Forum Archive -> ALL CAKE DECORATING QUESTIONS ANSWERED FORUM
white chocolate ganache nightmare
micward
1 Jul, 2008 8:00 am
Woe is me......I still cannot master this stuff. I managed to destroy another 2 batches of white ganache over the weekend. I never miss a beat with milk or dark choc ganache but I am coming unstuck with white. Nati (of Nati's cakes) was kind enough to share her expertise with me however, to no avail. I have tried Fran's method (earlier post) but it still goes "grainy" as soon as I go to spread it, no matter whether I leave it overnight or not. Can anyone help or should I just throw in the towel?
franjm
1 Jul, 2008 11:21 am
What do you mean by grainy? Do you mean it is curdled, or that it has little hard bits in it?
I don't understand why you're having problems. It makes no sense to me.
What chocolate are you using and what cream.
I can't remember what I told you, but I use a 3:1 chocolate to cream mix, microwave or heat in a double boiler and leave overnight.
I have not had any problems.
Are you using coveture or compound chocolate.
Belinda
1 Jul, 2008 2:12 pm
Hi
I think it must be in the chocolate you are using. I now use Fran's method and it works beautifully. Thanks Fran
Are you using Cadbury Dream? I did this once a long time ago and it just doesn't do as well.
I hope you can overcome your little challenge soon.
Belinda
micward
1 Jul, 2008 4:25 pm
Hi
I have used it all......white choc I purchased from planet cake online store, callets I purchased from Adora Chocolate at Earlwood (Belgian Chocolatiers) and also Nestle Plaistowe (used out of desperation on the weekend). I said "grainy" but I guess it is probably a curdled effect. Michelle
Belinda
1 Jul, 2008 4:58 pm
Oh Michelle you poor thing.
I have used that Nestle and it was fine.
Do you have any friends that are good cooks that may be able to watch you?
I commiserate with you but have no idea how to help - short of you driving up and making it with me.
If it is any help I think the dark chocolate goes nicely with most flavours. Perhaps you can just not worry about the white choc.
Belinda
micward
1 Jul, 2008 6:57 pm
Thanks Belinda
I should give up, but it's not in my nature, so I shall forge on.
Michelle
micward
1 Jul, 2008 7:10 pm
Belinda, Just out of curiosity, are you from NSW and if so, where do you buy your chocolate?
Michelle
Belinda
1 Jul, 2008 7:17 pm
Yes I am Michelle.
Up until now I have only bought the white choc from supermarket but am just about to get that in bulk. I use Simotas - just google them and send an email if you want to buy from them. Aaron is very prompt.
Belinda
1 Jul, 2008 7:20 pm
Just had another idea - if you did in the microwave did you cover or uncover? It is best to leave uncovered as the moisture from the lid could affect.
Belinda
micward
1 Jul, 2008 7:31 pm
Yes, I leave uncovered. Perhaps I am zapping for too long. For 200g choc i usually zap on high for 1.5 minutes, then gently use a whisk to mix together. I have been using just pouring cream , not thickened, so I might give that a go as well. Handi had said previously it shouldn't matter but worth a try. Thanks for your help and patience.
Belinda
1 Jul, 2008 7:46 pm
200g a choc isn't much!
Did you do what Fran wrote exactly?
If I were you I'd put in 3 packets of white choc (just use the Nestle for now) they are 180g each. Then add 180ml of cream (you may aswell try the thickened).
Pop in microwave - no lid. I you are worried about overheating perhaps just do for i minute at a time and stir after each minute. When it is almost all done I just keep stiring with a spoon until all the lumps have gone.
Otherwise you could do on the stove top.
Good luck - we're all cheering for you
Belinda
PS a question for you Fran - I noticed you did all yours in microwave. How do you go about doing larger batches? Do you find this works ok in the microwave? I assume you'd need a pretty large microwavable bowl.
angela135
2 Jul, 2008 8:36 pm
Have you tried it on the stove? I bring my cream to a slow rolling boil, take it off the heat and then put all the choc in, in one go - that way the choc cannot over cook/heat. Just keep stirring and it all goes together beautifully.
micward
3 Jul, 2008 8:09 am
thankyou, I'll give that a go this weekend. Fingers crossed.
franjm
4 Jul, 2008 10:36 am
The largest batch I do is 1200 grams of dark chocolate to 600 mls of cream, I use pyrex bowls and I have about 8 of them, so I just make as many bowls as I need. I have made 5 before!!!!!
