How to make ganache. Chocolate ganache is the perfect cream for making desserts

This recipe is the fruit of my personal research in the confectionery field. Having prepared a large number of cakes, as a result of practical experience, I came up with a recipe for the ideal ganache for leveling and decorating cakes! I do not mind! I am pleased to present this recipe to you.

The benefits of my chocolate ganache for cake coating

First of all, this is a very tasty cream! Secondly, this cream can cover irregularities of ANY depth and size on your cake! Thirdly, even a novice housewife can level the cake with this cream! It is easy to work with, as it retains its plasticity for a long time and quickly stops flowing if you overheat the chocolate. It does not harden as quickly as pure chocolate. It is easy to level. After covering the cake with it, you can decorate it as you wish. Or continue decorating with the remaining cream, which will already thicken and will be deposited perfectly from the pastry bag.

So, here is my pride and confectionery find - the perfect chocolate ganache to cover the cake! Take it, use it and enjoy! Surprise your loved ones and friends!

Let's prepare butter at room temperature, condensed milk, a spoonful of cocoa and chocolate.

Let's weigh out the chocolate. Don't be greedy, this is what will make this cream irresistible!

Let's put it in a steam bath to melt and stir during the process.

Meanwhile, beat the butter until fluffy and add condensed milk. Let's continue to beat everything with a mixer.

Add cocoa and continue whisking. Then pour in the melted chocolate and mix everything until smooth.

The cream will be a little runny, but this is because the chocolate is warm. Leave the chocolate ganache to cover the cake on the counter for 5 minutes...

Prepare your own tool for working with chocolate. What? Don't you have anything? Then you can use a spatula and a metal ruler.

We take our cake out of the refrigerator...

And let's get started. The cream has thickened a little, but it’s just right for the job, and after a few minutes we have not some kind of blank with uneven sides, but an almost... almost finished cake.

For finer leveling we use a thinner tool - a palette knife. We will use it to completely cover up all sorts of holes and smooth out any unevenness.

Well, somehow this is how it happened. I note that you can endlessly level the cake, so the main thing is to stop in time.

Now let's send our cake into the cold and decide what we will do with it next. Shall we decorate with cream flowers, or maybe with ruffles? Or maybe we’ll just sprinkle some cocoa and lay out some chocolate decorations, or maybe cover it with fondant? Oh, I don’t know what I’ll do next. The morning is wiser than the evening!

Lovers of home baking used to look with envy at cakes prepared by French pastry chefs. Such confectionery products delight with their beauty and originality. The secrets of the French masters have been revealed, and now every housewife can prepare ganache cream for a cake in her own kitchen.

Cream for ganache cake: recipe

Do you like to bake cakes in your free time, and is unusual creative decoration your hobby? Then you probably need to master the technique of making ganache cream for decorating confectionery products. Most often, this cream is used specifically for leveling cakes and decorating. But it’s better not to use ganache to soak the cakes.

If you believe the legends, then ganache cream has French roots and was invented completely by accident. One pastry chef, in his clumsiness, spilled cream into melted chocolate, for which he was scolded and called ganache. It turns out that translated from French this word means blockhead.

So, a lot of time has passed since then, and the resulting product has become an exquisite cream, known all over the world. The name remains the same - ganache. Today you will learn how to prepare chocolate ganache cream for a cake.

On a note! To make ganache, use milk or dark chocolate. Even better is to choose a confectionery glaze.

Compound:

• 0.5 kg butter;
• 1 kg chocolate glaze.

Preparation:

Prepare cream according to French recipe

Even the most experienced and renowned pastry chefs do not always turn out perfect baked goods. To hide all the defects, the cakes must be “primed” or “puttyed”. Ganache cream is ideal for covering the cake.

As already mentioned, there are several options for its preparation. You can make ganache using cream and chocolate.

On a note! Use not only dark or milk chocolate as a base. For example, white chocolate or confectionery icing is used to decorate wedding cakes.

Compound:

• 0.3 kg milk chocolate;
• 0.3 kg dark chocolate;
• 0.3 liters of cream with a fat concentration of 20%.

Preparation:

On a note! If you need to make a colorful ganache, use white chocolate and food coloring. By analogy, prepare ganache cream for a mastic cake. If the mastic is not very elastic, take cream with a high percentage of fat content and dark chocolate.

Universal cream ganache

We associate cakes with the holiday. Unfortunately, holiday events are not very frequent guests in our lives. If you like to pamper your household and often make cakes or cookies, you can use ganache cream to decorate such baked goods. And its recipe is very simple.

