FAQs and Myths about chocolate ganaches
Ratios and proper mixing is critical to a quality ganache. Image by Geoseph at The Science Of Chocolate.
There is often confusion in regards to techniques and what you can and cannot do with chocolate ganaches. Below are some frequently asked questions and myths related to chocolate ganaches.
There is no ideal ganache, ideal ratio, or ideal ingredients. It truly depends on your purpose.
Here is a great technical research summary post on the science of ganache structure.
This post will be updated with more FAQ as the come. Feel free to contact me to suggest questions.
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Chocolate is a fat-based product, and water is essentially an enemy to chocolate that is intended to be tempered and molded into bars or shapes or used for enrobing. However, ganache is the exception to this. The right proportion of chocolate to water-based liquid will produce an ideal product known as a ganache. A ganache is soft and smooth at room temperature (consistency varies).
Generally, a ganache is a mixture mainly of chocolate and cream, or chocolate and fruit puree, or both, and other alternative liquids (even water).
Technically, a ganache is a mixture of fat (chocolate) and liquid (cream, fruit puree, juice, coconut milk, etc.). Proper technique requires a good emulsion and ratio of the two.
Other ingredients can be added in small amounts, but the bulk of a ganache is chocolate and some form of liquid.
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Yes, overmixing can incorporate too much air into the ganache, which leaves the ganache more susceptible to mold and shortens the shelf life.
Overmixing can also break an emulsion, especially in recipes with low levels of liquid, too warm (above 45 C), or too cool (below 30 C).
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The word tempering carries different meaning depending on what you’re discussing.
In regards to chocolate, tempering can be used to mean different techniques and outcomes as well.
Heated molten chocolate is tempered where both sheer (mixing) and temperature follows specific parameters in order for the cocoa butter to crystalize in one out of 5 possible forms (the 6th form can’t be achieved through tempering).
In this sense, no, a ganache is not tempered in the way molten chocolate is tempered in order to achieve the beta 5 crystals. Ganache ingredients are heated, mixed, emulsified, and then cooled to 29-32 C before filling chocolate shells in the case of bonbons. They are not tempered in order to develop the beta 5 crystals as we do in regular molten chocolate. Some may suggest the process of cooling the ganache is tempering, but again, we are not treating it in the same way as tempering molten chocolate.
Ganaches are very straight forward products to make, and don’t require the same level of skill or fuss as tempering pure molten chocolate.
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Yes, the fat in ganaches crystalize eventually as the ganache cools. A structure is formed, which allows the ganache (particularly firm ganaches) to hold their shape at room temperature. This is idea when enrobing or dipping firm ganaches.
For this reason, one should not mix a set ganache as this will weaken the structure and make it more difficult to hold its shape (depending on the size) and be properly enrobed or coated.
This generally isn’t a concern for ganaches that are intended to be less firm/more fluid and used to fill premade chocolate shells.
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Yes. Ganaches do freeze well and can be stored for months. In fact, even finished product like truffles and bonbons can be frozen. This allows for efficiency in the kitchen and maintaining the quality and integrity of the ganache filled products. As long as storing precautions are taken into consideration.
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Ganache is a big umbrella term as ganaches have very different consistencies and purpose. Is it a ganache to glaze, a ganache to fill a cake, a ganache to enrobe, a ganache to fill a bonbon, and the list goes on.
There is no ideal ratio, as it really depends both on what you intend to use the ganache fore, and also the specific chocolate you are using (not just type, but the manufacturer).
However, for a general idea, the darker the chocolate, the more liquid it requires.
A dark chocolate ganache will roughly be a 1:1 ratio of dark chocolate to cream
A milk chocolate ganache will roughly be 1.5:1 ratio of milk chocolate to cream
A white chocolate ganache will roughly be 2:1 ratio of white chocolate to cream
These again are simply rough general rules of thumb. For instance, replacing cream with juice, puree, oat milk, coconut milk, without altering the recipe/ratio can drastically alter the consistency and render your ganache useless for its intended purpose.
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Ganaches can be used to glaze cakes and products, filling cakes and pastries, piping onto pastries, filling bonbon shells, filling truffle shells, rolled in chocolate, enrobed or dipped in chocolate, and the list goes on. Ganaches are a beautiful product with a wide range of uses depending on the ratios and recipes.
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For the most part, a ganache is mixture of fat (chocolate) with liquid. However, there are ganaches or fillings that use chocolate mixed with butter. The technique is a bit more challenging, and overmixing can easily break this mixture.
Unlike more traditional ganaches like chocolate and cream, a butter ganache normally requires tempered chocolate mixed into room temperature butter, with flavourings or alcohols added in at the end. Traditional ganaches where heated liquid is added to the chocolate does not require the chocolate to be tempered.
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No. In fact, that is one of the beauties of a traditional chocolate ganache. You can use tempered or untempered solid or molten chocolate. You can use fat-bloomed chocolate, sugar-bloomed chocolate. The heating of the mixture voids the necessity to require tempered chocolate.
A well made ganache will still crystalize regardless of using tempered or untempered chocolate. This research summary expands on the structure of ganache.
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Traditional ganaches use full fat cream (~33-35%). However, any liquid can be used including fruit puree, fruit juices, vegetable juices, milk, coconut cream, coconut milk, oat milk, almond milk, water, tea, etc. The possibility is endless.
Note that you cannot substitute many of these one for one. You will likely have to alter the ratio and recipe depending on the desired outcome and purpose of the ganache.
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Most ganaches should be immersion blended for the ideal emulsion. This breaks the fat globules (cocoa butter) into smaller globules and more evenly distributes them throughout the liquid ganache. When the ganache solidifies and sets, your tongue will detect a silkier and smoother ganache.
A split ganache is where the fat globules collide and form larger globules. When this ganache sets, the fat globules harden but are so large they are detectible on your tongue and you feel a grainy ganache.
If mixed properly, a ganache does not need to be immersion blended, but it can help improve the texture of some ganaches.