AMaisie, never made milk choc but I know it's 1 part cream to 3 parts chocolate, same as white chocolate. And you don't have to put it in the fridge, but it does go hard even you leave it out side.

AMeanie Maisie, please do tell or I wont tell you you need to store ganache in the fridge, oops, just did, always keep it in the fridge, I take it out hr or so before use it and Still have to micro it for few secs,I have to make than I need as I eat half of it, naughty but soooo nice.x

AI put it in the fridge cos I'm afraid of the cream I guess.

AHahaha! Thanks nanny! You'll be getting more fans as we speak! Go and have a look at the frozen fruitcake thread, see what a lovely lady called enga has written. :-)

AMudcake take 2 is safely out of the oven and cooling, it looks much better than the first one, low and slow definitely worked! Thanks natt. I'm off to bed now, it's been a long day. G'nite all. :-)

AMaisie, I like slow fora big cake, gas 2,3 for me and about an HR to cook.

HS ha, she seems to like all of us doesn't she?

AMorning all. :-) I'm making a Skylanders cake today for my (husbands) grandson, he's had to wait a long time for a cake off me because this time last year I'd only just started decorating and wouldn't send cakes out of the house. So I want it to be a good one and I'm hoping it's going to go to plan. Wish me luck ladies! :-)

I do wish you luck Maisie - mainly because I have absolutely no idea what Skylanders is ....  when you have finished please post a pic to enlighten me? :)

AThanks Kathy, course I will. It's a kids computer game, huge, massive! Off into the breach I go then, byee.

AMaisie, god luck with the cake. Looking forward to seeing the cake.

Barbara, as far as I know the sugar in chocolate acts as a preservative and we boil the cream too. So you can keep it out side. I put it in the fridge once I've finished using the ganache. :D

AHa right, that sounds good then Bashini.

Maisie good luck with your cake.

Greetings from across the ocean.  You do not need to stick your ganache in the fridge, it will not go off (that is of course presuming that you do not leave it on the bench for the next few months).  Oh and it is so cold in your part of the world that I didn't realise that you needed fridges!   If you make your ganache the evening before and leave it on the bench it will thicken up nicely by the next morning and you will not be constantly poking at it, wondering when it is finally going to get to the consistency you want.  Be very careful microwaving it as it doesn't take much to get it back to a way too warm consistency (though you can now use it as an excuse for an ice-cream break and pour it over that instead).

After you have ganached your cake and it has gone hard, boil a jug of water and dip a spatula or similar in until the metal is hot. Dry it and then run this over your ganache and the heat should melt any small imperfections.  Keep dipping, wiping and running over your cake until you are satisfied.

Hope this helps

Cazza1 this is helpful to me - a ganache virgin!  I will remember this tip since I am inspired to try ganache very soon!  Oh - and regarding the temperature....I would have put myself in the fridge this weekend if I could have! ;)  Thanks to global warming - I now have to dig out all my summer clothes! 

AThanks ladies. Cazza, too cold for fridges! :-D :-D :-D Thanks for the light relief, I 'm just taking a little break from this mammoth (for me) cake so thought I'd look in, glad I did now! I put my ganache in the fridge last night, took it out about 7 this morning and it's still solid at 2.10pm. Maybe you're right about fridges after all! So now I'll have to nuke it, I just know I'll end up with a thin, runny puddle. Thankfully I don't have to worry about getting it smooth cos I'm putting wafers round the side, it's a scruffy cake......... you'd love it nanny! Gotta go, busy, busy, busy. Byee.

AI have no idea what skylanders is either so can't wait to see a pic maisie!

AHa ha, I scoff at scruffy Maisie, I've done one for this yr thats enough for me.

Yes I am a fridge type person when its comes to ganache, but saying that it does soften with a rather large wooden spoon and a good ole beat . When I made more than I needed xmas I added some Bailey's OMG and made delish truffles, then , wait for it I tipped the rest over icecream, I was so over come I thought needed oxygen!!!

AHahaha! I hope enga's reading this! Hello ladies. :-) Just delivered the cake ready for the morning, the birthday boy was in bed but his big brother was still up so I've got a feeling they'll be creeping down to have a peek when their parents gave gone to bed![IMG]http://cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3214204/width/200/height/400[/IMG] It gave me a few problems and there's lots wrong with it but overall I'm happy with it.

A[IMG]http://cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3214212/width/200/height/400[/IMG]

AThat looks fantastic Maisie. I have just Googled skylanders just so I know what it was haha. But it looks amazing and it looks like a lot of cake for his birthday! I'm sure he'll be so happy with it in the morning.

APS. Your kitchen tiles and counter look so similar to mine haha

AThanks Sugarluva.:-) I know, I noticed your tiles the other day, pain to keep clean aren't they? Every smudge and fingerprint shows up!

AOh Maisie that is so good, I hope your pleased with it?

AThanks nanny. Overall I am but there was a lot that didn't quite go to plan! I'm having trouble getting a fondant covered cake onto a fondant covered board without destroying the fondant on one of them. I didn't need the ganache to be smooth for this cake but having never used it before I thought I'd try to smooth it just for practice. Oh my days! it looked like an elephant had smoothed it with a fork! :-D Oh and I stuck a chompie (green thing) to the little cake right where the bridge was going! And I didn't even realise, my husband pointed it out to me! So the fondant ripped when I took the chompie off but I disguised it with the bridge and a bit of grass. I didn't get the wafers as obviously uneven as I wanted them to be either, I think they look like they're supposed to be straight but they've gone wrong. I'll shut up now before I talk myself out of being happy with it!

AOK maisie heres what I do to solve that problem, obviously cover the board as early as you can so I dries, day or two is fine, then I always put my cake on a cake card exactly same size as your cake then after you've iced your cake you can just put your hand under the cake and just place it on your board, or I use a pretty neat tool that looks like a large round plastic spatular (bought it from The Works shop in Cwmbran) or a cranked spatular.

AI covered the board this morning, the fondant was very thin so it was dry by the time I put my cake on it this evening. I used a cake board but by time I'd covered the cake it was wider than the board. I used my fish slice to get it from turntable to board but it still pulled the fondant up from the edge. I disguised it with grass but I won't always be able to do that will I? Sometimes it needs to be simple and beautiful, no idea what I'll do then!

AA better photo taken on hubby's phone (you can see the bad fondant job on this one tho!)[IMG]http://cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3214257/width/200/height/400[/IMG]

AMaisie stop talking yourself down it looks fantastic. The green fondant on the smaed cake looks lovely and smooth I would never be able to leave a cake that 'bare' it would look for too lumpy!

And yes the tiles are a pain to keep clean haha

AI'm sure you're just being kind Sugarluva but I do appreciate it! You know what it's like, we see every mistake we make and even when they're covered up so nobody else can see we still know what's lurking beneath! I just love it so much, whether I keep improving til I'm really good or just carry on as I am forever, I just love baking. There are not many things better than the look on somebodys face when you take them a cake is there? Everyone told me I'd regret those tiles cos I'd be forever cleaning them but I didn't care! They've been up 3 years now and I still don't mind cleaning them constantly. (Even if I did I'd never admit it, I'd never hear the end of it!) My internet's playing up so I'm off to bed now. G'nite all. :-)

Maisie, it looks fantastic!!

For cake lifting I have this thing that I bought from lakeland a while ago, it's great cos you can pretty much lift all sized cakes using it and it supports most (if not all) of the bottom of the cake in the lifting process.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000237LPC/?tag=cakecentral-20