Compound:

• cow's milk - 1 tbsp.;
• cognac – 1 tsp;
• cocoa powder – 6 tbsp. l.;
• butter – 160 g;
• granulated sugar – 0.3 kg.

Preparation:

1. Sift cocoa powder through a fine sieve.
2. Add granulated sugar to the same bowl.
3. Mix the dry ingredients. Under no circumstances should we allow lumps to form.
4. Now pour in cow's milk at room temperature.
5. Mix everything thoroughly again.
6. Pour this mixture into a heat-resistant bowl and place it on the stove.
7. Boil the mixture for a quarter of an hour. Don't forget to stir it constantly.
8. Remove from the stove and cool slightly.
9. Now add soft butter.
10. Add cognac.
11. Using a blender or immersion mixer, beat the cream.

On a note! Ganache cream prepared according to this recipe can be used to decorate cookies, cupcakes, and pastries. It’s easy to check its readiness: drop a little cream on a saucer. If the drop holds its shape, then you have made the perfect ganache.

Culinary experiment

It was mentioned above that ganache is not suitable for lubricating cake layers and filling confectionery products. Improve the recipe a little and you will get the perfect filling, prepared according to the recipe of French confectioners.

Compound:

• dark chocolate – 0.1 kg;
• butter – 70 g;
• 50 ml cream;
• 50 g strawberries.

Preparation:

1. We wash the strawberries with running water.
2. We remove the tails.
3. Grind the berries to a puree consistency.
4. Lightly heat the cream in a microwave oven.
5. Break the chocolate bar into pieces.
6. Combine with cream.
7. Mix well and add soft butter.
8. Grind the strawberry puree in a sieve and add to the main mass.
9. Mix everything thoroughly again until smooth.
10. Infuse the cream in the refrigerator until thickened.
11. This ganache is used for filling and decorating baked goods.

Ganache is a French chocolate cream, plastic, having a soft but dense consistency. It is almost universal: it is used as a filling for sweets and croissants, layering cake layers, covering cakes and pastries, leveling their surface with mastic. The composition of the ganache is simple: chocolate and cream. The recipe with cream and butter is also considered a classic. The remaining ingredients (powdered sugar, flavorings, rum, cognac) are added as desired, they are not mandatory. Making this unusual cream is easy.

Cooking features

There are many recipes for ganache, because in French cuisine it is believed that even a few drops of syrup added to the cream radically change its taste, allowing you to get a new dish. But there are also general principles.

• The optimal consistency of ganache depends on what it is intended for. Usually, a more liquid cream is prepared to cover cakes, which spreads easily, smoothly enveloping the confectionery product. To layer the cakes, they often use versions of cream with butter or alcohol components, which allow the cakes to be at least slightly soaked. If the cakes are made from dough that does not absorb the cream well, it is better to use something more liquid (syrup, liqueur, Madeira) for impregnation rather than ganache. To fill croissants, thick ganache is used, usually with the addition of butter. Candy also requires a product with high density.
• The quality of the finished product depends on the quality of the original ingredients. In chocolate intended for making cream, the cocoa content must be at least 40%, cocoa butter - at least 20%. High-quality chocolate melts in your hands, and when you break a bar, a characteristic crunch is heard. At the same time, good chocolate does not crumble.
• The ratio of chocolate to cream depends on the cocoa content of the main ingredient. If the ganache is made from dark chocolate, use about the same amount of cream or slightly less than the main ingredient. You will need 2 times more milk chocolate than cream, and 3 times more white chocolate. Some of the cream is often replaced with butter.
• A common mistake novice cooks make is using ingredients at the wrong temperature to prepare ganache. The oil must be warmed to at least room temperature and softened, so it should be taken out of the refrigerator in advance. The cream is heated on the stove or in a water bath, but do not allow it to boil. When melting chocolate in cream, boiling is also not allowed. This should be done either with low heat, or by removing the container with cream from the stove.
• The classic ganache recipe allows you to do without the help of kitchen appliances, but many housewives prefer to beat the cream with a mixer.
• Mix the chocolate with cream and butter until the product acquires a glossy shine. After cooling, the cream will become matte, but this is already considered normal.
• For glazing confectionery products, ganache is used liquid, otherwise it will harden and its use for coating cakes will become difficult. To sandwich cake layers or fill sweets, it is recommended to cool the ganache for 1–2 hours, then beat with a mixer.
• Properly prepared ganache should have a uniform consistency. If it delaminates, the technological process at some stage was disrupted. This most often happens when using ingredients at different temperatures. It’s not difficult to correct the situation: you need to heat the ganache to a temperature of 40–45 degrees and mix well using a mixer.

