Emulsions, broken and repaired

January 31, 2011 17 Comments

This weekend, my husband, knowing how I feel about working with chocolate, suggested we make a batch of chocolates in order to get more experience. The result was these Dark and Stormy truffles. The centre, from Peter Greweling’s Chocolates and Confections, is a white chocolate ganache flavoured with vanilla, ginger, lime zest and Gosling’s Black Seal rum.

Well, tempering the dark chocolate for dipping went well, though we still need to figure out how to minimize bubbles in the chocolate. But we ran into a different problem: our ganache broke.

You see, ganache is a fat-in-water emulsion, much like hollandaise sauce. And, like hollandaise sauce, if the ratio of fat to water gets too high, the fat (in this case a blend of butterfat and cocoa butter) will separate out, and you’ll be left with a mixture that’s oily rather than creamy.

Fortunately, it was easily fixed, thanks to the advice in Chocolates and Confections. First, we tried simply re-warming it and stirring. When that failed, we added some warm milk, bit by bit, to increase the amount of water in the mix. Slowly, the ganache came back together. When it no longer seemed oily, we poured it into a frame and continued with the recipe. It worked perfectly, providing further proof that a broken emulsion isn’t the end of the world!

Have you ever successfully saved a broken emulsion?

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17 Responses to “Emulsions, broken and repaired”

  1. Rachel January 31, 2011 at 2:07 pm

    OMG those look AMAZINGLY YUMMY.

  2. Matthew Kayahara January 31, 2011 at 3:58 pm

    Thanks, Rachel! They are pretty yummy.

  3. Skip February 2, 2011 at 9:16 am

    Those look beautifully professional, Matthews!

    Yep, I’ve repaired a mayonaise and a Hollandaise more often than I’d like to admit. Almost always the problem was cause by my impatience wanting to add the fat too quickly.

  4. Jen February 4, 2012 at 11:50 am

    OMG, this fix totally worked! thanks so much for saving my ganache!!

  5. Ryan May 24, 2012 at 1:32 am

    Thanks. it worked for me too.

  6. Matthew Kayahara May 24, 2012 at 8:50 am

    Great to hear, Ryan!

  7. bec June 7, 2012 at 4:04 am

    awesome! i was starting to stress! thanks so much!!

  8. Alison June 15, 2012 at 6:06 am

    OMG Thank you thank you! I typed into google ‘help! my ganache is too oily’ after watching in dismay as my first ever ganache turned oily and very unappealing, and got your site straight away.
    Truly an emergancy for cooks, and after a 40km trip to get the ingredients, I was sooo grateful. The milk trick worked perfectly – thank you!
    BTW, your chocolates look amazing – I am a novice, and in awe. :)
    A
    xx

  9. Matthew Kayahara June 15, 2012 at 7:46 am

    Glad you were able to rescue it! And thanks for the kind words.

  10. Tamara July 22, 2012 at 5:07 pm

    i think my ganache broke because my butter wasn’t quite at room temp. I followed the advice, heated some cream in the microwave and it worked!! Thank you so much :)

  11. Matthew Kayahara July 23, 2012 at 7:34 pm

    Glad it worked for you! What were you making with the ganache?

  12. mel November 29, 2012 at 9:19 am

    THANK YOU!!! worked like a charm!!!! :) )

  13. Kate December 10, 2012 at 12:31 pm

    Hi, I warmed a little milk in the microwave and added it about a tablespoon at a time to my broken ganache. It only took two or three spoonfuls to fix it! Amazing! Many thanks!

  14. Sara December 23, 2012 at 3:24 pm

    Thank you! Your fix worked perfectly and just saved my daughter’s chocolate birthday cake! I was so disappointed when it split and gutted at the waste, but the warm milk saved the day. Thanks soooo much! :0)

  15. Kaye January 19, 2013 at 12:32 pm

    Hello! Can’t thank you enough for this lifesaver tip! I haven’t made ganache many times and it split BIG TIME! I added the warm milk a bit at a time and after some stiring it magically mended! AMAZING x

  16. Sarah February 11, 2013 at 4:40 pm

    You just completely saved the truffles I am sending to my boyfriend for valentine’s as I can’t be with him on the day. My ganache had never separated before and I had no clue what to do. Thank you so much, the milk worked like a charm!

  17. Josh April 6, 2013 at 5:16 pm

    My mousse was going to be destroyed until I saw this!

    Thank you!!! Thank you!!! Thank you!!! Thank you!!! Thank you!!!

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