White ganache from cocoa butter won't set
I want to create white truffles which doesn't taste like white chocolate (sugar and vanilla) but like dark chocolate. So I tried to create them from cocoa butter.
I added 60 g of cocoa butter, 17g of cream and 12g of powdered sugar (because it tasted sugary enough) and a little of salt. The problem is when ganache cooled down it was made from 2 layers. Hard top and quite liquid bottom. I could add more cream but I am afraid that the bottom would be more liquid and the top would be the same. Maybe the problem is that most recipes for white chocolate from cocoa butter needed milk powder (which is very expensive) or egg white powder (which is also expensive) and I did ganache without them. Do I need an emulsifier? I have soy lecithin and some others modern thickeners.
I can made truffles from dark chocolate without problem.
Best Answer
What you're missing is solids. 17g of cream (especially when you consider the high percentage of fat in cream in relation to solids) is not going to be enough against 60g of cocoa butter. Where are you from? In the US, milk solids (in the form of dried milk powder) are cheap compared to cocoa butter. Many high quality white chocolate brands do not contain any kind of emulsifier, but all contain a significant volume of solids. Those solids are almost always milk, with the exception of a few specialized vegan varieties.
I'm wondering in what way you are trying to emulate dark chocolate, since the difference between dark chocolate and white chocolate is cocoa solids (the dark stuff)?
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Why is my white chocolate ganache not setting?
If the ganache is still runny after it has cooled a bit, there is perhaps too much cream and not enough chocolate. You can troubleshoot by gently reheating it over the double boiler again, and adding a little more white chocolate.Why is my white chocolate ganache not whipping?
Nestle will not melt correctly and you will most likely overheat the chocolate before it is melted enough which will result in this recipe not working. I make my ganache in a large, glass Pyrex bowl. It's microwave safe and can go in the refrigerator. I then whip the cream right in that same bowl.Why is my milk chocolate ganache runny?
If you've let the ganache cool for a significant amount of time and the drips are still too runny, it means that too much liquid (heavy whipping cream) was incorporated into the recipe. To fix this problem, you'll need to thicken the ganache with more chocolate.How to FIX a Broken Chocolate Ganache | 3 Common Problems | DallasChocolateClasses.com
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Answer 2
Jolenealaska is right that you are missing solids: milk powder and sugar. Other powders won't give you the traditional taste and texture, and although they may turn out to be tasty, it will need lots of experimenting.
Normal white chocolate is made of something like 1:1:1 cocoa butter to sugar to milk powder. If you change the ratio, you will have a product with a very different texture. Note that the sugar is not in there just for taste, it plays a major part in the final consistency.
You must also note that white chocolate, even when made with sufficient sugar and milk powder, can't absorb much liquid. The workable ratios are 14 to 18 ml of cream per 100 g of white chocolate. As the cocoa butter won't absorb anything, we are talking about 14 to 18 ml of cream per 66 g of combined milk and sugar; if you reduce the amount of milk powder and sugar in the chocolate, you are basically adding cocoa butter to white chocolate, making a white coverture, which has very different properties from chocolate (more waxy). If you manage to make a good tasting ganache this way, the cream will have to be measured against the milk+sugar combination, not against the whole mass.
Lecithine is an emulsifier, not a thickener. It will help you get a homogenous mass, but it will be too liquid if you don't add milk powder and sugar. Using polysaccharide thickeners with white chocolate is a bad idea, because the taste is rather subtle and it gets completely suppressed by xanthan & co. I am speaking of bitter experience here :(
Using starch might work, I haven't tried it. You would have to cook a pudding with the cream and sugar, then add the cocoa butter into it. I don't know what temperatures you must use to prevent it from separation, it will be finicky.
Considering all of the above, plus you reluctance to use milk powder, I would leave the whole "make my own white chocolate" idea. Purchase a proper white chocolate bar, add 14 to 18 ml of heavy cream, and presto. You have your ganache.
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