If you haven't used all the ganache, you can cover it and put it in the refrigerator. It will remain usable for 2 months. Before use, it will be enough to heat it in a water bath and beat. This only applies to the classic version of ganache, which contains nothing but chocolate, cream and butter. In other cases, it is better not to take risks and try to use the product within 3 days.

Classic ganache recipe without oil

• dark chocolate - 0.4 kg;
• cream with a fat content of at least 30% - 0.2 l.

Cooking method:

• Grind the chocolate. To do this, you need to break it, crumble it with a knife or grate it. The more the chocolate is crushed, the faster it will dissolve in the hot cream and be distributed more evenly.
• Heat the cream over low heat or in a water bath without bringing it to a boil.
• Add chocolate. Stir until it is completely dissolved.
• Remove the pan with ganache from the heat (or from the water bath). Allow to cool to the desired temperature and use as directed.

Ganache prepared according to this recipe is universal. It can be used hot to cover a cake or cooled, whipped and layered into cake layers, filled into sweets or buns.

Classic recipe for ganache with butter

• dark chocolate with cocoa content of at least 60% - 100 g;
• heavy cream - 100 ml;
• butter - 40 g.

Cooking method:

• Remove the butter from the refrigerator in advance to soften it.
• Break or grate the chocolate.
• Heat the cream. As soon as they start to boil, remove from heat.
• Pour hot cream over chocolate and leave for 5 minutes.
• Whisk the creamy chocolate mixture with a whisk.
• Continuing to beat, add butter.

The ganache prepared according to this recipe hardens very quickly, especially if you place it in the cold. If you want to cover the cake with it, you shouldn’t hesitate - it can thicken even at room temperature. More often, this ganache is used as a cream for layering a cake or filling sweets.

Chocolate ganache with rum

• dark chocolate - 0.25 kg;
• cream - 0.25 l;
• rum - 20 ml.

Cooking method:

• Cut the chocolate with a knife.
• Bring the cream to a boil, but remove from the heat without letting it boil.
• Combine cream with chopped chocolate.
• After a few minutes, whisk everything together.
• Pour in the rum, stir well or whisk again. The rum in this recipe can be replaced with cognac or another similar ingredient.

If you cool and beat the ganache made according to this recipe with a whisk or mixer, it will become airy. When hot, it is liquid and does not harden immediately. This cream option is ideal for covering or decorating a cake.

White chocolate ganache

• white chocolate - 0.6 kg;
• heavy cream - 0.2 l;
• food coloring, berry flavoring (optional) - according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Cooking method:

• Grind the chocolate.
• Heat the cream in a water bath.
• Place chocolate in hot cream. Stir without removing from the water bath until the chocolate pieces are completely dissolved.
• Remove the container with ganache from the water bath. If you want to give it a bright color and aroma, add the appropriate components. Stir well.

Ganache prepared according to this recipe can be used to coat confectionery products or decorate them.

Cocoa ganache recipe

• cocoa powder - 30 g;
• powdered sugar - 30 g;
• cognac - 40 ml;
• heavy cream - 80 ml;
• butter - 50 g.

Cooking method:

• Remove the butter from the refrigerator. Wait until it becomes soft.
• Heat the cream.
• Mix cocoa with powdered sugar.
• Add the dry mixture into the cream, spoon by spoon, stirring everything thoroughly each time.
• Pour in the cognac and whisk.

This version of ganache is very different from the traditional one, but it produces a “working” cream, well suited for covering cakes and leveling their surface under mastic.

Recipe for ganache with condensed milk

• dark chocolate - 0.25 kg;
• butter - 0.2 kg;
• condensed milk - 100 ml;
• cocoa powder - 30 g.

Cooking method:

• Beat the softened butter with a mixer.
• Add condensed milk and chocolate to the butter. Whisk everything together.
• Break the chocolate and melt it in a water bath.
• Transfer the melted chocolate to the butter. Whisk everything together until the mixture reaches a homogeneous consistency.

Ganache prepared according to this recipe is usually used to decorate pastries and cakes.

Ganache without cream (with milk powder)

• dark chocolate - 0.3 kg;
• butter - 0.2 kg;
• whole milk - 125 ml;
• powdered milk - 100 g;
• powdered sugar - 50 g.

