has anyone ever tried making caramel ganache? How did it taste? What recipe did you use?

anyone?

Did you have a particular taste in mind on this?

Ganache, by nature, is made with chocolate and cream.

Caramel is sugar, with no cocoa butter to help it solidify. Have you seen something done that you thought was caramel ganache?

I may be a bit naive, but I have never heard of such a thing.

But it sure sounds good!

Hi I have tried this and it's really good

Chocolate Caramel Ganache
8 oz semisweet chocolate -- chopped 1/4" pieces
4 oz unsweetened chocolate -- chopped 1/4" pieces
1 1/2 C heavy cream
2 T unsalted butter
1/2 C sugar
1/8 tsp fresh lemon juice

Place the chopped chocolates in a 4 quart bowl and set aside.
Heat the cream and butter in a 1 1/2 quart saucepan over med. heat. Bring to a simmer, then lower heat to keep the cream hot, but not simmering, until needed.

Combine 1/2 cup sugar and lemon juice in a 3 quart saucepan. Stir with a whisk to combine (the sugar will resemble moist sand). Caramelize the sugar for 7-8 min. over med-high heat, stirring constantly with a whisk to break up any lumps (the sugar will first turn clear as it liquefies, then light brown as it caramelizes).

Remove saucepan from heat. Carefully pour about 1/2 of the hot cream into the caramelized sugar. Use a whisk to stir the
caramel until it stops bubbling. Add the remaining cream and stir until smooth. Immediately pour the hot caramel over the chopped chocolate and allow to stand for 5 min. before stirring with a whisk until very smooth.

If you're looking for a thick, spreadable caramel, you should make dulce de leche. Waaaay easy to make or you can buy it in a can in the Hispanic section of grocery stores. To make it just boil a can of sweetened condensed milk in a big pot full of water for 3 hours, or you can do it overnight in a slow cooker, I think it's 8 hours on low. It's sooooo good.

Karen_uk1, that's exactly what I was looking for! Thanks!
3GCakes - lol, I learn something new here ALL the time! lol
eatCakes - I've heard of that before! It's supposed to be REALLY good! Maybe I'll give that a try too and see which one I like best!

Thanks everyone!

I use a similar technique to KarenUk's one she listed. It works beautifully for me, and if you let the toffee go a bit further you can get a lovely slightly bitter toffe caramel flavour that is excellent with the really sweet cake and chocolate.

I wonder if you could use the Kraft Caramel bits and make a ganache like you do with chocolate and cream?

I just tried this recipe for "Paula Deen's Whipped Chocolate Caramel Ganache" last weekend. It was pretty good, but I did cut back on the butter just a bit. (used 1 1/2 cups butter) Definitely easy enough to make!

16 squares semisweet chocolate chopped
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 (12.25 ounce) jar caramel ice cream topping (Paula used Smucker's)
2 cups butter, softened

In a small saucepan combine chocolate and cream. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Stir in caramel topping. Let stand 10 minutes. In the bowl of a heavy duty stand mixer, beat chocolate mixture at high for 10 min. or until slightly fluffy and reaches room temp. With mixer running, add butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until ganache is fluffy and smooth. Refrigerate for 30 to 60 minutes or until it reaches a spreadable consistency.

Thanks So much Karen_uk1 and srkmilklady for the recipes you shared. They sound absolutely sinfully delightful. I will definitely be trying these in the very near future.

ooohhh, I love Paula Deen!
Looks like I'll have a few recipes I'll be trying out in the near future! lol

I just wanted to say that I tried the dulce de leche today....WOW!! That stuff's amazing! It's soooo good, I could eat it right from the can!
I was wondering, I know that Leche means milk...but what does Dulce mean? Does anyone know?
I totally recommend making this, the 3 hours that it takes to make it so worth it!

Dulce is "sweet" in spanish.

"sweet" ok, makes sense!
No, it doesn't seep into the cake because it's pretty thick. I guess it thickens as it cooks. (good for a filling)

I must have done something wrong because I was told to do it on low overnight in the crockpot(at least 8 hours) and it still had not made the stuff. A cousin of mine told me about a caramel pie she made and it was supposed to make caramel overnight in the crockpot. It did not do it. I have never got to ask her what I did wrong. My crockpot works. Maybe I just don't know what it is supposed to look like.

It goes really rich caramelly brown, and is thick enough to stand a spoon in.

We used to do it by boiling (simmering) the unopened can of sweetened condensed milk in a full pot of water (it must cover the can at all times, so you need to top it up) for 2 hours. Some people have had unfortunate exploding cans of scalding caramel doing it this way, but I have never had a problem.

You can open a can into a saucepan and just cook it that way over a low heat while stirring to avoid lumps. But there is nothing like the texture of the cooked-in-the-can caramel. Oh. My. GOD. its good!! No other caramel comes close, IMHO.

I loooove dulce de leche!!! sometimes it can be called Arequipe or cajeta depending of the country you getting it from. If you go to the hispanic area in your grocery store, you can probably get the ready made can from La Lechera from Nestle. Before they started to making it, you can make it yourself at home: Just put the non open sweet condensed milk can right into the pan, put enough water to cover 3/4 of the can. Let it cook for about 2 hrs to 2 hrs 1/2. I used to used my pressure cooker pan, and let it cook for about 45 min, you start counting after you hear the whistle sound coming out of the cooker. Let it cool and when you open it, it must be brown colored and thick. I make cookie sandwich with the caramel in between. cover and fill cakes. I also used with my better cream so i can get dulce de leche mousse. yum yum. It is really spreadable and in my country we use to use it under the fondant because it sticks to it pretty easy. you can also melt chocolate and put it in it. It's great we all hispanic looove it!!!!!

lanana, the chocolate addition sounds great! Probably cuts the sweetness a litte.

I am interested in this as well, I don't want a chocolate flavor. I want to make an apple flavored cupcake then top with Italian buttercream icing and then dip it into a caramel ganache and roll in peanuts. wondering if I should just make a real caramel with sugar and water but make it very thin or if I can make it with kraft caramels from the store.

this cupcake was dipped in a butterscotch ganache so im sure it can be done.

Photo from Retro Bakery Las Vegas

I make it with Nestle top and fill , it is pretty much the caramel that Evoir is talking about.  I use it instead of the cream in my gananche with white chocolate. I use a two to one ratio , that is two parts chocolate. 

I also use the top and fill in my caramel mudcake. 

Where do I buy that never heard of it.

I just buy it from the supermarket in the condensed milk section. I am in Australia though. 

I tried my first caramel ganche last week and it was an epic fail. It was the Lazy Caramel Ganche Recipe from CakesbyRaewyn. I think the cream was too hot when I poured it over the white chocolate which of course split and no amount of cooling & re-mixing or adding a dollop of cold cream could salvage. Lady in my cake supply store suggested adding the caramel flavouring they sell there to your normal ganche. Might be worth a shot next time.

Try this one. 

400g good white chocolate, chopped

80ml thickened cream

1/2 tin of Nestlé Top n Fill Caramel

I don't know how everyone else does their ganache, but I have always melted/heated all the ingredients together in a saucepan on the stovetop, instead of adding the cream to the melted chocolate and I have never seized chocolate before.

Good luck