Ganache yes or no?

Good question. Here’s a thread I found

http://www.cakecentral.com/t/760066/do-you-make-ganache-the-day-before-and-store-it-in-fridge-or-room-temp

I think it depends in the recipe you use and it is my understanding that if you use a 2 parts chocolate to one part double/heavy cream is is ok for it not to be refrigerated. I’m not a 100% sure why this ratio ok! I think it is because of the higher coco butter content to cream fats but if anyone knows more technical details, I would be interested to hear them.

I’ve left a cake with white chocolate ganache out for a week without issue, but perhaps because I use a 3.5:1 ratio. As i understand the sugar helps preserve it, and boiling the cream (or heating very near boiling) sterilises it, and the ganache was covered in fondant after a day so being protected from the air probably helped too. I’ve kept room temp ganache of this and 2.5:1 dark chocolate out for almost a day as I worked with it again without a problem… Any longer is outside my experience. Hope that info helps xx

I was worried about the same thing with my ganache so I had it tested in a lab. When the test came back, they said it had potential to form bacteria (no time frame given, that would cost $1,000 fo them to tell me that!) S.aureus is the main concern. The minimum AW (water activity that is responsible for creating Bacteria) in which bacteria can grow is .083. Mine was 0.847. It was therefore recommended that I increase the solids ie, chocolate and reduce the amount of liquid ie, cream. The recipe I had tested was 450g chocolate to 160g cream. I have now reduced the amount of cream and I am confident that it no longer poses a risk. I would have liked to know the time frame in which this bacteria form but not at that cost. Sorry about the technical answer, but it was helpful to me to understand how it all works. Hope this helps. Lorene

I don’t have an answer except my Planet Cake books say a ganached cake is fine for 4days or something similar. I never use 2:1 and only use 3:1 or up to 4:1

Thank you all x x x