Ganache 101

These truffles won't turn out well if I had not picked up Alice M.'s Bittersweet some time ago. The ganache broke:- curdled up into a oily puddle, greasing the sides of the bowl, instead of emulsifying into a uniform pudding-like texture. I panicked a little and wonder what wrong I did this time round. Could it be the tea? Or did I overmix (huh, I don't think so) or could it be the cream that got too hot and burned the chocolate? I didn't have much time to figure out while in the kitchen. I stared at the oily curdle, froze for a few seconds, and got down to fixing it.

I have done this twice (and I bet I'll still freeze in the state of panic the next time it happens) and it worked well for me. According to Alice M., no matter how much ganache you are fixing (I have never worked with over 1 kg of chocolate for truffle centers, so I can't testify it works if you work in a chocolate plant), heat up 4 tbsp of cream to a simmer, pour into a bowl, and slowly add the broken ganache to the heated cream, little at a time, stirring slowly. Voila! I was very relieved. To add to the distress, my visiting cousin was staying with us for a month, and she got into the kitchen just in time to observe the curdly mess. I was hoping she didn't quite figure it went "wrong" at first, as it would affect her tasting buds psychologically.



It seems this white tea dark truffle turned out well enough to get a few "wow"s from friends. I love it personally, small, bite-sized, bittersweet, smooth, deep, with hints of apricot and floral notes. So subtle that you won't think it had been flavoured. Think I would increase the white tea dosage in future.

Thumbs up to Alice M's tip! You could also refer to this page on Baking 911 a few ganache how-tos.

Welcome to the mystifying world of chocolate. ^_^