Confused About Ganache...current Users Please Help
Decorating By platinumlady Updated 2 Aug 2011 , 1:50am by platinumlady
kmstreepy thank you so much. I want to try using SMB more often but am so afraid of the buttercream it seems to get soft quickly. I'm so used to crusting buttercreams and this is a big difference for me. I am asuming that because the ganache seals the cake and filling then the buttercream is fine. I will try your steps this weekend on a small cake. 
Thank you all for the information. I am going to try ganache. Of course I'm a little nervous about it that's why there are so many questions running through my mind. I really appreciate the help
More questions.
1. Can you use ganache (either white chocolate or milk chocolate) as a top icing instead of BC...Like can you smooth it out like that?
2. Can you flavor the ganache? or would that just be BC you can add flavor to?
3. Is there an advantage to using dark chocolate vs. milk chocolate?
Oh and
4. What is the better choice of chocolates to use?
Thanks again
1. I don't see why not. I've never tried it though. I'm ganaching a 10" round and 8" round on Wednesday so I'll take some pics so you can see them before fondant.
2. Yes, bluehue covered this... she put "Adding a Liquere for taste is another great idea. I have a lot of requests for Cherry Ripe / Peppermint Crisp ect Ganache...as a fill. " You can flavour it with anything that goes with chocolate eg raspberry, strawberry, orange, passionfruit, mango, mint, irish cream. You just need to be careful not to throw the consistency by adding too much liquid.
3. Just a difference in flavour and I think milk chocolate would act more like white chocolate ganache where it doesn't set up quite as hard as dark chocolate. Dark chocolate is the most stable as it has the highest cocoa solid content and white chocolate is the least stable because technically it's not actually chocolate, and has no cocoa solids. You can get dark chocolate which has a cocoa content of 80% (I wouldn't advise using that though!!) I think the one I use is about 45% which works fine for me. Milk chocolate (In the UK) has a minimum of 20% cocoa solids.
4. Make sure you use chocolate which tastes good, that is the most important thing. Quality wise, I use chocolate which in the UK costs £3.20/Kg, it is a stores own brand chocolate. I used higher quality chocolate which costs £13/Kg and I found that it was actually worse for me. Someone from where you are from would be able to advise you better for brands.
I hope it all works for you! For milk chocolate ganache, you need a higher amount of chocolate, 3:1 chocolate to cream ratio.
If you aren't covering it with fondant, you could use more cream and make it more like a glaze (you can just pour it over the top and it turns out shiny and beautiful) or whip it to mousse-like consistency. If you want to whip it, use a 1:1 ratio instead. For pouring, a 1:2 ratio of chocolate to cream. IMO, the whipped or poured is more attractive as an outer covering than the regular spreading ganache for use under fondant.
Thank you all that helps a lot. I am going to go out to the kitchen I rent and do a test run. I am really wanting to try this. This will open me up to a whole knew market.
Thanks again everyone you all rock!
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