It’s a frosting! It’s a filling! Ganache is easy and egg-free
Submitted by Debra on Saturday, 10 January 2009
2 Comments
One of the biggest ironies of Big Guy's egg allergy is that I used to be a pretty skilled baker and cake decorator. I won't say highly skilled, because, like anything, it takes practice and I had limited time to for that. But I was half decent.
A lot of what I learned I discovered at LadyCakes Place, which is a wonderful recipe site/cake decorating forum. That's where I picked up this simple ganache recipe, one of the few that has survived the allergy purge.
The only key to not goofing up ganache is low heat. Otherwise, it takes just three ingredients and patience. It also takes willpower to make sure there's some left for the cake.
Chocolate ganache
- 1/2 c. heavy cream
- 1/4 c. sour cream
- 3/4 c. baking chips -- if you're also dealing with a peanut allergy, your options will be limited because you'll have to make sure they're not contaminated.
Bring the cream to simmer. Remove from heat and stir in the sour cream. Pour the mixture over the chocolate in a glass bowl and stir until smooth.
For a smooth finish as a frosting, pour immediately over the cake. It will drip -- just gently respoon the overflow. Careful, though! Keep that spoon away from your mouth or there won't be enough left for the cake.
Let it come to room temperature and whip with a mixer for a spreadable frosting or filling.
Ganache can be refrigerated or frozen and then brought to room temperature and whipped. If you reheat on a stove top or microwave -- which I don't recommend because it's too easy to goof it up -- be careful because it gets soft quickly.
Searchable recipe index
Copyright 2009 Debra Legg. All rights reserved.
That’s pretty simple Debra. Thanks for sharing this recipe and also for the link for Lady Cakes. I’ve not been there before. Will check it out because I too am interested in cake decoration.
LadyCakes is a great site AND a great community! I haven’t been there in years — you might still find some of my old stuff under DebTheRed — but everyone there used to be very friendly. Knowing Vickie and Scott, the moderators, I’d say it’s still that way.
I wish I still had time to hang out there. Even though the recipes aren’t much help, the conversation’s great.
Food »
Egg-free strawberry muffins
In part because I live in a place where egg replacer isn’t readily available and in part because I’m tired of toting ingredients when I’m on the road, I’ve been experimenting lately with baking with …
Girl Gone Wonk »
We are the world; we are the soda companies
It’s not quite the east coast and west coast rappers sitting down over tea and crumpets, but when three manufacturing rivals get together for a joint project, it’s big news.
Except in the case of the …
Health »
Confessions of a closet snacker
Back when my job involved actually leaving my house, there wasn’t a lunchbox in the world big enough for me.
I usually ran out the door without breakfast, triggering the need to pack snack one. The …
News »
I know what I want – I just don’t see it yet
I pay $65 a month for satellite TV service, and that’s way too much considering that we regularly watch only Nickelodeon, ESPN and the local FOX affiliate. The package includes 200 channels, many of which …
Reviews »
YouTube safety mode is nothing special
It’s ironic that Google rolled out Safety Mode parental controls for YouTube in the same week that it made gmail unsafe for some folks in its careless rollout of Buzz.
Some of the early things I’d …
School days »
Over the moon about Molly – but is the trip worth it?
I’m certain it was the bright-blue goggle-eyed pug on the cover that drew Big Guy’s attention. The fact that I was trying to steer him to what I thought was more age-appropriate reading material – …
By the way
08/18/2009 | 1:34 pm
Sometimes life is all about timing. There’s a chance the soldier took his protective goggles off briefly during training in The Box – 1,000 barren square miles at Fort Irwin where soldiers prepare for desert warfare. Then ...
07/24/2009 | 9:47 pm
So there I was last month, stressing until 2 in the morning over Dad’s “welcome home” cake, worried that it would be ugly or dry or have the wrong color stars. Silly, silly girl. If I’d ...
06/12/2009 | 12:05 pm
I’m kind of frustrated this morning because I don’t have girls. I don’t even know any girls young enough to appreciate this. But if I did, I’d be all over the tutu tutorial – say that ...
05/30/2009 | 8:17 am
Poor Boots. He wakes up every morning chirping with the birds and with a cheery greeting. “It’s a beautiful day!” Somewhere along the line, though, the grind of the world beats the beauty out of it ...
05/21/2009 | 11:18 pm
On one level, it’s simple: When you’re about to fall, just let go and fall. Trying to stop the tumble or, even worse, flailing your arms and legs as you land will make it worse. Somewhere ...
05/20/2009 | 9:03 pm
05/20/2009 | 10:18 am
This one landed in my Twitter stream just as Boots was diving into a bowl of … Cocoa Puffs: “New peanut flour warning for General Mills cereals.” Luckily, he’s not the child who’s allergic and Big ...
05/19/2009 | 12:56 am
From the country that wants to censor the Internet worldwide in the name of protecting its children comes another bizarre project, also in the name of “protecting children” The British have launched a database, at a ...
05/18/2009 | 11:38 pm
Do I ever feel like a dolt after my post last night lamenting the difficulties of finding dye-free snow-cone syrups. I went to a Middle Eastern market today to pick up some hummus ingredients and ran ...
05/16/2009 | 8:16 pm
05/15/2009 | 10:15 pm
Six hundred and eight three killed in Afghanistan. Four thousand, two hundred and ninety six killed in Iraq. Many stories of incredible lives, often amazing sacrifices. This is one such story. Army Maj. Steven Hutchison survived two ...
To subscribe