Chocolate ganache is a chocolate buttercream, invented in 1850, for the preparation of which they take bitter varieties of chocolate. Ganache is used to decorate confectionery.
Foods for making chocolate ganache
To prepare chocolate ganache, you need the following ingredients: 100 g of dark chocolate, 110 g of cream, 33-35% fat, 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar, 35 g of butter.
This is a basic chocolate ganache recipe for a rich cream with a bitter flavor. For a sweet version, you can use milk chocolate.
You can prepare a cream of any thickness by changing the proportions of the products. Thick ganache is used as a glaze. The cream of a very dense consistency is used in the preparation of truffles; a chocolate sauce is made from light ganache.
Cooking chocolate ganache
Pour cream into a small saucepan and add powdered sugar to it. Bring the cream to a boil over high heat, but do not let it boil. The pot must be removed from the stove immediately. Chocolate is added to the hot cream, broken into small pieces. Only after 2-3 minutes, the ingredients are mixed until smooth. After that, put butter in a saucepan and mix the ingredients again.
The result is a ganache with a characteristic glossy shine. The cooled ganache loses its gloss and is a fairly dense mass that can be stored in the refrigerator. The cream can be quickly warmed up if necessary.
Professional nuances of making ganache
Confectioners use a few tricks to create flawless chocolate ganache with a smooth consistency and delicate flavor. For example, instead of granulated sugar, glucose syrup or natural honey is added to the cream. In contrast, sugar easily crystallizes, leading to the destruction of the delicate structure of a creamy chocolate cream.
In no case should you combine cold cream with chocolate, and then heat the components. The chocolate can curl easily and the cream becomes grainy. The method of stirring the cream during preparation is also of great importance. A spatula is used, with which the mass is displaced from the middle of the container to the edges with light oscillatory movements.
When the ganache is ready, you can add flavors such as rum or liqueur to it. Then the cream is sent to the refrigerator. This time is enough for the ganache to grab, but not to become hard. The cream is whipped with a mixer and used to decorate cakes, layering cakes, making sweets and icing.
