumb is to whip until the color lightens, keeping in mind that it doesn't take long. I'd be surprised if I ever even went a whole minute whipping the ganache. If you don't think you whipped it enough, finish off the job by hand, not with the mixer. (They recommend the same thing with whipped cream, to get it properly whipped to stability without turning it into butter.) Unfortunately, as you discovered, overwhipped ganache doesn't turn to butter but rather "breaks". FWIW I have read that you MAY be able to salvage a broken ganache by straining it and stirring slowly again, but I have never actually tried it.

I know that's not a ton of help, but hopefully there is SOMETHING useful in there .