Pipe-able sour cream topping?

[Fernwood]

Have you done it? Does it work to add a little gelatin to sweetened sour cream? I'd like to pipe it to decorate the top of a cheesecake.

Thanks, Fern

[dystopiandreamgirl]

I'm no expert but if no one else is going to answer, I have 3 (untested) ideas:

1 - hang the sour cream as you would yogurt to drain and thicken (I have no idea whether this works for s.c.)

2 - My favorite cheesecake recipe calls for letting it rest for 20 minutes after baking, spreading on the sour cream, then returning to the oven for 5 minutes.  although this seems a very short time, the sour cream layer thickens enough to stay solid when sliced through.  so I'm concluding that gently heating it in the microwave in short bursts, or in a double boiler over low heat may allow it to thicken enough for your purpose...?  having not tried this either, I would test small batches - I have no idea at what point it might curdle...

3 - this would probably be the best and tastiest method - add some white chocolate.  I have no idea how much, again you would have to experiment.  RLB has a sour cream ganache in the Cake Bible (which is delicious on banana cake btw); the proportions are  340 grams bittersweet chocolate to. 400 grams (1 2/3 cup) sour cream.  the sour cream must be room temperature to avoid forming lumps and it sets up thick very quickly so must be spread or piped immediately (or rewarmed)  I would start with much less white chocolate, I suppose you could just keep adding till you were happy with the consistency.

  

[HQAntithesis]

Gelatin should work at about 6-8g per kg of sour cream. You'll probably need to run it through a blender before piping.

I think a better alternative would be to use one of those whipped cream stabilisers. I'm not sure whether they're available in the supermarkets near you but the idea is that they contain a pre-cooked and then dried starch that'll thicken a mixture and so you could add enough to the sour cream to the point where it no longer runs.