Ganache: Tips, Techniques & Troubleshooting

[Lior]

This is what I did! It got really hard even out of the fridge after a few hours. I microwaved for 20 seconds and it was still mostly hard and cold. I then did 10 secs another 10 secs and even though it was still too hard it had already begun to show signs of oily curdling about to happen. I use usually 250ml cream, 230g dark choc, a tablesppon of invert and a tablespoon of butter and sometimes up to 5 tbl of liqueur. This is more or less my usual basic ganache. It usually works for me...

[Desiderio]

It might be that the curdleing /separation of the ganache is due to the amount of fat in the ganache (see Greweling ) ,if your cream contain too much fat and you add butter as well , the separation might happen.Now for the cold , I dont know but here in Colorado its gets pretty cold and I usually work out of my basement that is very very cold ( meaning when I stay down there for too long I get a runny nose ) anyway, I dont have problem with my ganache becoming too hard , I mean it does hardned faster but still easy to handle.I am wondering , do you use tempered chocolate, or maybe what type of chocolate.

Let us know how it goes.

[Lior]

This is a new problem for me. It has always been okay up until this crucial week-of course. I use valrhona or callebaut and it is tempered but hard. Then I pour the cream over it and it melts. When they say tempered chocolate for ganache do they mean at working temp? I will check Greweling out. I used to have the opposite problem. Maybe Quetzalcoatl (the chocolate god) is mad at me lately!!

[Chris Hennes]

Then I pour the cream over it and it melts. When they say tempered chocolate for ganache do they mean at working temp? I will check Greweling out.

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I've wondered about this myself. It seems to me that Greweling has tried to get things to work out so that the addition of the hot cream just melts the chocolate, without bringing it out of temper completely (at least, making sure there is enough tempered chocolate remaining to seed the rest when you agitate it), but it didn't work out for me on the Chai Tigers. Trying Shotts' Coconut-lemongrass truffles this weekend I had let the cream cool down for a few minutes before adding it to the chocolate and the final temp after emulsifying was 86 degrees, which I think was very good, and resulted in the ganache setting up pretty fast.

[ChristinaM]

Fascinating thread, I'd never realised how complicated ganache could be!

Here's how I do it (disclaimer: totally non-scientific )

Measure equal quantities of choc bits and double (heavy) cream. Put choc in magimix. Heat cream to boiling with one tablespoon fine sugar. When cream has stopped bubbling pour into switched on magimix. As soon as melt achieved switch off magimix. Scrape into glass bowl. place in fridge for ten mins, mixing thoroughly at 5 mins. Mix again. Pipe into plobs on greaseproof paper. Cover with more greaseproof to keep cat off them. Leave overnight in cool room. Next day coat with tempered choc or roll in really good cocoa. Eat.

A couple of observations: 9 times out of 10 I'm using Valrhona Manjari and pasteurised double cream. I love manjari and have found it very reliable. I have also tried Caraibe and a couple of types of Lindt, which I don't like. It didn't behave half as well and does not provide such good mouth feel. I have experimented with using lower fat cream, which works admirably as long as I don't forget that tablespoon of sugar. I have also increased the ratio of cream when making a cake filling, that worked really well for a softer consistency.

I should probably add (with reference to the cat) that I am not making my truffles available to the public

[bibbotson]

I've wondered about this myself. It seems to me that Greweling has tried to get things to work out so that the addition of the hot cream just melts the chocolate, without bringing it out of temper completely

I'd have to check my copy of Greweling when I get it back from whomever "borrowed" it to see if different recipes of his might use varying approaches, but his basic technique that I've followed many times since, for both his recipes and those from Wybauw, Bellouet and others, is to cool the cream mixture (incorporating invert sugar, glucose, puree, whatever else the recipe entails) after heating back down to the working temperature of the tempered, melted, fluid chocolate.