Cooking method:

• Grind the chocolate, melt it in a water bath, and set aside temporarily.
• Mix dry milk with powdered sugar.
• Heat liquid milk in a water bath to 50 degrees, dilute sugar and milk powder in it.
• When the butter softens, beat with a mixer.
• While continuing to whisk, add the milk mixture into the butter.
• When the mixture becomes homogeneous, add melted chocolate. Whisk.

You need to cover confectionery products with this ganache as soon as it is ready - it hardens quickly. Cooled ganache made from milk powder is good for filling candies.

If you love pampering your loved ones with homemade cakes and pastries, you just need to learn how to make ganache. This almost universal chocolate cream can help out in a variety of situations.

I have already written in detail. I suggest starting with the basic ones - ganache. Ganache is a mixture of cream, chocolate and butter in different proportions; additional flavoring ingredients are also allowed. But let's talk about everything in order.

The texture of the ganache is denser than usual creams; if you keep it in the refrigerator (both in a bag and in a cake), it becomes very dense - an excellent property for filling, you will find out why later.

Remember the approximate proportions for ganache:

— White chocolate ganache: 2 parts chocolate, 1 part cream (33%), 10% butter

— Dark chocolate ganache: 1 part chocolate, 1 part cream (33%), 10% butter

— Milk chocolate ganache: 3 parts chocolate, 2 parts cream (33%), 10% butter.

Butter is added here both for shine and to make the filling more tender and pliable when you bite into it. You don’t have to add it) In addition, you can replace some of the cream with thick puree (berry, fruit).

First, white chocolate ganache.

Preparing ganache is very simple - you need to melt the chocolate, mix with cream, wait for the mixture to cool and add butter. You can melt the chocolate in a water bath, pour in boiling cream, or simply break up the chocolate, pour in the cream and heat in the microwave.

I heat it in 15 second bursts: put it in the oven, heat it for 15 seconds. Take it out, mix well and put it back in the oven. Never overheat the chocolate, it will curdle. That's why we do 15 second pulses. Please note that both the cream and the cup heat up with the chocolate, which means that by stirring the whole mixture we melt it. Very comfortably.

Stir the mixture until smooth, let it cool slightly and add butter. Stir again. And pour it into a pastry bag.

Twist the bag (you can tie it with an elastic band or a clip for milk bags). Put it in the refrigerator. There it will harden fairly well in 3-4 hours; it’s ideal to keep it overnight. Before filling the macarons, it is better to take the ganache out of the refrigerator for an hour so that it reaches room temperature - this is the ideal temperature when it does not yet flow, but already holds its shape well.

Now for the dark chocolate ganache. Here I complicated it a little and added strawberry puree.

Everything is the same here. I replaced only half of the cream with strawberry puree. To do this, I pureed the berries in a blender.

When stirred to a homogeneous smooth mass, cool slightly again and add oil.

And then strain the strawberry puree through a sieve.

Mix and pour into a pastry bag. We also put it in the refrigerator.

Ganache is also made with milk chocolate (I gave the proportions at the very beginning). The principle at work here is taste and color. That is, you make the filling of the color and taste that you like best. Of course, the lighter the chocolate, the stronger the taste of the puree with which you will replace part of the cream. But I made these options to preserve the color (white and chocolate).

Apply the finished ganache (cooled) onto the macaron halves - strictly in the center, getting a ball 1 cm high. Cover the top with the other half and press slightly. This is how the ganache (and any other macaron filling) will be distributed perfectly evenly and to the height you need (some people like 2 mm, while others like 5 mm filling).

Place the finished pasta in the refrigerator (in an airtight container) for a couple of hours (ideally overnight). As a result, you will get strong pasta that will not fall apart, will handle transportation well (even in the warm season) and will delight you with its delicate elastic texture.

There are other more non-classical and (let alone) strange types of fillings. The rule is the same - if there are enough people in the comments, I will add more interesting recipes.

By the way, cream (especially for white ganache) can be flavored. That is, add mint, other flowers and herbs, and spices to them. Then heat to a boil and strain through a sieve onto the broken chocolate. Then everything is the same.

This way you get light, barely perceptible aromas of mint, lavender, and some use buckwheat!)

Ganache is a delicacy originally from France. Chocolate buttercream, which is suitable for cakes and as a base for mastic. This sweet preparation will make wonderful decorations for any cakes and sweets. For a long time, the recipe for the cream remained a mystery to domestic chefs, and photos of French sweets aroused a lot of envy and admiration. Today we’ll tell you how to make ganache at home with step-by-step instructions and all the subtleties.

