Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A
Ganache – environmental health
Just had a post on another forum that said her environmental health officer has said that ganache must be kept in the fridge – even after the cake has been covered and decorated!! (which is obviously bad for sugarpaste!). They said ganache could only be left out for 4 hours. Obviously Paul leaves ganached cakes out a lot longer than this, as I have in the past and it’s always been fine. Someone else commented that their environmental health officer said it was fine as the cream has been boiled! Any one know of any where we can find a definitive?! I really hope we can all carry on using it as we have done!
Just had a post on another forum that said her environmental health officer has said that ganache must be kept in the fridge – even after the cake has been covered and decorated!! (which is obviously bad for sugarpaste!). They said ganache could only be left out for 4 hours. Obviously Paul leaves ganached cakes out a lot longer than this, as I have in the past and it’s always been fine. Someone else commented that their environmental health officer said it was fine as the cream has been boiled! Any one know of any where we can find a definitive?! I really hope we can all carry on using it as we have done!
Hi musicrach
Ganache is fine left out at room temperature. This article may be of interest to you http://en.allexperts.com/q/Food-Safety-Issues-767/2011/3/Food-safety-Cake-Icings.htm. If you’re concerned you can double boil the cream ie, boil, remove from the heat until the bubbles die down then boil again, cool to approximately 70c and use to melt the chocolate This process re pastureizes the cream. Combine the cream and chocolate gently without incorporating too much air into the mixture. Since air carries spores it can cause moulding in too warm environment. Ganche which has been whisked should definitely be treated as fresh cream and kept refrigerated.
Hope this information helps.
