The Secret Ingredient In Great British Baking Show Star Frances Quinn's Chocolate Ganache
Ganache is kind of like frosting's lesser-known sibling. Foodiosity lists four major differences between the two: Ganache is "more of a glaze" that you pour or dip into while frosting is added with a utensil, ganache is made with heavy cream while frosting is made with butter or cream cheese, the taste of chocolate is more powerful in ganache, and ganache is harder to slice through than frosting if you let it set.
The topping/dip is typically used to coat and fill chocolate confections such as truffles and cakes, according to The Spruce Eats. But Sally's Baking Addiction expands that list to include, toppings for cakes or brownies or even ice cream, a dip for a variety of fruits, and more. They both note that ganache, in its most simple form, is made by whisking a mixture of hot cream and chocolate together until they've completely combined. But if you're thinking the words "most simple form" seem to imply that there are tricks to making your ganache better, you'd be right — there are plenty of hacks and ideas. "Great British Bake Off" star Frances Quinn has a secret ingredient she adds to hers that'll help you improve your own ganache.
Getting that ganache right
Ganache can easily break. Fine Cooking notes that if your ganache starts to become course or clumpy it typically means there isn't enough liquid combined with the chocolate. Philosophy of Yum also highlights that if your heat is too high, it can lead to the ingredients separating — suffice to say this is not an easy topping to work with.
But, as "Great British Bake Off" winner Frances Quinn suggests, it can be fixed and perfected with some handy tricks, and there is one, in particular, she suggests using. Eat This, Not That! highlighted her suggestion to Fab Flour to mix in some corn syrup. "It keeps the ganache from cracking, making it extra pretty, not to mention delicious," Quinn explained. Like the spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down, a bit of corn syrup will help this mixture stay together.
So the next time you're looking for that great shiny glaze, try this tip. You can't go wrong when heeding advice from a "Great British Bake Off" champion!