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The Best Chocolate Cream Filling in the World

Dec 27, 2005 | From the kitchen of Rose

LYNN QUESTION:

Feedback: I have a recipe for a delicious cake filling that combines whipping cream, vanilla, and chocolate frosting mix. Since dry packaged frosting mix is no longer available, how can I get a very rich chocolate cream filling. Thank you

ROSE REPLY

i know of none better than chocolate ganache. it is in many cookbooks including my own: the cake bible page 269 and it's really easy!

Comments

ninu the glaze is poured at 82-85˚F/28˚C and butter doesn't melt at that temperature but it does soften. i've never used the glaze over anything but the ganache or white chocolate buttercream so it might be a good idea to chill the frosted layer before pouring the glaze to be sure it stays firm under the glaze and is smooth. just a precaution. let us know!

REPLY

hey rose, i love love LOVE your books... right now im perusing heavenly cakes and i have a doubt. if i were to use chocolate mousseline cream and then decide to use the chocolate lacquer glaze on top.would it stick? i mean will the mousseline melt cause of the temp of the glaze? 82? need to make a cake for valentines day !!!

REPLY

laura, mousseline is the most stable buttercream i know. sour cream curdles when heated. don't do it!

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I have recently permanently borrowed my mother's copy of The Cake Bible (she is not one for precision and methodology) and have since stumbled across this site. You are all an inspiration, and I would love some advice!

This morning I cut the small trial cake I made for my sister's wedding mid March. White choc mud, adapted to be gluten free with ground almonds. I filled and crumb coated with a thin layer of white choc ganache, ratio choc:cream of 3:1, and covered in rolled fondant. The cake is lovely and moist, but the addition of the ganache makes it too sweet! Usually I make the ganache with sour cream stirred into melted choc, ratio 2.3 choc : 1 cream, but because it isn't boiled I am worried about the keeping qualities. I will be assembling the cake Thursday and decorating Friday for a Saturday evening reception.

So, is there any way of making white choc ganache less sweet? Rose's sour cream ganache keeps at room temp for 3 days, so perhaps my normal one with the sour cream stirred in will be OK? Or can I replace normal cream with sour cream but strain onto the choc after boiling? Or do I just do a white choc mousseline BC? It could be very hot and humid here in Australia mid March, and the cakes will have a 2 hour car trip between my place and the (indoor air-conditioned) reception...

I know I just need to get back in the kitchen and experiment, but any insights would be greatly appreciated! Regards from Australia, Laura.

REPLY

I love all of Julie's recommendations!

REPLY

Yvonne, Rose is traveling, perhaps I can help. I have made several white chocolate frostings, and they tend to get very sweet very quickly if the white chocolate is not diluted quite a bit by cream or butter or the like. I have not tried to make the Sour Cream Ganache with white chocolate, but I would be very worried that it might be too sweet.

If you want a strong white chocolate flavor, try the Creme Ivoire. A milder white chocolate flavor would be the Mousseline buttercream, or, if the cake will be refrigerated, the White Ganache. For a tart buttercream (similar to sour cream) with a very mild white chocolate flavor, try the cream cheese buttercream.

Just curious, what kind of cake are you going to pair it with?

Good Luck!

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Yvonne Arencibia
Yvonne Arencibia
10/03/2008 06:37 PM

I would like to frost a cake with your Sour Cream Ganache,(page 275) but substitute the dark chocolate for white chocolate, do you think it will work?. The cake is for this Sunday, would you pls. answer me as soon as possible. Thank, Yvonne

REPLY

Liz, I used Rose's mouselline under fondant because I didn't know better and had a heck of a time. I ended up smearing rasberry jam under the mousseline and it worked just great.

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REPLY

i'm sorry--i have no experience with letting a frozen cake sit out in such heat. it sounds like high risk to me. it will defrost unevenly. in this type of environment i would do a rolled fondant covered cake.

REPLY

Thank you Rose,

I have another question. I am doing a buttercream-covered wedding cake this weekend (June 9th!), and I am also an attendent. The wedding is outside in Northern California. It is supposed to be 92 degrees. You talk about defrosting cakes slowly so they do not get condensation, but for this wedding I think I should put the cake outside (under a tent, but still in the heat) while still frozen so that over the 6 hours it sits outside it will not melt completely.

Do you think with such hot, dry heat that there will be less condensation?

Also, do you think it's okay for the cake to sit outside that long if it starts out frozen?

Should I use some shortening in place of some of the butter in the buttercream to help it stay firm? Please let me know if you have a better idea... help! Thank you!

REPLY

if you have the cake bible please check because i've written about all this in it. i give a recipe for shortening buttercream to go under fondant. you can freeze fondant but if you apply it to the cake condensation during defrost can make it very sticky. you'd have to do it gradually, first refrigerator overnight, then room temp. best to experiement on a small cake to see how it works in your specific equipment.

REPLY

Hi Rose
Do you have a recipe for shortening buttercream? I love your mousseline buttercream, but shortening does not sound very tasty!

Also, I freeze cakes covered in buttercream quite often, but I am just starting to used rolled fondant in my cake business... is it ok to freeze cakes covered with fondant? Does it alter the texture of the fondant at all? It seems like it would seal in the flavor of the cake quite well, but I am concerned about the quality of the fondant itself.

Thanks!

REPLY

i'm away on vacation but here's a short answer--you must use shortening buttercream under rolled fondant.

REPLY

Hi Rose, I'm here bothering you again as I try to develop my cake baking and decorating skills-your advice is very appreciated! I am baking a chocolate butter cake this weekend for a special occasion (my son's 1st birthday) and wanted to fill it with raspberry ganache. . .I also would like to decorate the cake using fondant and am wondering if it would be possible to use the ganache as a glaze under the fondant or if I should also prepare a buttercream to go under the fondant?

Thanks so much for your response!

REPLY

and the new book will have a creme fraiche version you'll also love!

REPLY

oh my goodness, the first time i made her sour cream ganache, well it was awesome. it actually gives you a faint hint raspberry. i love it for so many different things. in st. louis we have Daisy brand sc which is fantastic.

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it will still be wonderful--you might even like it better!

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will the sour cream ganache be too sweet if i use semi-sweet chocolate instead of bittersweet?

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Hector Wong
Hector Wong
01/26/2007 06:38 PM

I agree, there isn't any better chocolate whipped topping than Rose's Chocolate Ganache. IT IS EASY with the food processor. I have just got a water jacket for my stand mixer and I no longer need to refrigerate my mix for 2 hours. I filled the water jacket with ice and water and the ganache whipped from warm in less than 10 minutes!!!

REPLY

Help! I'm making the chocolate cream pie and the recipe ingredients differ. Is it 3 cups of milk or 4?

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