Then the emulsion using an immersion blender proceeds beautifully and swiftly, as does the addition of butter if called for. And the crystalization of the slab proceeds evenly and quickly. Relying on the hot cream to melt the chocolate has produced uneven results for me. Sometimes good, sometimes not. It's not as controllable, as the crystalization (temper) of unmelted chocolate even "straight" from the manufacturer never seems to be as reliable a bet as directly tempering it yourself.

[Chris Hennes]

I'd have to check my copy of Greweling when I get it back from whomever "borrowed" it  to see if different recipes of his might use varying approaches, but his basic technique that I've followed many times since, for both his recipes and those from Wybauw, Bellouet and others, is to cool the cream mixture (incorporating invert sugar, glucose, puree, whatever else the recipe entails) after heating back down to the working temperature of the tempered, melted, fluid chocolate.

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Greweling presents both techniques - the critical thing for him seems to be keeping the chocolate in temper, either through careful combination of hot cream and solid chocolate, or through adding both together at the correct temperature. In my experience a ganache made with tempered chocolate sets up much faster, but is otherwise about the same as one made without regard to tempering the chocolate. Of course, others here have vastly more experience than I do...

[Kerry Beal]

I'd have to check my copy of Greweling when I get it back from whomever "borrowed" it  to see if different recipes of his might use varying approaches, but his basic technique that I've followed many times since, for both his recipes and those from Wybauw, Bellouet and others, is to cool the cream mixture (incorporating invert sugar, glucose, puree, whatever else the recipe entails) after heating back down to the working temperature of the tempered, melted, fluid chocolate.

←

Greweling presents both techniques - the critical thing for him seems to be keeping the chocolate in temper, either through careful combination of hot cream and solid chocolate, or through adding both together at the correct temperature. In my experience a ganache made with tempered chocolate sets up much faster, but is otherwise about the same as one made without regard to tempering the chocolate. Of course, others here have vastly more experience than I do...

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Greweling shows two techniques, one for slabs of ganache and once for piping if I recall correctly. I have been really happy with the tempered chocolate at about 30 to 31 degrees combined with liquid ingredients at 41 degrees. Sets up wonderfully fast and seems a smooth as any other ganache I've made. I haven't had a ganache break using these temperatures.

[Lior]

Hi. I made ganache from 250g dark choc -70% and 500g Praline ("pralineh") and added about 120g of feulletine for crunch. I slabbed it between my caramel rulers and left it there for a few days figuring that there was no cream in it... Today I did a thin coat of chocolate on one side and on the other I did the feathering decoration technique. As usual I am terrible at cutting. This time was the worst. My feathering technique came out finally really nicely but when I cut the feathering layer cracked, the ganache crumbled away ans forget about perfect sized squares after all these issues!!! I will persevere as usual but I don't want to repeat mistakes.

Is it because I left it out in the air for a few days? Dumb me!

And what about the cracking feathered layer? Should I try to work fast and cut as soon as poss?

Oh the agonies of crumbly dry cracky ganache!

Any advice?

[Desiderio]

Sorry about the misfortune :-(

I can only think that you let it stay way too long in the air and got too dry.In a ganache you do need to set it for a bit before cutting, but something like that you should cut it as soon as it firms up , I think.

For the decoration ,was i too thick and dryed so cracked when you cut it?Working faste could be the key but also a think layer would be a problem to cut.

I am sure someone else will pitch in to help.

I hope things will be work better for you :-)

[Lior]

Yes I guess you may be right. I need to have all the chocolate tempered right after making the ganache- I use two colors for decorating and then go for it!! It is hard coordinating everything!

[rae]

I have been making a great dark chocolate ganache for a while now based on the methods in Chocolate Obsession by Recchuitti.

Basically the method is to:

1. heat dark chocolate to 115 F

2. heat mixture of cream and invert sugar to 115 F

3. pour cream over chocolate and mix with immersion blender (I use a mini food processor)

4. Add softened butter, blend

Then he pours it into a slab, refigerates, cuts, and enrobes.

Lately, I've been playing with molded chocolates and have used steps 1-4 (i.e. no slab or refigeration) to pipe into molded shells. The consistency and taste are great. But I'm having a conceptual problem.