Belinda
4 Jul, 2008 10:46 am
Thanks Fran. I usually use a saucepan for dark choc but tried doing a tripple batch in the microwave ie 1800g choc - hmmm not a good idea!
Taya Burke
7 Jul, 2008 7:36 pm
i used to have issues with this as you said. now i zap 300 gms of white choc melts for 1 min then take out and stir then zap another 30 sec stir and if melted add half the cream stir (this will thicken it) then zap for 10-15 seconds add last of cream and it should go completely smooth and a bit shiny then i refirgerate and use same day.
I used to have problems with grainy bits if i added all the cream at once and i sometimes got it curdled if i added the cream at the start. just a trial and error thing i wourked out. if it does't sound like your cup of tea I would defintately listen to fran and belinda!!
they know what they are talking about!!
Jessica
7 Jul, 2008 8:49 pm
I used to get grainy bits sometimes too! I always boil my cream, and have the chocolate in a seperate bowl, ready to pour the boiling cream over. It always worked with dark choc, but never with white. So I started heating the white choc for a bit in the microwave, just to start it melting, while the cream boiled on the stove. When the cream boils, I just pour it over the cream, leave it for a couple of mins to soften, then stir it. It comes out perfect everytime.
I never knew why this worked, until I read an article in a recipe magazine once. Someone had asked why the cream in their sauce would just never quite mix in properly. The answer was to make sure that fats are at the same temperature so they can mix in (emulisfy) properly. So basically, if you bring the temperature of the white chocolate up a bit so it is not really cold compared to the boiling cream, you should notice a huge difference. I know it did to me the way I do it
I just have a question for Fran and Belinda - when you do the ganache in the microwave like that, do you find that it has a shorter shelf life? Does the microwave make the cream as hot as boiling it? Because I thought the reason for boiling the cream was to scald it, making it have a longer life outside of the fridge (like with the UHT longlife milk - UHT= ultra heat treated)? Or do you think it really doesn't matter once it is heated and mixed with the chocolate? This is where we need a food technologist on board!
Belinda
7 Jul, 2008 8:59 pm
Yes I'm no food technologist so really don't know. I think there is a bit more involved though to UHT milks.
I always make dark choc ganache on stove top. But like I said white choc in microwave.
I generally only make enough to do the cakes I make each week so couldn't really offer advice as to how long to keep.
However, I did ages ago leave dark choc ganache in fridge for over a month (made on stove with cream to boil first) and it wasn't great to use either. So I guess it is always best to make what you need when you need.
Belinda
micward
8 Jul, 2008 8:52 am
Well, I'm definitely having a shocker....I'm doing a cake for this weekend coming and bought $20 worth of lindt dark choc from The Essential Ingredient. I did 400g with 200ml thickened cream in the microwave for 2 mins and ......just threw it out. It was thick and like sand....I may have overdone it in the microwave. I am plagued with problems at the moment. Perhaps I'm trying too hard. I always did my ganache by heating the cream and pouring over the choc, so I think I'll try that again (I'll have a go at slightly heating the chocolate first as suggested).
Taya Burke
8 Jul, 2008 9:50 am
I find that if it goes sandy after melting it means water has gotten in it sowhow. try adding a bit of oil to it this usually fixes it if its a moisture issue. the same thing will happen if you are leting straight chocolate and you get moisture in it and oil fixes that too.
Jessica
8 Jul, 2008 11:56 am
Thanks for that Belinda. I always only make what I need for the cakes I am immediately doing. I really meant keeping once it is on the cake itself.
At the moment, with my mud cake recipe, once I have ganached a cake, if I ice it the next day, it is still alright to eat a week later (I don't really do that much, I am soooo paranoid LOL!). I was just wondering if you feel you have to only ganache the cake a certain amount of days before eating, thats all. Hope that makes sense!
Michelle, re the grainy ganache, try boiling the cream, it might work for you. And I think that oil advise is pretty spot on too. I am just wondering if you are overheating the white chocolate? Maybe its on that borderline of burning? Just a thought. Different microwaves have different power ratings, if you are doing the 2mins in one long burst, it might be burning the edges and not getting the middle. Try stirring every 45seconds maybe?
micward
8 Jul, 2008 3:44 pm
Hi
Thanks girls for the advice. I bought more dark choc this morning and tried boiling the cream. It seems ok so far, nice and smooth and glossy. I will be trying the white choc tomorrow. I think you may be right re: the microwaving. Think i'll stick to the other method and see how that goes. I really appreciate your help.
angela135
8 Jul, 2008 7:01 pm
I agree with Jessica's advice... for me... its more work to use the microwave, and much harder to control.
