Cream cheese style white ganache (no need to refrigerate)

Hi all,

This is a recipe I made up to go with the last wedding cake which I made, which was red velvet. I didn’t want to use a perishable filling like cream cheese bc because I could never fit such a large cake in my fridge, and wanted the structural stability of ganache because it is such a tall cake. The use of creme fraiche as opposed to regular cream is what makes this recipe magic, the subtle tartness making it much more like real cream cheese has been used – but as it has been heated almost to boiling I found no issues with perishability in leaving it at room temperature for a week. My other half liked it so much I gave him a bowlful on its own, and the bride and and her family loved it with the cake. Hope you find this useful.

• 1.2 kg white chocolate, broken into chunks
• 350g creme fraiche (or sour cream, but you may need to adjust the chocolate ratio if the fat content is higher)
• 10ml LorAnn cream cheese flavouring (if you only have the 1 dram bottle, use the whole thing)

Heat the cream in a microwave proof bowl until very hot, but not boiling (as it has a tendency to explode everywhere as soon as you put a spoon in. Yes, this happened to me). Please note, this seems to be much quicker for creme fraiche than regular cream. Stir in the flavouring then pour on top of the chocolate. Give the mixture a shake, then microwave in 30 second intervals, shaking well between, until the chocolate chunks have almost submerged. Stir until all the lumps are gone, nuking once more if required, then allow to cool. Use to fill or cover, as you would any other ganache. Or, just eat it as it is :)