I am a scientist by training and have recently been reading Peter Greweling's Chocolates and confections. This makes much more sense to me. In his ganache method (as you all know) he either starts with unmelted tempered chocolate for the piped method or melted tempered chocolate for the slabbed method.

I tried the piped method with the ganache recipe I've been using and it was much firmer than the same recipe processed according to the Recchuitti method. In both cases I had no problem with my emulsions... but I just don't understand why the Recchuitti method works...

If I am heating the chocolate to 115 F all of the stable cocoa butter crystals are melting out and it's untempered. But the emulsion still sets fine. Is the result of this method just that it's softer (i.e. you cannot handle it without refigerating, unless you are piping it into molds), but the emulsion is fine because the ingredients are being combined at the same temp? Will there be a problem with this ganache during storage since the crystals are not stable? I have not noticed any problems.

I'm going to try the same method with tempered chocolate at working temp instead of 115 F chocolate tonight.

Does anyone have any techincal insights for me? The more technical the better.

edited to fix typo

Edited January 30, 2008 by rae (log)

[alanamoana]

this isn't very technical, but what are the ratios of chocolate to cream in the different recipes? this could be the key you are looking for. in addition, butter is also an emulsion and you're adding that to another emulsion using an immersion (not inversion) blender...thus maintaining an emulsion. this might be more important than worrying about the cocoa butter crystallization when talking about a mixture that contains a significant amount of other ingredients besides chocolate.

[rae]

In both cases I used the exact same amount of ingredients, only the methods for making the ganache differed. Chocolate:cream was 2:1

Edited January 30, 2008 by rae (log)

[Chris Hennes]

The crystallization state of the chocolate is not related to its ability to remain in an emulsion with the cream, as far as I know. When we talk about "unstable crystals" we are not talking about the kind of large-scale instability you would see in a broken emulsion, but rather a slow degradation over time resulting in fat and/or sugar bloom. In my experience (very limited, I must admit!) the only difference between a ganache made with chocolate that is in temper versus chocolate that is not is the amount of time it takes to set. Ganache made with tempered chocolate can set up in 20-30 minutes, whereas when I have made it with untempered chocolate it remains soft for an extended period and must set overnight in order to be handled. I see no technical reason why there would be any other difference. Of course, I am not a chemist or materials scientist (I did OK in those courses, but that was a few years ago!).

[KKLL00b]

I've been using Recchiuti's technique off and on for the last 20 years, even before he published his book, and it has always worked for me. I'm a "flunked-out" chemist, having been done in by calculus and thermodynamics. However, my reasoning for using the technique is that it is just an emulsion of two liquids. Instead of oil and vinegar, we are using melted chocolate and cream. I was a bit more conservative in my temperatures of the liquids because I did not know if the emulsifying process would be exothermic and give off more heat, or be endothermic and absorb heat, or cool down. I thought that 115 would be too close to 120 degrees where the chocolate would completely breakdown, so I started at 110 degrees and got very good results. I also tried using melted chocolate at 115 and cream at 110 and still got very good results. I find this method to emulsify much better than pouring heated cream over chopped chocolate then stirring with a spatlula. I was kind of freaked out the first time I did it because the initial mix was very, very shiny. As I continued to mix with my trusty Bamix, the mixture suddenly got very dull and sort of "coagulated". I immediately stopped at that point and tasted the resulting ganache. It was silky smooth even without adding any butter. It got even creamier when I folded in the butter. I found this ganache to be much firmer in texture than ganache made the standard way. I use the melted chocolate/heated cream method when I want to pipe my ganache as it sets faster than the normal way so I can pipe immediately rather than wait several hours for the ganache to set.

After reading his book, I've been meaning to write to Mr. Recchiuti to tell him of our similar techniques and also the fact that we both like to use "grosso" lavender, which is actually a lavendin, which is a lavender hybrid.

[merlicky]

One thing that can happen when you use untempered chocolate is that the ganache can develop a grainy feel over time. Greweling talks about this briefly, but I’ve had it happen a couple times when I first started working with milk chocolate.

