Chocolate Ganache

Merlin5 · 25 Jan 2019 at 10:54

Quick question. I'm going to make a chocolate sandwich cake with normal whipped cream filing, and I'd like to cover the top with a chocolate ganache. Mary Berry makes ganache with 150g Bournville broken into pieces and melted with double cream over the hob. I've got a 150g bar of Tesco cooking chocolate. Will that work or be too bitter?
Most recipes for ganache suggest semi sweet chocolate and looking at the ingredients on my bar, it does have some sugar content so I'm guessing that's considered semi sweet?

https://i.postimg.cc/pXsW0LBy/20190125-112610.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/xTpQvF0z/20190125-112601.jpg

peterwalkley · 25 Jan 2019 at 14:11

Try it and see, "too bitter" is down to personal taste. My missus did exactly the same thing a couple of weeks ago on a cake (with that same Tesco chocolate). Wife and I enjoyed it, children gave it a "meh" rating :rolleyes:

EDIT: I bet you got the Mary Berry book for christmas too

Merlin5 · 25 Jan 2019 at 17:16

Hehe,

No, I don't have her book. I just find the Mary Berry recipes on YouTube easy to follow. And the cupcakes I made from her recipe were really light, tasty and well received.

So I've had a go and made chocolate cake today with whipped cream filling. It's come out very tasty but yeah, the ganache is a bit too bitter for me. Won't be using cooking chocolate again, I'll buy bournville or even milk chocolate.

So anyway, here's some pics. Was good fun making it all.

After making the ganache, (75g choc and 75ml double cream) I stuck it in the fridge but it wasn't really thickening enough so gave it a quick whip up which did the trick. gave me the right consistency.

MissJen · 26 Jan 2019 at 21:40

Cake looks lovely! I tried ganache for the first time last year and I think i used the same Tesco chocolate too! Before hand I watched a series of videos by Paul Bradford, if your interested in finding out about different ganache uses and consistencies I would recommend giving them a watch: https://www.cakeflix.com/online-cake-decorating-courses/using-ganache

Illgresi · 26 Jan 2019 at 23:54

All you'll need.

Just keep it locked away or you'll end up eating it all!

Edit:

Also, if you're looking for cacao powder.

Merlin5 · 27 Jan 2019 at 04:14

Thanks for the links MissJen and Illgresi. I'll watch that video. And yeah, I've heard of the Callebaut chocolate, that stuff would be awesome to use.

Spuj · 30 Jan 2019 at 10:55

I just watched a BA recipe video on YouTube the other day that had chocolate Ganache and they recommended not to use anything above 70% Cacao as it would be too bitter.

Merlin5 · 30 Jan 2019 at 12:47

Spuj said:
I just watched a BA recipe video on YouTube the other day that had chocolate Ganache and they recommended not to use anything above 70% Cacao as it would be too bitter.

Yeah, that would be very bitter.
I've got a few bags of choc chips which I'll melt next time. They're nice and sweet, no harshness. To be honest, I could probably use any bar of Cadburys chocolate or even an unbranded bar.

the-evaluator · 31 Jan 2019 at 09:40

We often use dairy milk when making ganache. Some people may find it too sweet but we like it.

The only time we use chocolate with more cacao is when it's going with something that is already sweet. One of my favourite deserts is a dark chocolate and raspberry tart. That's sweet raspberries in sweet shortcrust pastry so sweet ganache would make it too sweet.

D.P. · 31 Jan 2019 at 10:13

Something around 70-80% Cacao is perfect for ganache, otherwise the sweatness combined with the richness is too much, especially when covering a sweet cake.

Low cacao chocolate ends up with the ganache being more like a brown butter and is a little sickening.

R.C.Anderson · 19 Feb 2019 at 19:27

I'm never a fan of cooking chocolate, I often find it tastes a little strange...

When I make ganache, I do it with double cream & Tesco's cheapest dark chocolate (it's actually really good for the price, and I've never had complaints). I add a bit of caster sugar with the cream as it's heating to sweeten it a bit and it comes out great.

Merlin5 · 19 Feb 2019 at 22:27

R.C.Anderson said:
I'm never a fan of cooking chocolate, I often find it tastes a little strange...

When I make ganache, I do it with double cream & Tesco's cheapest dark chocolate (it's actually really good for the price, and I've never had complaints). I add a bit of caster sugar with the cream as it's heating to sweeten it a bit and it comes out great.

Yeah, that's what I was missing I think, adding some sugar. I also use cheap dark chocolate. Tesco do this line of dark or milk chocolate called Ms Mollys, only 30p per 100g bar, tastes pretty nice.

R.C.Anderson · 20 Feb 2019 at 18:54

Merlin5 said:
Yeah, that's what I was missing I think, adding some sugar. I also use cheap dark chocolate. Tesco do this line of dark or milk chocolate called Ms Mollys, only 30p per 100g bar, tastes pretty nice.

That's the dark chocolate I use now. I used to use the tesco value stuff (in the white packet), but that was replaced by Ms Molly's, and either it's not changed, or it's changed so minimally it didn't matter. (I find dark chocolate is a lot harder to make wrong, whereas milk/white I find the cheap stuff oftern doesn't taste as good)

Merlin5 · 21 Feb 2019 at 04:44

R.C.Anderson said:
That's the dark chocolate I use now. I used to use the tesco value stuff (in the white packet), but that was replaced by Ms Molly's, and either it's not changed, or it's changed so minimally it didn't matter. (I find dark chocolate is a lot harder to make wrong, whereas milk/white I find the cheap stuff oftern doesn't taste as good)

Yeah, there's a few Ms Molly products including chocolate, ice cream and biscuits all at ridiculously low prices. I think it's probably the same as their value stuff but rebranded with a made up name. But the packaging is slightly more glossy than the value stuff. I was at Ikea today and noticed they sell 100g bars of dark and milk chocolate for 75p. I wouldn't be surprised if it's really good as they tend to sell tasty food items there.

krooton · 22 Feb 2019 at 10:18

Merlin5 said:
Yeah, there's a few Ms Molly products including chocolate, ice cream and biscuits all at ridiculously low prices. I think it's probably the same as their value stuff but rebranded with a made up name. But the packaging is slightly more glossy than the value stuff. I was at Ikea today and noticed they sell 100g bars of dark and milk chocolate for 75p. I wouldn't be surprised if it's really good as they tend to sell tasty food items there.

Yep, Tesco has created a number of fake brands for their value products, pretty effective if you don't realise too.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeand...ms-a-marketing-strategy-past-its-sell-by-date

Merlin5 · 22 Feb 2019 at 16:37

krooton said:
Yep, Tesco has created a number of fake brands for their value products, pretty effective if you don't realise too.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeand...ms-a-marketing-strategy-past-its-sell-by-date

Interesting. I figured Ms.Molly is fake, and a clever fake too as a female name tends to sell food, like Aunt Bessys, who I think is real. I must admit, I didn't realise Boswell and Willow Farms are made up.