# Chocolate ganache cracking



## ivyka (Dec 10, 2014)

Hello all!

I made a sour cherry curd tart with a dark chocolate ganache on top (50% heavy cream : 50% dark chocolate). The first day it looked great, the ganache was smooth and no cracks were visible. The next day the ganache on top of the curd cracked and had wet spots...I made this tart for the first time and I do not know what went wrong.

Does ganache crack because of the fridge? Or is it the moisture from the curd that ruined my ganache? The tart is still very tasty but the presentation is not that nice. 

I also made two shapes of the tart. One was round and the other was a classic fluted shape. The one with the fluted shape cracked more and the round one did not crack that much..is this also a factor?

Thank you in advance for your answers


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

You need some flexibility in your ganache.  Try subbing 10-15% cornsyrup or honey in place of the cream


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## lagom (Sep 5, 2012)

When you use the honey does the flavor come thru?


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## canele (Apr 7, 2015)

Ivyka said:


> Hello all!
> 
> I made a sour cherry curd tart with a dark chocolate ganache on top (50% heavy cream : 50% dark chocolate). The first day it looked great, the ganache was smooth and no cracks were visible. The next day the ganache on top of the curd cracked and had wet spots...I made this tart for the first time and I do not know what went wrong.
> 
> ...


several things... the cracking is becasue there is to much chocolate in the ganache which is making it not soft enough.

try using a 60 /40 mix of cream to chocolate

add in a few tablespoons of butter

and yes.. having a wet base under the ganache will have gotten you a nice few wet spots.


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## ivyka (Dec 10, 2014)

Thank you for your comments, I will definitely try your suggestions in the future


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## pastrypassion (Apr 8, 2010)

There is nothing wrong with a 1 to 1 ratio of heavy cream to chocolate.  There are many factors that can contribute to ganache cracking.  If however, you just want to fix it... save some ganache the next time, apply it once.. let it settle and let the curd/crust do its expansion and contraction... and then apply another layer over the top.  There is going to be shrinkage/expansion/moisture etc.  I also use a torch to make that ganache shine and it melts a tiny bit and makes any imperfections disappear.


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## remi love (Apr 9, 2015)

Hello my name is Michael I was a pastry chef and went to school for pastry now that thats out of the way, Ganache is a simple recipe chocolate , cream and some sugar occasionally and occasionally real butter to give it a good finish . Everything in Pastry arts is a formula I was told to be good a pastry chef  you need to be keen to the fact pastry is all really food chemistry and ganache is no different. It is cracking most likely because your fat content is to low . Fat  adds flexibility and finish to your final product. I would first add maybe add 15 to 20 % more cream to your recipe go slow radical changes can ruin a recipe. Second chocolate is really a crystalline structure and it can only hold so much liquid like cream or milk or it will crack and or separate . While I'm thinking of it are you using heavy cream or milk ?? This would make a massive difference in your finale product . Heavy cram has a way higher fat content than milk and could be your problem. Milk is way higher in water than heavy cream. You could add a bit of sugar dissolved in heavy cream this will help add moisture as sugar does in other recipes as well. And finally add a bit of butter when warm stir constantly and slow it has to be real highest fat content butter you can get if you have access to plugra get it  , and the fat content has to be high . It will not only add flexibilty to your pastry cream, but it will add richness in flavor and will give it a crazy good sheen and shine to it once it sets.

The last thing is what kind of chocolate are you using? This is massive in this type of thing chocolate chips from a grocery store are junk , maybe you could get away with the bars of 60 or 70 % stuff from lindt or the other kind in stores if your using chocolate chips the problem is they dont have a high enough fat content to serve you in your recipe so in this case I add more heavy cream and a bit of butter in the end maybe 5-15 % butter like a a table spoon per QT of ganache . Well I'm all tapped out on this one so good luck and dont be afraid to experiment these recipes are not carved in stone you just need to think about the chemistry of a recipe.  My last thought is always in pastry use the highest quality chocolate you can get your hands on if you have a whole food market or a store you can order things from place an order for the best chocolate you can afford and make a recipe containing chocolate you are very familiar with and see the difference for your self premium chocolate is premium for a reason. Look it will be expensive but will serve you in the long run I was making recipes with supermarket chocolate after I got out of the bizz so for S+G's I ordered a half flake 5.5 lbs of Calbaeu i cant spell it my guest were floored at the way my molten chocolates were coming out you will not be disapointed as well you will probably see that a lot of your problems with recipes with chocolate will disappear. Mike


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

Remi Love said:


> . Fat adds flexibility and finish to your final product.
> 
> Second chocolate is really a crystalline structure and it can only hold so much liquid like cream or milk or it will crack and or separate .


