Chocolate Sour Cream Ganache

I recently frosted a Chocolate-Mayonnaise Cake with a delicious Chocolate Sour Cream Ganache - one of the richest and most decadent frostings you can make. Ganache is thought to have been invented in Switzerland or France more than 150 years ago, where it was always made with heavy cream. 

It’s really quite simple to make - chocolate, cream, a splash of vanilla - but it’s also quite simple to ruin, if you don’t melt the chocolate with care and respect. You’ll want to use the best chocolate you can afford: Some people use a slab of Callebaut, but a pastry chef recently told me he finds the far-less-expensive Lindt brand every bit as good. 

My step-daughter, cake artist Deena Fisher of Los Cabos, Mexico, uses bittersweet chocolate and a small quantity of Kahlua in her Ganache. I can guarantee the result is out of this world! When I looked for bittersweet chocolate in my local supermarket, there was none. Unwilling to pay for a slab of premium chocolate, I used semi-sweet chocolate chips in this recipe. 

(The Cook’s Thesaurus reports that bittersweet chocolate “is a sweetened chocolate that's heavy on the cocoa solids and light on the sugar, giving it a rich, intense chocolate flavor.  Many pastry chefs prefer bittersweet to semi-sweet or sweet chocolate, but the three can be used interchangeably in most recipes. The best bittersweet chocolates contain at least 50% cocoa solids.”

(The Thesaurus suggests: “To make semi-sweet chocolate more like bittersweet chocolate, add some unsweetened chocolate or cocoa powder to it.” This excellent reference has more about chocolate at http://www.foodsubs.com/Chocvan.html)

Now, for the cream! Ganache normally uses heavy or “whipping” cream, but Deena and many other pastry chefs have turned to dairy sour cream for its lower calorie hit and excellent flavor. If you’re already on the road to calorie hell (as you are with the chocolate), you may want to use heavy cream. If so, see Julia Child’s recipe for Heavy Cream Ganache. 

As for the vanilla, use a good one, if you can afford it. If not, soldier on! Or do what Deena does - add a small amount of Kahlua. No matter which type of Ganache you choose, whether calorific or not, I hope you’ll enjoy this lower-calorie, lower-cost version of a superb treat! 

Chocolate Sour Cream Ganache:

2 c. (500 mL) semi-sweet chocolate chips

1-½ c. (375 mL) dairy sour cream

1 tsp. (5 mL) vanilla extract (or 2 tsp. (10 mL) coffee-flavored liqueur)

Partially melt chocolate chips in heat-proof bowl over simmering - not boiling - water in saucepan, effectively making your own “double boiler.” Stir until smooth to complete melting. When chocolate has fully melted, stir in sour cream and flavoring. Frost chilled cake while Ganache is still warm. 

Note: Deena makes a very thin “crumb-coat frosting” on her cakes - a smart thing to do if you want your cake to be a show-stopper. 

Deena trims cake’s rough outer edges before spreading

top and sides with thin Crumb Coat Frosting.

A “crumb-coat frosting” is one that catches and seals the crumbs that might otherwise mar a picture-perfect icing. Thick and creamy, Ganache doesn’t lend itself to “crumb-coat frostings,” but the above-posted recipe for Bake-Shop Frosting or my recipe for Buttercream Frosting will. As chocolate Ganache will be spread over this cake, add a little sifted cocoa powder to your remaining Bake-Shop Frosting, spreading it very, very thinly over the chilled cake’s top and sides. Chill or freeze the “crumb-coat frosted” cake until you’re able to spread it with Ganache, with no risk that the two frostings will bleed into one another or that any loose crumbs will spoil the texture of the Ganache.

Crumb Coat Frosting catches cake’s 

crumbs while locking in moisture. 

Deena’s Tip: The wooden, stabilizing dowels some pastry 

chefs use to stabilize multi-layer cakes may leave an unpleasant 

after-taste. Instead, drive wooden chopsticks through the cake. 

Replace chopsticks with plastic straws before frosting. Remove

straws before serving, frosting lightly over each depression.