Goodluck
Belinda
8 Jul, 2008 7:33 pm
Woo Hoo Michelle. When I saw that you were having dark choc trouble too I thought "no go back to what yow were doing!!!!"
Good luck for the white tomorrow.
Hi Jess. I'm actually not sure if it makes a difference for how long the cake will last to be honest. I've only used the white choc for layering at this stage (on white choc and banana cake) and still use the dark for the main covering. The dark choc I do the same way as you and it has always been fine. I actually had a bride ring me a little while ago to tell me she left the cake out after the wedding for nearly 3 weeks whilst on honeymoon and it was still really yummy (not that I'd recommend that hehehe).
I had previously had trouble with white choc ganache til I read Fran's proportions. So I thought I'd just give her method a go too and it worked fine. I should be brave now and try doing the whole cake in white choc ganache. The cakes still taste yummy so have been slack in doing so.
Hey girls do you think we might have reached a record for the most replies to a topic yet
. We are all hanging on for a great result Michelle - no pressure 
.Belinda
micward
10 Jul, 2008 8:15 am
Success at last!!!! The white choc ganache is on the cake as we speak. I put the white choc in a bowl over a saucepan of boiling water and melted very gently, then boiled the cream and gradually added,mixing as i went. There was a moment of tension when, as is always the case, I had to bring it back to a workable consistency (this is usually where it goes pear shaped). I avoided the microwave and placed the bowl in some warm water for about 10 minutes and "gingerly" mixed it through again and voila!! ...perfect. A huge thankyou to everyone for your excellent advice. It's great to be able to share information and learn from all of you. Thankyou so much.
Taya Burke
10 Jul, 2008 12:19 pm
CONGRATULATIONS!!! (trumpets heralding in the background
)I am so so glad you have done it, I hope you are proud of yourself!
Belinda
10 Jul, 2008 12:37 pm
Woo Hoo
- so great to hear!You know I was nervous making my ganache this week with all this talk.
I'm sure the cake will taste twice as good now you'ce conquered that!
Belinda
Mignon
14 Jul, 2008 12:55 am
Hi
For saftey it is always best to boil your cream or milk when making ganache. The recomendation I was given recently was to make sure the cream boils up to the top of the pot. This ensures the cream is completely safe. To prevent the chocolate splitting you can cool it down to the temperature of the chocolate before you add the two together. 30-45 degrees) Pour the cream over, leave it for 20minutes and then stir till smooth. Try to avoid whipping as adding air to the ganache will shorten its life. I was recently taught to temper ganache and although you can techinically get a smoother product, the more you handle it the higher the risk of contamination and air getting into it and so if you need your ganache to last 5-7 days the less you move it around the better.
MammyMammy
29 Jul, 2008 5:58 pm
best white ganache is with sour cream...mm mmm
Mignon
29 Jul, 2008 6:47 pm
ooh that would be nice, it would cut the sweetness. How do you do it? Heat the sourcream or mix in the sour cream later?
handi
30 Jul, 2008 9:38 pm
hi girls,
i have the same problem when i am making ganache too.
i think its in the mixing.
the choc fat and the cream are hard to mix
so i have decided to try mixing it with bamix.
the result is nice and velvety no grain anymore.
mixing by hand is harder and yes canmake the it grainy
i have never had the grainy problem anymore.
even at planet cake. one particular person alway make grainy ganache.
we think is beacuse she did not mixed the ganache well enouogh and when scrapiing it to put it on individual container they have never scape the bottom of the mixing bowl properly so ended up not only grainny also lumpy.
that person is in seriouse trouble from me and the team hehehhehehe.......
good try and its worth a try.
ciao
handi
Mignon
30 Jul, 2008 9:57 pm
Handi Iat my tempering course the tutor told me that you can temper the ganache the same way. He showed me how to do it on the bench (which is very romantic! but messy and time consuming) But he also told me how to do it in the wizz. like you said it comes out like velvet mmmmm
Irene Katakis
30 Jul, 2008 10:01 pm
Hi Handi, i tried using the bamix too after you recommended it to me and it works fantastic. i was wondering would the choc ganache recipe on this website be the same for white choc ganache as well or are the measuerments different?
Belinda
30 Jul, 2008 10:48 pm
All sounds fabulous. But now for a completely ignorant question
what on earth is a bamix? I'm tempted to guess but would prefer to llok silly and ask then stuff up the whole thing!