Eh..no. Fat is a solid when cold and is crystalline in structure and it will crack--remember couverture is well over 40% fat, in the form of cocoa butter. Cream is 33-38% butterfat. If you want flexibility, you need to add corn syrup or honey. The cheaper glazes use gelatin or food gums to achieve this

Eh...no. _Chocolate_ is not a crystalline structure. Chocolate is a partial suspension of solids (cocoa solids, sugar) and fat (cocoa butter). Chocolate can "hold" inordinate amounts of milk or water (i.e hot chocolate, chocolate milk, hot cocoa) and will never separate, but ganache will separate if the fat content is too high. A good way to bring back a split ganache is to add hot water (coffee, tea, or just plain water) or booze, lowering the overall fat content, giving you a stable emulsification.

Hope this clarifies things up....


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## ivyka (Dec 10, 2014)

I used heavy cream and good quality chocolate (57% Callebaut chocolate) so quality is definitely not the problem. I was thinking the same...about adding butter, doesn't butter go hard in the fridge? I will try adding honey next time and see how it goes because corn syrup is not available here in Slovenia.

Using a torch is also a good idea and I will definitely use it in the future. It is interesting that the ganache over the tart that was baked in the fluted tart shell cracked significantly more (it looked like a dessert) that the normal round tart (cracked around the pastry)...maybe this happened because of the surface differences?

This is how the tart looked like, the cracks were visible around the pastry only, I covered them with whipped cream 





  








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Anyway, thank you for you input


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## flipflopgirl (Jun 27, 2012)

@Ivyka chocolate can be a fickle mistress lol.
Your tarts look delish ( the curd is not runny in the least) and if you don't mind sharing I am interested in trying your cherry curd.
The plethora of cherries (last season) had me trying some new recipes.
So pulled a couple off the internet and was not happy with the end results at all.

There remains a couple of quart jars in the pantry and maybe one vacuum packed (pound) in the freezer.....perfect for practicing.
Would be great to have a recipe ready when the season rolls around again!

Thanks....
mimi

I have imagined using the curd in a parfait....

m.


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## ivyka (Dec 10, 2014)

@flipflopgirl Thanks,I was very happy with the taste and the texture of the curd.

The recipe I used is:

250g frozen sour cherries

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp lemon zest

2 Tbsp lemon juice

2 Tbsp water

2 large egg yolks

2 Tbsp cornstarch

1/8 tsp salt

1 Tbsp chilled unsalted butter, diced

For the curd, combine cherries, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and water in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Remove mixture from heat and let stand 5 minutes. Place in a food processor or blender; process until smooth. Strain mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl and discard solids.

Return strained mixture to pan. Whisk together egg yolks and cornstarch in a small bowl until smooth. Stir yolk mixture into cherry mixture; bring to a boil over medium-low heat. Cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly, then remove from heat (the mixture should coat the back of a spoon). Add salt and butter, one piece at a time, stirring until smooth. Place curd into a medium bowl; cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto the surface of the curd to prevent a skin from forming. Chill curd in the refrigerator at least 2 hours.


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## flipflopgirl (Jun 27, 2012)

mimi


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## remi love (Apr 9, 2015)

Chocolate IS a crystalline structure if is was not why do you need to temper it you do this to organize the structure of the crystals in the chocolate when it re hardens if you have tempered or Organized the crystalline structure properly it will lock in proper way . Chocolate can only handle so much liquid (pastry cream, water , juice, booze ) or then it cracks and becomes brittle hence when doing chocolate sculpture you add huge amounts of water and corn syrup getting it to become brittle and then you make a dough out of it and roll it out to form sheets when it completely hardens you have a stiff brittle structure . In the case of ganache if you add a fat like butter and or a less tasty fat shortening it makes it more flexible in structure lessening the chance of it becoming brittle and cracking . If you use quality chocolate and a solid proven recipe you should not have this problem ever unless you have futzed with the formula to begin with in my whole career I probably have made 3 bad batches a ganache its all about the recipe when you look at it it should tell you how it will come out but occasionally things happen and you get a bad batch. The best over all insurance policy with chocolate recipes is coco butter and it tastes great !


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

Mmmm.... My experience tells me that if you want flexibility in a ganache, you add corn syrup or honey to it. Some of the places Ive worked at, we had a ganache that was poured on the cake, then frozen, then shipped to a ferry line. Two weeks in the box and the ganache still shone. 

If you add more fat than the emulsion can handle, (ganache is an emulsion) it will separate. In all my years, I ve never made a modeling chocolate with water in it, though


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