Ganache comes from an old French word meaning pillow. And
effectively that's what a ganache is, a little pillow of delicately blended chocolate and cream.
The mixture is traditionally made by blending chocolate, cream and sometimes
butter together. But modern chocolatiers have taken to making in with different
ingredients and methods as we'll discover. Depending on how it is made it can
be used to fill chocolates, cakes, macarons, to make truffles and as a glaze
for cakes and dessert recipes.
The age old method for making a ganache is to heat cream
until it is just at boiling point then pour it over chopped chocolate or
callets (chocolate buttons used by professional chefs & chocolatiers). The
cream is left to sit on top of the chocolate for 30 seconds or so, before the
chef slowly stirs from the centre incorporating the cream with the melted
chocolate. What is happening here is that the cream and chocolate are forming
an emulsion. Some chefs prefer to incorporate cream at around 45c to already
melted chocolate at the same temperature. In any event the aim is to achieve a
fully emulsified, silky smooth result. This can be helped by using a hand
blender immersed into the liquid mix- Note it must be kept below the surface,
as air should not be introduced into the ganache mixture. Once fully blended
butter may be added to increase the richness, but also the firmness of the
final ganache.
If using for truffles, ganache is ideally left at room
temperature for 4hrs before refrigerating until the desired working texture is
achieved.
Ratio wise, for truffles and fillings a 2 parts chocolate to
1 part cream formula is generally used. For coating cakes the cream element may
be increased slightly and sometimes sugar syrup is blended in for glossier
results. Other variations will include the addition of fruit purée, flavoured
oils, nut pastes, alcohol, or infusing herbs and spices into the cream from the
outset.
The traditional method outlined above is used by most
people. However for those seeking even greater flavour heights there lies one
problem with the traditional method of making ganache and that is that cream
and butter mask flavours. Just think about how you dull down the spices in a
curry if it's too hot - by adding cream or yoghurt. The same things happens
when you add it to chocolate, it dulls all those beautiful top and bottom notes
that make up a great chocolate, along with whatever flavours you have chosen to
add. So some chocolatiers and chefs have started to make ganaches without the
use of cream, using what many refer to as the water ganache method, where
water, a flavoured liquid or fruit purée is used instead of cream. This
presents a number of problems, but when solved properly can deliver exceptional
length, depth and clarity of flavour.
