I finally have a cake this weekend that I can try this technique. I have been dying to try it. Any tips, tricks or techniques on pouring the ganache to cover the entire cake? (10 inch square) I am using the cheftaz (I believe) recipe from this site. Thanks as always!

Michele

I was wondering the same thing...here's a bump!!

Funny enough I just made ganache tonight for the purpose of dipping strawberries but afterwards I had a lot of left over so I poured it over some cupcakes that I had.

I found the trick to get it pourable was to beat it on med-high speed for about 10 minutes. Then you get the consistency you need and pouring is simple right from the mixing bowl.

I only tried it once, and I did learn this:

Cold cakes out of the fridge to not marry well with warm ganache. It seemed to stop flowing too quickly. It did cover the whole cake but sort of immediately wanted to "set" up, and I couldn't spread it because it was cooling too quickly, if that makes sense.

On a room temp cake, probably whole different story. It sure tasted awsome though! wow Choc fudge cake with cherries and whipped cream inside, ganache outside....

Here are a couple of links that I found really helpful before my first time trying it:

http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopic-56708-0.html

http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-96471-ganache.html

Here's a picture of the ganache that I used for the dipped strawberries. Unfortunately the cake was eaten out very quickly so I could not get a picture.

I was taught that to get a nice even cover, is to pour it in in the middle of the cake and keep it there untill the ganache covers the whole cake... If you put it on a cooling rack with a tray under it, you will save all the excess and can use it again....

thank you everyone!!! I can't wait to try it today. I will let you know how it goes!

Do you just use less if you only want it to run down the sides a bit?
Melissa

Thanks again! I will post a picture after I am done tomorrow.

I have done a couple and I just pour into the center and let it flow outward. I pour some and add a small amount at a time until I get the desired effect. I have done it on a cold cake and a room temp cake, and the room temp worked better for me. Good luck and have fun!

I don't know if you need a recipe or not but i use this one to cover my 9 inch cakes in my photos

8oz semisweet chocolate (ghiradelli)
1/2 cup heavy whippingcream

heat in double boiler until melted then immediately pour over cake! SUPER SUPER SUPER EASY!!!! I also use this with Betty Crockers Triple fudge cake! YUM! I am making yet another one this week for my dads b-day. I think Im going to pipe white chocolate around it then paint the white with Gold Luster Dust.

After I pour mine over the top, I use a spatula to push some off of the sides.....more for a complete covering, and less for the drip effect.

One thing I did find out on my last one..... be sure when you are beating or whisking the chocolate into the hot whipping cream, that the chocolate is completely melted. I had 3 little tiny pieces of unmelted chocolate (no bigger than a pinhead!) in the batch. They slid down the sides of the cake, making it look like a run in a stocking! So no pieces of chocolate unmelted, no matter how small!

Fortunately, it wasn't for a customer .... just for a home-dinner for some friends I was wanting to impress!

I am getting so much good advice! It is going to be a square cake. Anything I need to do different for that?

I have a piece of advise or a tip from the chocolate class taught by Jacques Torres. After pouring your ganache or the Sarah Bernhardt and it has set, if you see any drips or run marks in it take a hair blow dryer set on hot, hold it about 8" away from the cake and move it in quick back and forth motions over the run or drip mark, only do this for a few seconds until the glaze begins to get shiny and you can see the run mark begin to smooth out. Then move on to another area of the cake if there are anymore runs marks.

AWESOME~

Does it dry firm enough to cover with fondant?

Hey, that blow dryer trick sounds cool!

Great advise.

The blow dryer trick works like a dream

I was taught to wiggle the pour in an "X" fashion to each corner of a square cake to get coverage of the corners with ganache.

I used a ganache on top of a cake before and it came out great. The only thing was it didn't get hard. So my question is how do you dip strawberries in there. They won't ever set like plain melted chocolate like I use now. Also. Because I only wanted chocolate on the top I had to be sure not to pour too much for it do go down the sides. I put a thick rope border at the top of the cake to help ensure a dam. Any guidance on bettering my process?