Forum Activity for @Cassie Stroup

Cracking and crumbling ganache

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

I do add the alcohol and butter at the end and work them into the emulsion slowly. I am familiar with all the temperature guidelines for adding the hot cream and keeping the chocolate at a working temperature to prevent separation.I have read Grewelings book chocolates and confections about 5 times and I have taken the Professional Chocolatier course at Ecole Chocolat.But nobody seems to have the answer to this question. It is frustrating. I guess I will try increasing the fat content--I just worry about breaking the emulsion.

Cracking and crumbling ganache

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

That is a good question. One chocolatier told me not to agitate the ganache too much and another says to use an immersion blender. That doesn't make sense to me. I do follow all the temperature guidelines--adding the cream to the chocolate at 105 and keeping the temperature between 95 and 105. But I do get some separation and if you don't get the emulsification done properly, the ganache will be grainy. Once it sets, you cannot fix it. I am not sure if the 2 problems--crumbly ganache and difficulty in emulsifying-- are related. It would make sense t hat adding more butter would help, especially if you are replacing some of the cream with liquor--you n eed that extra fat to keep the emulsion. I use the proportions in Wybau's book Fine Chocolates. The fat content of a ganache should be about 38% and 1/3 of that should be from butter (the butter I use is 80% fat). There just seems to be a missing link.

Cracking and crumbling ganache

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

It would be helpful if one of the chocolate scientists could give some chemistry input here. Some have told me to be sure the cream is not too hot when I melt the chocolate with it, and someone told me not to agitate it too much when emulsifying. Other than that, no one seems to have an answer. There doesn't seem to be a pattern to when it happens, it could be with dark, milk, or white c hocolate ganache, with or without fruit puree. I am looking forward to hearing how your ganache from last night turned out.

Cracking and crumbling ganache

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

I make my own recipes for many of my ganaches and I hand cut all of them for now.I have had some issues with some of the ganaches cracking or crumbling as I cut them.

I use a sharp knife that is gently heated (which helps). I bring the cream just to a simmer before pouring over the chocolate and I emuslify thoroughly before slabbing and resting overnight. The flavors that give me the most problem are raspberry (made wiath raspberry puree and some heavy cream, dark chocolate, and butter), hazelnut gananche (made with hazelnut praline pasteand milk and dark chocolate, heavy cream) and a peanut butter ganache (made with peanut butter, heavy cream, and milk chocolate). I use invert sugar or honey in most of my recipes.

I have tinkered with different proportions and various ingredients and cannot figure out what causes this. Is there too much fat? Not enoughliquid?Can anyone help me? I would like to know the chemical explanation as well as the practical one.

updated by @Cassie Stroup: 04/11/25 09:27:36