So I'm a newbie at cake decorating, but I want to contribute however I can (and you folks have been so helpful and awesome!).

My son's 2nd birthday is on Saturday. My husband is allergic to all nuts so he can't eat most chocolate. He CAN eat Lindt though. I've been wanting to try making ganache for my son's birthday cake so I need to use Lindt. I prefer white chocolate and milk chocolate so I chose those two types over dark chocolate.

I used a 3:1 ratio for both the milk chocolate and the white chocolate. The cream has 35% fat. 

I heated the cream until I could see steam coming off of the cream, but it wasn't boiling. Then I removed from heat and mixed the chocolate in using a silicone mixing spoon. I then transferred the ganache into the the bowl that I'll leave it to set in overnight. I whipped it by hand with a whisk, then covered it with glad wrap. I'm off to bed now and am letting it sit out on the counter overnight. We'll see what the morning brings (fingers crossed!)

I think Lindt has a number of varieties of each type of chocolate, so here are the ones that I used:

This photo shows how small I chopped up the chocolate (the pink spoon is my teaspoon measuring spoon to give you an idea of scale).

My white chocolate ganache directly after mixing chocolate into heated cream. (Those aren't bits of chocolate, they're air bubbles.)

My milk chocolate ganache directly after mixing chocolate into heated cream. I'm worried about this one, I couldn't get all the tiny bumps out. I might have to mess with this more in the morning.

AIts gonna taste sooooo good!! mmmmm :-) I think you might have gotten the milk choc one slightly too hot, it looks a little oily, it might be ok just warming it slightly on low power in the microwave in the morning and giving it a good mix though sometimes when it goes like that you can give it really good rough stir whilst its still hot and it magically comes together!

I only do mine in the microwave now- 90 seconds on low power (40% 800watt micro) stand few mins, stir, repeat until no lumps- I've only had the very occasional one go funny on me like that and usually cos I've rushed it :-)

mmmmmmm

my nephew prefers ganache covered cakes now. he's so spoiled! i whip it so that it's more like a buttercream, than a chocolate bar. 

have you tried trader joes for chocolate, too? they have many wonderful international chocolates. sometimes I'll mix with domestic chocolate for a different flavor profile.

congrats on 2 years, Mama!

Any one got any tips on using it for filling in cupcakes? I will be filling cupcakes with Friday and have never done that before with ganache. Do i just whip it a bit? or the same as if making frosting? can I make it the day before or is it best to make it just a bit before you use it?

ACrazy-Gray, you were totally right! When I got up this morning the milk chic ganacge lips marbled but the white choc looks fine. I haven't whipped either yet so I can't comment on consistency. I'll post photos later today. Any idea how to fix the marbling? Just try microwaving it like you suggested?

Thanks Ellavanilla :) I love Trader Joes and miss it so much. I married an Australian and moved down under about 4 years ago.

Hamaranpuu, I've never done ganache as a filing but I heard that you can do a 50-50 ganache-buttercream mix that doesn't set as hard as ganache. I really want to try this, but maybe not with Lindt :)

A

I find it's always way too soft to pipe for hours after making ganache, I usually make batches of 200ml cream:700g white choc and that has to set up overnight, you'll be in for a real headache if you plan to use it the same day... I have ended up dividing batches into smaller bowls and whipping over ice water... (groan!)

If you used a basic chocolate mixing 50:50 with BC works great, if using a premium chocolate I warm the ganache to soft butter consistency and then beat in about 1 part good quality butter (at room temp) to 4 parts ganache and then pipe it, it firms up after a while so dont leave it in the piping bag else you'll end up having to microwave the piping bag to go back to piping! lol

I find whipped ganache doesnt pipe quite as cleanly because of all the wee bubbles but I preper its texture and melt-in-the-mouth-ness :-)

...I really really want a cupcake now and its only 8.30am!!!

AThanks for sharing Crazy-Gray. Awesome info!

A[IMG]http://cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3103621/width/200/height/400[/IMG]

I just got around to "whipping" the white choc ganache. It was my first time using my new kitchenaid mixer (SO in love with it! Reminds me of baking with my grandma when I was a little girl. ).I used the flex edge beater because the ganache was quite hard. I'll go back over it with the whisk attachment.

AIt'll firm up faster now it's whipped if it gets unmanageable microwave it on low for literally a few seconds to a time till its spreadable again, it gets too warm very easily and goes runny again and then you have to cool it and re-whip it... Very frustrating!

Don't forget the "one spoon for the cake... One for me..." rule :-) very important that one :-)

AThanks for the awesome info :) I think your "one for the cake, one for me rule" sounds fantastic!

Awesome! Thanks guys. I didn't even think about blending it with buttercream, I will probably try to just adding the butter this time though. Good thing I asked about making it today or tomorrow.

I just got my first Kitchen Aid as well Mustang! Aren't they AWESOME!

AUpdate ...

The milk chocolate ganache went on easily after I heated it up in the microwave fire a bit and whisked it. I found it less sticky than the white chocolate ganache. [IMG]http://cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3104991/width/200/height/400[/IMG]

Here is the white chocolate ganache on the cake. I call this my rhombus cake though because when I was bandaging the tilt function accidentally engaged and I checked the top of the cake to make sure it was label and not the base ... oops!

[IMG]http://cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3104993/width/200/height/400[/IMG]

I did another cake for a friend's dinner party that was chocolate cake with choc mousse filling. I used store bought dark chocolate ganache for this and added a bit of butter and 50% chocolate buttercream to the ganache. The ganacge-choc buttercream mix was yummy!