bakingchocolateemulsionganachepastry
I am making a recipe that calls for emulsifying solid chocolate with a heated milk/butter mixture. Most articles online say to pour the hot milk on to the chocolate.
Wouldn't it, however, be easier to just throw the chocolate into the pot of milk on the stove and mix it there? Is there any difference between the 2 methods?
Abstract: Ganache is delicious, but not everyone eats dairy. We examined whether coconut milk can be used for the creation of a non-dairy ganache. We ran a series of experiments. The answer is that, with some creative techniques, you can use it, but it does not come anywhere near to the real thing.
Introduction. Someone wrote a question on Seasoned advice about coconut based ganache and we got curious.
Background. We love ganache even more than pure chocolate, and make it often ourselves, so we think we have all the prerequisites needed to create and judge a coconut based ganache recipe. Our favorite ganache recipe 1 (which we used as a starting point) is: 100 g chocolate, 72% cocoa (only made from cocoa, sugar, and cocoa butter, no vegetable fat or emulsifiers); 100 g cream, at least 30% (non-UHT), 25 g butter.
Method. We prepared the base mix as follows: 25 g coconut milk were heated until boiling. They were removed from the heat. 25 g chocolate (72%) and 6g cocoa butter were added. Everything was left to dissolve. After 5 minutes, the mixture was whipped with a handheld mixer at the second-to-highest setting. This was Version 0. It was divided in two batches. Different versions were made from each batch by gradually adding guar (a knife-point-ful), egg yolk (1, in lieu of lecithine) and sugar (8g per batch). Each version was whipped for at least 3 minutes. The final versions (1c and 2b) where put for 30 min in the refrigerator, then taken out and whipped again. As there were no observable changes after the cold whipping, we do not treat them as a different version. We also made a small portion of dairy ganache for comparison purposes.
Results. These are listed in Table 1. The numbers in the ingredients columns of the table represent the order of adding the ingredients to the mixtures.
Table 1. Experiment results.
The final consistency of version 1c is documented in Figure 1. Note that the peaks do not drip and you can rotate the bowl at 180° without anything falling out. The piece of chocolate was added for color comparison.
Figure 2 shows a zoom of the blue bordered area in Figure 1.
Discussion. It is possible to make a profiterole filling with coconut milk based ganache, but it isn't quite like the real deal. Also, it resembles non-whipped ganache more closely than whipped ganache.
The basic ganache recipe can be done with coconut milk instead of cream and cocoa butter instead of butter. However, it tastes fattier than real ganache, and it is runnier. Unlike dairy ganache, whipping does not result in aeration.
We think that eliminating the cocoa butter altogether will somewhat alleviate the fatiness problem, but we did not test this proposal yet.
A thickening and or emulsifying agent can improve the ganache texture. Even though egg yolk improves aeration, is not a good choice, as it results in a slimy feel. Guar is a better solution.
The addition of sugar ruins the chocolateness of the taste. If bitterness is not desired, a sweeter chocolate (50%) should be used. Only dedicated sugar lovers or Americans should resort to adding sugar. In that case, it should be added before the guar (we would suggest dissolving it in the coconut milk before boiling it) as not to interfere with the texture of the final product.
Threats to validity. First, there was a single tester (the quasi-royal we). Second, this tester is already biased in favor of dairy products in general and specifically for dairy based ganache. Third, many interesting combinations (including xanthan gum and corn starch) could not be tested due to lack of resources.
Conclusion and outlook. We found the experiment very inspirating. It was also yummy. But we'd like to issue an warning: This experiment is dangerous. In the preparation phase, we discovered a penchant for guared coconut water deep fried in coconut fat we'd rather not have known about. Nevertheless, we are looking forward to offering the results for peer preview to a chocolate-loving lactose intolerant co worker.
References: 1 My own recipe book
Normally, you spoon cake mixes in because you need to be very careful to preserve all of the air you have incorporated into the mix. This air is very important to the structure and overall appeal of the cake.
It's not to say that you can't pour in the mix, it is just not best practice.
Quite frankly, there are some cakes where it won't really matter. If you are baking a standard Duncan Hines or other store bought mix, it doesn't really matter. Those have so many emulsifiers and extenders that you would have to work at deflating them.
However, if you are doing scratch cake mixes, you have to treat them like a nice man treats his wife, that is - very gently. Very, very gently. Hence, always spoon the mix.
Hope this helps
Best Answer
There is. Pouring hot milk or cream over chocolate pieces is a much gentler way of melting it. If you boil the chocolate, however, chances are good that you will overheat it.
Chocolate has a low melting temperature, and a low burning temperature. Boiling your chocolate for too long (more than a few seconds) will burn it, changing the taste and texture from sweet and smooth to bitter and grainy.
Simply pouring hot dairy over the chocolate allows it to melt much more slowly, preserving its taste and texture. It is the superior method, which is why most recipes advise doing it that way. If you're concerned about having more washing up to do (I am!) then you can simply add the chocolate to the hot milk off the heat and swirl briefly to disperse, instead of pouring the liquid over the chocolate into a second bowl; it gives the same effect.