MY VERSION OF GANACHE

My Fake Ganache Recipe

Ok.....to relate to this title I have to offer a explanation.
My family dislikes both chocolate & white ganache. They
find it too sweet. I've tried a couple of recipes to no avail.
So...I experimented to figure out how I could make a type
of ganache my family would like. Plus I also wanted to get that nice crisp look that fondant covered cakes have where ganache was used as opposed to b/c icing. I came
up with the idea of thick buttercream and melted fondant combined...fondant almost
the consistency of poured fondant. Here's what I came up with. This was for a small
6" x 2" cake.

1/4 cup thick buttercream. Mine was chocolate.
1/4 cup of my homemade chocolate MMF ( recipe is actually posted on CD )
Approx 1 tblsp of water (possibly more)

I placed fondant in glass bowl and added 1/4 amount of the water. Micro for 10 seconds, took out and stirred. I kept adding the rest of the water until it reached the consistency I wanted. Like soft slightly runny peanut butter. Of course, every fondant is different from homemade to commercial. So you may need more or less water to achieve what you want. I then mixed the melted fondant with my buttercream. Hubby tasted and gave 2 thumbs up. I tried 2 methods in finishing.

First was placing on ganache, putting in the freezer from 10-15 min. This could take longer depending on the temperature in your house. It's winter here, so no problems. Then took out and smoothed with my fondant smoother. It was still slightly "tacky" so kept having to pop back into freezer, take out, smooth etc....kind of a pain cause if you weren't careful....your smoother "stuck", leaving a ridge...defeating the purpose of a smooth finish.

Second method was place cake in freezer, remove, then smooth over surface with a hot palette knife dipped in boiling hot water. Knife is slightly damp after shaking off the excess water on a clean towel. Popped back into freezer. When I took cake back out of the freezer after 10-15 min, I actually went over ganache again using my fingers ( don't worry...well washed hands!! ) dipped in tepid water, rubbing very gently to smooth any bumps I created with my knife. Now if your a expert with the knife/smoothing...you won't have to do this... I'm not so good...perhaps with practice, I will be....

I preferred the 2nd method. The ganache became a little more tacky if left sitting on the counter. But I solved that by popping in the freezer, rolled out my fondant, brought out my cake, and still cold, on went the fondant. I got the nice even look I've been trying to achieve. I was a happy girl. Now I used this on my Valentine cake I uploaded today...so not sure how this will work on round/square cakes... That will be my next adventure!!
It's certainly no match for the real ganache I am sure...but for me, it works.
So if your not a "ganache lover"....gives this a try. Posted a couple of pictures to see the effect.
June. :o)