I'm planning on covering my first ganache cake tonight, and was just hoping for some pointers (or even better, for a highly-detailed professionally-illustrated manual that I could download, hopefully as a holographic image ). Do I just pour the stuff onto the cake when it's made? On a rack, like petit fours? Or should it be more like a (more liquid version of) a buttercream? Let it cool a bit first? How thick should it be when I do so? Sorry, DUMB questions, I know, but I am an absolute ganache virgin .

Thanks for any help you can give me!!!

Thought I give u a bump I'd love to know more too

I did my first ganache this past Saturday. I can only give you one time worth of experience. I used two cups heavy whipping cream and two cups Nestle semi sweet chips. I put both into double boiler and heated til smooth. I let it sit on the counter overnight and stirred occassionally. The next morning, it was the PERFECT consistency. If I had a choice, I would use ganache for everything! LOVED IT!

Good luck!

it really depends on what kind of coating you want. if you want a thinner coating you can pour it on the cake while the ganache is still warm and liquidy (on the rack like you said). or, if you wanted a thicker coating you can make the ganache and let it cool down and firm up a bit (it goes faster if you put it in the fridge... just wait till it's cool before you put a lid on or you'll have a mess with the condensation) and then frost it like a normal buttercream.

also, i noticed the PP said she melted the chocolate with the cream in a double broiler, i think it's more common to just scald the cream over the stove and pour the warmed cream over the chocolate chips. let it sit like that for a few moments and then stir it around to help melt. this is how i've always done it, but it sounds like it works both ways, so whatever floats your boat i suppose. oh, and i usually do about a 17 oz of chocolate to 1 cup of cream type of ratio.

hth a bit. i'm no pro but i've done it a couple of times

I put ganache on 80% of the cakes I make - after I have covered them in ganache I then put on the fondant.

The consistency that I get is like soft butter or margarine - I just spread it onto the cake one it is cool. You can pour it on as mentioned earlier or smooth it like buttercream.

My mixture is 250mls of cream to 300 grams chocolate. I heat my all together in a saucepan over a very low flame, once melted, I pour it into a bowl and place it it in the fridge to cool.

Best of luck,

I've never used ganache either, and was shocked when I saw that it can be left out overnight! Really? How long is it stable for left out of the refrigerator?

Is using Bakers chocolate work? Semi or unsweetened?

I use ganache on every cake eversince I started it. What kind are you looking for? Are you looking for pourable ganache or spreadable?

Everything you ever wanted to know about ganache:
(Includes overview, master and other recipes including white chocolate as well as info on how to glaze, smooth and stack.)

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-497433-.html

Chocolate 101:

http://tinyurl.com/ytby97

Whipped Chocolate Ganache:

http://cakecentral.com/recipes/2328/whipped-chocolate-ganache

Blender Ganache:

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopicp-6176469-.html#6176469

HTH

You guys rock! Thanks a bajillion! I am in the process of covering my last tier with ganache, and will cover them with fondant tomorrow ... so far so good, but I'll be in a better place to give a final opinion once I've finished the fondanting .

Thanks again everyone!

-Emi.

Please note that different ratios will give you different results.

1:1 ratio is for poured ganache, the glaze type look, and will not firm up enough to cover with fondant. The 2:1 - 2.5:1 ratio will make the paste you spread on like buttercream, and overnight it will set up nice and firm on the cake so you can then cover it with fondant.

HTH

Thanks so much, Sharon! I had what I hope is an unrelated (but can't count on it) issue with the cake after the ganache had set (beautifully!) and the cake was covered ... I'll post it in another thread and see if anybody has any insight into why this happened ...

That's it! I've got to make a cake now! Great info!

You can use Baker's semi-sweet chocolate bars. That's typically what I use.

Lately, I've just been using Nestle semi-sweet morsels because I shop at Sam's and it helps keep my costs down

I will make a dam of 3:1 ratio ganache (3 parts choco to 1 part cream) to hold in the filling

Then I use a 2:1 ratio ganache (2 parts choco to 1 part cream) to either spread or pour, depending on what I'm going for. Crumb coating is awesome with ganache! It fills in all those little nooks and crannies that form after baking, torting, etc. So nice!

What I mean is, I rather use a crumb coat of ganache (either white or chocolate) instead of buttercream under my fondant. Ganache dries hard and makes awesome corners, especially on square cakes. It also makes for sturdy stacking cakes.

The crumb coat goes on after you fill. It's a thin coat of ganache, just like buttercream, that you would ice the entire cake with in order to lock in the filling, lock in stray crumbs. It makes a nice base surface for either putting your final coat of icing on or a layer of fondant.

I hope that made sense!

OK i think i got it, I am not going to cover this wonderful chocolate ganache, i want it in its bare beauty THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR ALL OF YOUR HELP I love this site!

Thanks for posting this topic.

I did my first ganache a few months ago, and the woman at the cake decorating supply store insisted that I MUST use at least 70% cocao or else my ganache wouldn't "bind". Now I'm glad to see that I can use regular old Nestle's!

FYI, I whipped my leftover ganache and used it as filling. It ended up being more like a truffle filling -- very dense, almost like a fudge. But my friend LOVED it, and in fact requested another cake just like it for next weekend!