Champagne Milk Chocolate Ganache
Champagne Milk Chocolate Ganache
Image by @tristangassert
This is a smooth, simple, soft ganache. You are welcome to try and use dark chocolate instead of milk, but the champagne flavour shines through stronger with the milk chocolate, and the flavours seem to work better.
If you do not want to spend money on Champagne, you can find a nice prosecco to use instead.
Ingredients
250g of full cream
500g of milk chocolate
100g of unsalted butter
350g of Champagne or Prosecco
Directions
Step 1
OPEN CHAMPAGNE
Open your champagne, and pour it into another bowl or container, and leave it to the side. You want the flavour of the champagne, but not the bubbles. Ideally, don’t pour it directly into the chocolate mixture. We want as little air in any ganache as possible. So pour it fast and whisk it around to cause it to be more flat than carbonated. Some bubbles will remain, but that’s okay.
Step 2
MELT CHOCOLATE
If chocolate is not already melted, melt it over a bain-marie. Since we are using less heated cream, and more room temperature champagne, we don’t want to chance the chocolate not melting completely.
Step 3
ADD BUTTER
This may be contrary to recipes you are used to, but since the Champagne is cool, adding the butter last may not allow it to melt as well. So add your butter into the melted chocolate, but no need to mix it.
Step 4
BOIL CREAM
Bring your cream to a boil. Not a rolling boil, and don’t let it boil for more than a couple seconds. Remove from heat.
Step 5
MIX
Pour cream over chocolate and butter, and stir/fold with a rubber spatula until completely mixed. You could use a whisk, but move it gently, don’t whisk it.
Step 6
ADD CHAMPAGNE
Now you can add your de-carbonated champagne. Mix it together well with a rubber spatula or whisk. Be sure to scrape the sides and bottom of bowl to get the chocolate and cream mixture incorporated into the champagne.
Step 7
EMERSION BLEND
If you want a very well mixed and emulsified ganache, with a smooth texture, you will want to emersion blend it. You don’t have to
Step 8
ADD TO SHELLS
This ganache will evaporate a lot as it sets. Therefore, you will want to fill your bonbon or truffle shells higher than normal if you don’t want to have such a thick cap.