i agree.  I made a wedding cake and used chocolate ganache...very sharp edges --was beautiful.  and as you say...tastes batter than buttercream

Hi,

Does fondant really taste good? I've never tried it, and I don't want to because of some of the reviews I've heard about it. Can anybody tell me whether its worth trying. ?

I've tried Wilton fondant and homemade fondant, and I much prefer the homemade variety.  You can flavor it with any extract you like and it doesn't taste like cardboard.  I also like the way cakes look with fondant.  There are some cakes where using buttercream makes better sense, but I almost always use fondant.  It can be very forgiving!

I make my own MMF and I love it!..I can  flavor it with extracts but it does not  NEED it..Edna DeLaCruz has a wonderful receipe!! It's easier to color if you make your own as well.

I'm wondering.... I'm going to make a cake for my brother and he loves Abuelitas chocolate.

Anyone tried making ganache with it before?

Just got done reading through the entire thread! Took lots of notes and I think all my questions were answered along the way. Thank you to everyone who contributed! I'm saving this for later, as I've never covered a cake in fondant and would like to eventually try it and this looks like a great way to do it!

Just realized I did have one question! Came across a post that stated it was rock hard and so she added cream (too much chocolate to cream ratio?). Is this done just by boiling more cream and then adding it to chocolate and mixing?

Holy crap this is a mother of a long thread! started in 2009! I haven't read all of it yet but am getting through it and it is answering all my questions as well... in fact I just made my first ever wedding cake for some fun folks who wanted a 4 layer topsy-turvy crazy coloured (that is how we spell it in Canada) super yummy cake.  They are my friends and asked me to do it after tasting my first ever red velvet cake I said yes and only became nervous the day 3 out of 4 layers befell disasters of different sorts. However in the end a four layer hyper coloured delicious cake arrived at the wedding flavors & batter colours going top down were 1.glutton free lemon pound made bright green 2. Chocolate/burnt caramel dark brown 3. blue velvet using white chocolate powder instead of coco and last but not least 4. red velvet flying its true colour.  All made from scratch and when it came time to crumb coat I was freaking out because I had only done said thing once in a workshop a week before on a tiny cake then covered in fodant.... BUT this thread saved my tukus ladies I whipped up a batch of white chocolate ganache in no time flat and tada crumb coated, signed, sealed delivered baby! Fondant was a mix, a couple layers got pre coloured Wilton which I found easy to work with but didn't like taste or texture much and Fonderific which I coloured myself - found it very soft and harder work with because of that but yummier all around.  Honestly I don't know how things would have gone with buttercream but I had the fear... ganache saved the day for sure.  

EdieBabe, I love your post. It put a wide smile on my face. Years ago I swore off BC and converted to ganache and have never regretted it. Ease of handling, forgiving nature, and just darn deliciousness convinced me. Yup, move over Buttercream. Ganache is the way to go.

Jan

ASomewhere in this thread it was said to brush the cake with apricot preserves. In what order does all this go on the cake? Preserves-ganache-fondant? I'm confused!

Brushing the cake with melted apricot preserves was to help the fondant adhere. I never do it with ganache. I just lightly spritz the ganached cake with water, or else I wipe with a damp paper towel and the fondant sticks perfectly.

Jan

I have heard of these methods before but I wonder, if the cake is white, how do you keep the fondant clean from the chocolate (inevitably, there would be some fingerprints, right)? Does the chocolate color show through the fondant if it's very thin? These are the questions that have stopped me from trying it in the past. 

My question about ganache vs. buttercream is: what if you're using a cake flavor that doesn't go with chocolate? Or the person wants a vanilla cake. Then they get chocolate on their vanilla. What do you do when that's the case?
 

I more frequently use white chocolate ganache as its flavor is very mild and doesn't conflict with any cake flavor. When I do use dark chocolate, I never have had a problem with the dark color showing through the fondant. (If in doubt, though, you can use the white chocolate version.) I like to roll my fondant incredibly thin and am able to achieve this with the use of The Mat. So, as to both issues, I see no problem. I'm not really sure what is meant by keeping the fondant clean. The ganache is firm when the fondant is applied so there is no transfer of one to the other. I hope this has answered some of your questions. I'm sure if you try it, you will like it and find  it much easier. 

Jan

That makes sense.  Thanks!

It does put the cost up though. 

AAll these comments and questions are helping me so much for making cakes! I'm new here and love this site! Thanks, I was concerned about using ganache or bc but no longer. Thanks all!

A

What brand of chocolate do you use?

CC pros...I'm covering a wedding cake 6, 9, 12, and 16".. 2 layers ea, pans are 2 in high ea...how much ganache will I need?? I am currently reading through this thread but have only gotten through to pg 5 [I'm at work] and it's a LOT to read but extremely valuable info. Some folks say to let it sit on the counter..others say to refrigerate overnight..which is best?? Does anyone know a good tutorial? I've watched the one done by Michele multiple times but just can't follow her for some reason..it's me. She's very thorough..maybe it just me.

A

Is anyone having problems with this link?? I can only get 2 slides of it...how do I see the tutorial??

AI have another question..I always refrigerate or freeze my cakes immediately after baking...can I cover with the ganache immediately after taking out of the fridge AND/OR freezer or should it thaw first?

Thaw it first. Ganache gets hard when it gets cold, so it can harden too quickly to smooth on a cold cake.

What brand of chocolate did you use? Thanks

This is an old thread, so original posters may not be around, but I use good chocolate.  Pricey, but makes a big difference.  I use Guittard or Valrhona, because they are readily available at whole foods or my local grocery store.