Ganache on Italian Buttercream

[Kim Shook]

I am icing a cake with Italian meringue buttercream and would like to use ganache to pipe a message with on top of the cake. Will this work? Or will my ganache get all messy and gooey? I had this happen one Easter:

But that was royal icing over cream cheese frosting. Does anyone know if the ganache might do the same thing over the Italian buttercream. It's for other people, so I really don't want to mess up! Thanks!

[pastrygirl]

I am icing a cake with Italian meringue buttercream and would like to use ganache to pipe a message with on top of the cake.  Will this work?  Or will my ganache get all messy and gooey?  I had this happen one Easter:

But that was royal icing over cream cheese frosting.  Does anyone know if the ganache might do the same thing over the Italian buttercream.  It's for other people, so I really don't want to mess  up!  Thanks!

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The ganache should be fine, ganache and buttercream are both pretty stable, fat-based foods. I've poured ganache over buttercream plenty of times, writing should be no different. I can see how the royal icing, being mostly sugar and highly hygroscopic, would soak up water from the cream cheese.

[choux]

If you use just melted chocolate for the writing, you can do it when the cake and frosting are cold, and if you make a mistake, you can peel the letters right off.

[alanamoana]

just adding a "yes, ganache on buttercream works"...and a suggestion for your carrot cake next time: color some white chocolate or "candy melts" and pipe the carrots on parchment or a piece of cardboard wrapped in plastic wrap. then you can remove them when they set up and stick them on the cream cheese frosting. or you can do the traditional marzipan carrots

[JeanneCake]

I've tried writing with ganache; it works - don't use it as soon as you've made it. When it is fluid (warm-ish), it works great to cover/drip down the sides of a buttercream covered cake, but that fluidity will also make the letters run as you are writing. So wait until it is cool if you use it.

I also second the melt some choc and use that to write with.....

[pastrygirl]

Or you can also do a tempered chocolate plaque and write on that, then prop it up on the cake. Not too hard, but looks like a lot of extra effort.

[Kim Shook]

Thanks so much for all your help. I used the cooled, whisked ganache and it looks fine:

alanamoana - thanks for the advice for the carrot cake bars. I will keep it in mind next year - I do those almost every Easter!