Broken Ganache (Split, Oily) Help!

Baking By LouisNutri Updated 28 Mar 2017 , 12:37am by bubs1stbirthday

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LouisNutri Posted 26 Mar 2017 , 12:10pm
post #1 of 5

I used a 5:1 ratio (as per our country's baking group) of chocolate : cream. Turns out, the cream was not enough to melt all chocolate chips. Therefore I tried re-heating it, but I overdid it and ended up with an oily mess of chocolate. I've Googled and saw a multitude of fixes, but I want to know what works best? Warm cream or warm milk? I removed all the oil that I could from the broken ganache, but I don't have cream nor milk, so I'm going out to buy just one of either... I'm using the ganache to cover my cake prior to fondant application.


Thanks!

4 replies
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bubs1stbirthday Posted 26 Mar 2017 , 11:43pm
post #2 of 5

Is it white/milk or dark chocolate? That ratio has a lot of chocolate compared to cream.

In the future I would not remove the oil at all, warm some cream to the same temp as the ganache then combine the two.

If needed, once it is back together melt some extra chocolate then add to the ganache so that the ratio is balanced again.

I just weigh my cream/chocolate into the same microwave proof bowl and warm them together, always letting it sit for a bit before mixing as the cream will heat faster than the chocolate and if you mix it before the chocolate catches up to the cream you may well 'shock' your chocolate and have it sieze up on you.

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vlasko Posted 27 Mar 2017 , 4:35am
post #3 of 5

Personally, I would start over.

Valrhona has perfected the making of ganache in their lab testing.  If anyone would like to learn how to make perfect ganache, there is a three-part video series on YouTube that you can pull up by putting in the following search terms:

valrhona 1
valrhona 2
valrhona 3

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LouisNutri Posted 27 Mar 2017 , 1:29pm
post #4 of 5

@bubs1stbirthday ‍ I used dark chocolate.  ‍I followed your advice by adding some warm cream, it's almost perfect now. However, I did not add any more chocolate. My country is very warm, and the ratio is being taught in baking classes as the "ideal" ratio that is optimal for our climate especially this time of the year. I was used to making 2.5:1 ratio of dark chocolate to cream, but they're a hit and miss; there are times that it sets perfectly for covering cakes, sometimes it's too runny even after several hours of sitting at room temperature. This is my first time making the 5:1 ratio, and it sets really well but a bit stiff. I think I'll adjust it further... I have yet to find my ganache's sweet spot. 

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bubs1stbirthday Posted 28 Mar 2017 , 12:37am
post #5 of 5

Not sure how hot it gets there but 5:1 for dark chocolate is really high, definitely keep up the trial and error - you will find the right ratio that works for you and then you can just adjust it based on the weather to suit yourself :-)

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