Hi Everyone,
I know that some of this has been already covered in other posts (I've already checked), but I still have a couple of questions.
I want to make ganache for a cake next week. I am traveling out of state for Thanksgiving and I'm trying to limit my work (I'm making the cake at my destination).
If I want to crumb coat my cake with the ganache (I read to take 2 TBSP of the ganache to cover the top and sides of the cake and then refrigerate for 5-10 minutes to seal the crumb coat) will the ganache still be pourable enough to pour over the cake when the crumb coat is sealed? Or will it harden too much in the 10-30 minute time span?
What is the best way to pour ganache and then get it smooth on the sides of a cake (a spatula, or a putty/tapering knife)? I don't want to touch/play with the ganache too much and have it lose it's shine.
Last question: When the ganache has set (after a few hours) is it easy enough to cover the sides of the cake with chocolate chips/bits just for something a little extra?
Thanks in advance for your help!
Ok, I've never crumb coated with poured ganache, so I can't help. I have however crumb coated with whipped ganache or chocolate buttercream and then poured ganache over it.
Your ganache should still be "pourable" in 10-30 minutes. It just depend on how cold it is in your room. If you find that it's not, you can alway just microwave it for about 1 min, and bring it back to it's pourable state.
The way I cover a cake is pour the ganache on top, and with an offset spatula spread in smooth on top, allowing chocolate to pour down the sides. Then ladle a stead stream around the top edge allowing most of the chocolate to go down the sides. Spatula slightly, and then smooth the sides.
If the cake was cool the ganache will set up pretty quick... 30 minutes or so, allowing you at that point to add chocolate chips, etc to the cake without them falling off or sliding. 3-4 hours will be too long, and I don't think the majority of you chocolate chips would stay on the cake.
Hope that helps.
Crumb coating in ganache is pretty easy- I prefer to do it when it has had a chance to cool a little so that it has a more spreadable texture and won't slide off my cake. And yes, then you can just chill it for a bit and you're ready to pour.
I ladle the ganache onto the center of the cake, and then swirl my ladle around right there on top of the cake to get the ganache toward all the sides at once, then finish it off with a swipe of a big spatula. Let it cool and firm up enough to take it off your screen, and at that point you can easily add chocolate bits to the sides if you want to.
Don't worry about your bowl of ganache hardening too much- it's really easy to reheat. You can use whatever container it is in- a bowl, a pitcher, whatever- and put it into or onto a pot of water on the stove. Just be a little bit careful not to get your ganache TOO hot. But it's not hard.
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