Irene Katakis
30 Jul, 2008 11:34 pm
Hi, its basically a hand held blender in the shape of a stick thing... Braun also has a cheaper version that does the same thing as Bamix
Belinda
31 Jul, 2008 1:24 pm
Thanks Irene.
nati
2 Aug, 2008 11:19 pm
| micward : |
| thankyou, I'll give that a go this weekend. Fingers crossed. |
So im curious to find out, did you have any luck?
From reading your previous posts, it sounds to me like you were overheating the chocolate.
The last few batches of white i've done, i just heated the cream and poured it into the choc, that melted it almost completely, and then i popped it in the microwave for a few more seconds at half power. If you use full power you will burn it.
have you had any luck yet??
micward
3 Aug, 2008 8:06 am
Hi Nati
Yes It worked for me finally. I ended up heating the choc over a double boiler, boiling the cream and then gently mixing the two. Haven't done white again, but hopefully I am on the right track.
Thanks
Michelle
handi
4 Aug, 2008 9:20 pm
girls,
here is white choc ganache recepe i use.
3 part choc and 1 part cream
so, 1800gr white choc and 600ml cream
put in microwave proof bowl for 6 minutes in full power
then let it stand for 5 minutes and shake the bowl a little just to make sure that all the choc sinking to the bottom of the bowl
then use the bamix to wizz it till nice and smooth.
so thats the white choc ganache. i have nevr had any choc burn or anything like that.
or you can do by boiling the cream then poor over the choc, again let it stand for 5 min then wizz with bamix.
garantee vetvet result
good luck
handi
Belinda
4 Aug, 2008 9:44 pm
Thanks Handi - It's lovely hearing from you.
You know you're the authority on all things cake
so please don't leave us too long without having your say!You actually featured in one of my dreams recently - don't worry I was at a cake course
. Hilariously I even learnt something in that dream!Belinda
nati
4 Aug, 2008 10:15 pm
| handi : |
| girls, here is white choc ganache recepe i use. 3 part choc and 1 part cream so, 1800gr white choc and 600ml cream put in microwave proof bowl for 6 minutes in full power then let it stand for 5 minutes and shake the bowl a little just to make sure that all the choc sinking to the bottom of the bowl then use the bamix to wizz it till nice and smooth. so thats the white choc ganache. i have nevr had any choc burn or anything like that. or you can do by boiling the cream then poor over the choc, again let it stand for 5 min then wizz with bamix. garantee vetvet result good luck handi |
Handi
Im by no means a chocolate expert, but i was told that chocolates with a high content of cocoa butter can burn very easily. I've actually burnt mine when trying to make chocolate paste. It went all crumbly and oily. There was no saving it.
For chocolate paste i now use compound chocolate, but still use a higher quality choc for my ganache. If heated on low heat, it tends to behave itself
I use the same quantities as you do for the white ganache. I have never tried the bamix trick, but it sounds like a real time saver. Thanks for that
micward
5 Aug, 2008 11:26 am
Hi Handi
Thankyou for your input re: the white ganache. It's reassuring to know that I am not the only person battling at times. I used the bamix on the weekend and it works perfectly, so thankyou for the great tip
handi
5 Aug, 2008 6:58 pm
oohhh girls,
i am pleased this saga is coming to an end.
belinda, so sorry i did not answer this sooner.
i just wanted to see if you guys can answer this amongst yourself without us always answer the questions.
this forum is for everyone not just for planet cake.
i will come and rescue if this forum has reached 3 pages long and still not solve.
so, there it is. no more white ganache problem i hope.
nati, i have never had any problem with my white choc ganache being burned.
using microwave method.
love ya
handi
Belinda
5 Aug, 2008 8:36 pm
I used the bamix (well mine is actually a cheap Kambrook) and made the best ganache ever.
Thank you!
nati
5 Aug, 2008 11:10 pm
| handi : |
| ...... so, there it is. no more white ganache problem i hope. nati, i have never had any problem with my white choc ganache being burned. using microwave method. love ya handi |
Very good to know Handi, cause i've also had my white ganache curdle in the past
handi
7 Aug, 2008 10:43 pm
yeay......
everybody's happy now???????
i am expecting all the ganache to be nice and velvety from now on.
ciao
girls
handi
brook
3 Oct, 2008 2:19 pm
Hi I am new to cake forum. Please give some tips about preparing chocolate cakes. Thank you for your information.
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Brook
Shreevysh Corp