There is an abundance of recipes out there for chocolate ganache. This is by far the easiest I have used as there is no need to pre-melt the chocolate or any other fiddly bits to mess with.
Ganache is the rich shiny chocolate topping used on cakes as a glaze, an icing or frosting or even can be used to make chocolate truffles.
Generally for a normal coating or filling I use:
1 part chocolate (white, plain* or milk)
1 part heavy cream
Small knob of butter (for shine can be omitted)
Chop 200g of your choice of chocolate and place in a bowl.
Place 200ml of cream into a pan and slowly bring to the boil.
pour boiling cream over chocolate
When boiling pour over the chocolate and leave alone for 5 mins.
Add a small knob of melted butter or ½ teaspoon of oil.
After the 5 minutes are up whisk/stir everything in the bowl until fully mixed together.
Chocolate ganache - mix well
Leave to stand a short while until almost cool and it starts to thicken then use as a topping or filling or both.
If allowed to cool completely the texture will be more of a frosting consistency
Simple!
*If you choose to use a chocolate that is more than 60% cocoa mass it will be necessary to use more cream. Between 60-70% cocoa mass around ½ the amount of cream again and over 70% up to ¾ of the amount again.
Thoroughly cream butter, vanilla, and one cup of powdered sugar.
Add one cup of powdered sugar and one tablespoon of milk. Beat thoroughly at medium speed.
Add 1/4 cup cocoa powder.
Repeat step #2 until you have added all of the milk and powdered sugar, repeat step #3 to taste (up to 1 cup of cocoa).
Beat for an additional 5-7 minutes at medium speed.
Yield: Approximately five cups of frosting.
Because this is a shortening-free frosting, it is softer than many people expect. For a stiffer frosting, try decreasing the milk or adding more powdered sugar (whichever suits your tastebuds better).
Oh, and be forewarned — cocoa powder puts up more dust than powdered sugar, so until it’s blended in, keep those mixers on low speed.
Everyone who has ever frosted a cake with buttercream icing has faced the dreaded Crumb Problem. Wicked evil crumbs stirring up in your beautifully white frosting, showing themselves as discolorations and unattractive lumps.
And nobody wants unattractive lumps on their cake.
So it’s Crumb Coat to the rescue. A “crumb coat” is made of thinned frosting that is then spread over the cake and allowed to “crust” (or dry). The crumb coat acts as a “sealant” and does a pretty good job keeping crumbs attached to the cake and not your pretty frosting.
Ingredients
1/2 cup frosting
1 to 3 tsp of thinner (milk, water, or corn syrup)
The perfect consistency for a crumb coat mixture is something between pudding and syrup (see picture to right). Add thinner, one teaspoon at a time, until you achieve the desired consistency.
Spread the crumb coat mixture over the cake.
Allow the crumb coat to crust (dry) and then frost cake with regular frosting.
Chocolate cake with applied crumb coat
The crumb coat may be applied when the cake is nearly cooled or completely cooled. It won’t be pretty. Just keep in mind that the crumb coat is functional, not decorative and while it won’t win a beauty pageant, it has work to do — keeping the crumbs out of your frosting.
Besides, you’re going to cover up every last bit of that crumb coat with your full-strength buttercream frosting.
Final buttercream frosting applied over crumb coat.
The Final Product
Once the crumb coat has crusted, frost the cake. A crumb coat doesn’t mean you can manhandle your cake without repercussion, but it does mean that frosting a cake (particularly one with cut edges) will be a lot less frustrating.