How to prepare ganache? What he really is? Where did he come from? This product is full of mysteries. Oddly enough, chocolate ganache cream appeared as a result of an ordinary accident. One French pastry chef spilled warm cream into the chocolate, and the owner of the shop shouted “ganache” at him, which means “dummy.” The name became attached to the delicacy so quickly that the French simply did not have time to come up with a corresponding name for the newly-minted cream. Since then, the delicacy has been called cream ganache.

Basic recipe for French cream ganache

You don’t have to stock up on a huge number of ingredients, since the ganache recipe is simply simple. The basic version contains no sugar, the cream will have a slight chocolate bitterness. To prepare it yourself at home, you will need:

• 110 ml. 35% milk cream;
• 100 gr. dark chocolate bar;
• 35 gr. quality butter.

Scheme for preparing the cream:

1. Break the chocolate bar and place it in a bowl.
2. Pour the cream into a container and place on the stove. Bring to a boil, but do not boil.
3. Pour the heated cream into the bowl with the chocolate slices and leave for a couple of minutes.
4. Gently mix the chocolate and cream with a whisk or spoon to form a homogeneous cream texture.
5. Add butter. Knead again until smooth.

The cream is ready. It is possible to make ganache from white chocolate in the same way as from dark chocolate. Chocolate ganache is the progenitor of all its other variations.

Chocolate ganache for mastic

Mastic ganache is a chocolate-based paste with a very dense texture, which allows it to even out the surface of cakes. It fits perfectly under mastic, which is used to cover desserts. Ganache for covering the cake can be made from all types of chocolate, depending on your taste preferences. It is very plastic and after adding it, tubercles and irregularities will not be noticeable under the mastic. To make your own cream at home, you need:

• 600 gr. white chocolate;
• 300 ml. 35% cream.

Prepare the ganache for the cake like this:

1. Chop up the white chocolate and pour it into a bowl;
2. Bring the cream to a boil and remove from the oven.
3. Pour the cream into the bowl with the chocolate and stir.
4. Using an immersion mixer, beat everything into an elastic, creamy mass.
5. Cover with cling film to ensure no air bubbles remain. Otherwise, the mastic ganache may become covered with an unappetizing crust.
6. Take him away to rest overnight in the cold. The white ganache needs to sit.
7. In the morning, take your chocolate ganache out of the refrigerator and let it warm up at room temperature for a couple of hours. If it's cold, you won't be able to cover the cake properly.
8. After the expiration date, the cream is ready. You can use it to level the cake, since white chocolate cream ganache is very flexible.

If you plan to use an inelastic mastic, the ganache can be made strong. To do this, you need to do the same operation as described above, only take dark dark chocolate and thicker cream.

Ganache glaze

Ganache icing is suitable for coating candies, cakes and cupcakes, and the ganache recipe for these purposes is just as easy. Take:

• 1 glass of milk;
• 300 gr. Sahara;
• 160 gr. good butter;
• 6 tbsp. cocoa;
• 1 tsp cognac

Step-by-step instructions for cooking at home:

1. Grind the sugar and cocoa thoroughly so that not the slightest lump remains.
2. Pour in the milk and stir until the sugar melts.
3. Boil the mixture over low heat, continuing to stir, for 10-15 minutes.
4. As soon as the future ganache glaze is prepared, add butter and cognac to it.
5. To check if the glaze is ready, you need to drop a drop on the saucer and see if it spreads, cook further. If it holds its shape, it’s ready.

Ganache for filling cakes

French cream is perfect for filling, cakes, and any sweets. There are a lot of variations of the cream, allow yourself to experiment. To make an interesting ganache filling, take:

• 100 gr. dark chocolate;
• 50 gr. heavy cream;
• 70 gr. butter;
• 50 gr. ripe strawberries.

Step-by-step cooking instructions:

1. Grind the strawberries in a blender into a puree.
2. Place the chocolate in a bowl, pour warm cream and stir until relatively smooth.
3. Leave for a couple of minutes, then add butter. Strain the strawberry puree through a sieve into the same mixture.
4. Place the cream in a pastry bag or bag. Refrigerate.
5. The filling is ready. It can easily be used in cooking and decorate dishes.

We can talk about desserts from France forever. Of course, you won’t be able to try everything in your own kitchen. But French kerme ganache will be a delightful addition to any cake, cupcake or candy in any kitchen.

Video: White and dark chocolate ganache