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
I suspect this idea comes from the fact that you can, without horrible results, sometimes substitute apple sauce for the butter or oil in some quick breads or muffins. For an explanation on why this works with apple sauce, see Aaronut's excellent answer here:
Why can applesauce be used in place of oil?
Like apples, pumpkin is fairly high in pectin (and furthermore, it is variety of pectin with extremely good gelling qualities). Therefore, pumpkin is likely to work as well as apple sauce for this type of substitution (which in my mind is not that well, but that is a decision for the baker....)
Unfortunately, as Aaronut points out in his answer, there isn't really any way to prescribe a precise substitution ratio. It would require experimenting with the amount of liquid (perhaps reducing the milk) and the amount of pumpkin. Trying to replace only part of the fat instead of all of it would likely be far more successful.
So, while with some effort, you are not likely to have a horrible result, but it won't have the same quality as making the mix according to its directions with butter or oil. Of course, it also will taste strongly of pumpkin, which is a much more assertive flavor than apple.
Depending on why you want to reduce the butter, there are a couple of alternatives to consider, based on the fact that most muffin recipes (and mixes) are quite tolerant of changes in some of the ratios (which is also why the applesauce/pumpkin substitution is possible).
If you simply want to reduce the fat (and calories) in your muffins, try cutting the butter by 1/2 or so. The muffins likely will not be quite as delicious, but should still turn out fairly okay.
If you are trying to avoid specifically the dairy fat, substituting a neutrally flavored vegetable oil of your choice 1:1 should work fairly well, although you lose the flavor of the butter.
Best Answer
Butter flavored shortening and a touch of water (because butter has water in it too). The key thing here is that you have a have a solid fat because you're beating air bubbles into the butter during the creaming process. These bubbles are needed for the bread to properly rise during baking.
The browning process may be an issue though - shortening has no protein. You're after an umami flavor from the Malliard reaction ... it may be difficult to add that because of the lack of protein. A pinch of MSG maybe, for the umami?