How to make ganache for cake decorating

A nicely covered fondant cake with clean sharp edges needs a good foundation. There are different methods of preparing a cake for covering with fondant, but the way I have learnt is to use ganache. Ganache is made from chocolate and cream. It not only tastes great, but when made using the correct ratios, sets up firm allowing you to apply pressure to your cake to get sharp edges on your fondant.

For the purpose of preparing a cake to be covered with fondant, ganache needs to be made using the following ratios:

White chocolate ganache

1 cream: 3 white chocolate

Dark chocolate ganache

1 cream: 2 dark chocolate

Example recipe: For an 8” round cake sliced into 3 layers, I make about 1.2kg ganache which is either

300ml cream: 900g white chocolate

OR

400ml cream: 800g dark chocolate.

I use the ganache as a filling between my cake layers as well as covering the sides and top.

Microwave method

Put chocolate and cream in a microwave-safe bowl and heat on high for 1 minute. Stir the mixture. Microwave in short bursts (10-20 seconds at a time) until the chocolate has melted into the cream (stir after each burst to make sure all the chocolate has melted). Do not overheat your ganache – you want to heat it just enough so that the mix is smooth and there are no solid bits of chocolate left. Cool, cover and leave overnight to firm up at room temperature.

Stove top method

Place cream in a saucepan and bring just to a simmer. Pour the hot cream over your chocolate, allow the heat from the cream to melt your chocolate for 30 sec to 1 minute, and stir to combine. If you find there isn’t enough heat to melt the chocolate completely (e.g. in Winter I find the ambient temperature cools my cream/choc quickly), just microwave the mixture in short bursts to bring up the temperature of the ganache so that the chocolate can melt. If you chop your chocolate into smaller pieces it will melt faster so your hot cream should be enough to melt it all first go. Cool, cover and leave overnight to firm up at room temperature.

I use pure cream (not thickened) with at least 1 week’s shelf life remaining and 45-50% cocoa content couverture chocolate. I would avoid using very dark chocolate (e.g. 75% cocoa content) as the taste can be quite bitter for some, and the ganache sets very hard. When you’re about to use your ganache, it should have the consistency of peanut butter, so if it’s a little too hard just microwave it in short bursts to get it to the right consistency.

During warmer months you might want to increase the proportion of chocolate so that your ganache is firmer and holds up better in the heat. In Winter you may want to decrease the amount of chocolate or increase the amount of cream a little so that your ganache isn't too hard.