Because the cream doesn’t typically melt all the milk chocolate that is needed, I melted the chocolate first and then added the cream. The chocolate was out of temper, but the ganache seemed smooth. A day later when I dipped them the ganache was still smooth. A few days after that the ganache had a bit of a grainy texture.

Now I melt most of the milk chocolate, but make sure to leave some chunks of tempered chocolate in the bowl. The cream melts these chunks as it would with the dark chocolate. Since I started doing this, I have had no more problems with the grainy texture.

[Lior]

I still can't figure out my problem. Tp fill shells the ganache MUST be fluid enough to fill nooks and crannies and be flat on the surface. Mine will not do this. I do use 1:1, chopped chocolate, pour cream mix add soft butter etc. But if I make it ahead of time- lets say 5 different kinds to fill the following day or so, or to use what is left in a new bunch of shells, I need to put in the fridge at some point to keep it optimally fresh. When I take it out I allow it to come to room temp but it is usually stiff. If I zap in the micro enough to get it fluid enough it separates. It never used to happen like this. SO I thought it was the cold. Can someone give a recipe and method for a ganache that is used to fill a shell, with a liqueur?? I do, for ex. cherry heering with dark choc. I want to compare to the detail!

I need to start making ganaches for my next festival and I want it to go smoothly (in all meanings of the word!) this time.

Thanks,

Edited January 30, 2008 by Lior (log)

[tammylc]

I make my ganaches only when i need them. When i do mass production, I prep all my molds, make all my shells, then make my first kind of ganache. While that's cooling down to ~85 degrees, i make my second kind of ganache. By the time I'm done with that, the first is cool enough to pipe, but still very fluid. I pipe into the shells, bang the molds to get out air bubbles, then proceed to the second ganache, etc. I'm using a chocolate to cream ratio closer to 2:1, and my fluidity is still fine, so I think the problems you're encountering are definitely from making your ganache in advance and letting it set up before using it.

Once i'm done filling, I usually let my molds sit overnight and back off the next morning, although now that I've been using Grewling's method and with my kitchen at 65 degrees, they are usually firm enough to back off within at hour.

[Lior]

It could be!! Thanks for the info!! Now, what do you do with left over ganache? I always seem never to come out even-either too little ganache to finish a tray or too much ganache. I have a few moulds that are the only ones so if I want to have the same ganache in different chocolate types, I have to save the ganache... Or buy more molds!

Thanks again

[tammylc]

Through practice, I've figured out how much ganache I need to make to fill the number of molds I have. If I misjudge and have some left, I will heat it up carefully in the microwave, and can usually get it back to working consistency that way, although it is always a little stiffer than when it was fresh. It sounds like you're trying to heat a more significant amount, and it's probably hard to do that evenly, which may be what's causing your emulsion to break.

What's the shelf-life on your chocolates with a 1:1 ratio? Are you concerned about water activity with such a high percentage cream center?

[Lior]

I do the 1:1 because of the stiffness issue! I usually freeze them the following day if it is for a bulk production. If not then they get finished quite quickly. I will try your method. I will try 2:1 and see. It seems that issues that weren't problematic became so and others disappeared. This is really the first time I have to deal with quantity! Thank you for the advice.

[KKLL00b]

I'm wondering if adding invert sugar such as corn syrup, glucose, honey, or Trimoline would help. I forgot to mention that I add honey or glucose to the cream before combining with the melted chocolate. I have not really noticed a grainyness problem with my ganache, even after a week in the fridge.

I'm starting to work on my Valentine's day truffles so I'll try to remember to make batches with and without invert sugar to see how they hold up over the course of a few days.

[Lior]

Hi. I do add invert and some soft butter. Oh dear...

[Lior]

Tammy! Your method works well. It set up while in the mold and was nice and fluid to fill. Now I still want to figure out the re using method because I know some people even freeze ganache in containers to pull out as needed...

Thanks so much!