The Inspiration for Beer Ganache
Recently I’ve gone down the rabbit hole of beer ganache, playing with different ratios. Since I couldn’t find any recipes that I liked, I thought I’d work out my own recipe for beer ganache. It all started a few months ago when I was hired to cater the holiday party for one of our local breweries, Olde Mother. I wanted to incorporate beer into as many recipes as I could. For dessert, I wanted to make a Stout Brownie Sundae and have a stout ganache on top. I wasn’t sure where to start with the ganache. Did I need both beer and cream? Thankfully, I had a great conversation with pastry chef Charmaine McFarlane on Twitter. She had just posted a link to an article on water-based ganache. This was a great place to start. We continued the conversation, and I was able to work out a few ratios I was happy with.
The challenge was getting the texture right, and being able to taste the beer. A dark chocolate ganache will set up more firmly than a milk chocolate one, but it will also mask the flavor of the beer more. Because I would be serving the ganache warm, this wasn’t going to be much of an issue. If I were rolling truffles, which I’m getting ready to do this week, I’d need a firmer ganache. For all of the recipes, I used a ratio of 2:1 chocolate to beer by weight. Below you’ll find 3 variations of my recipe for beer ganache.
Three Recipes for Ganache Made with Beer
70/30 Dark/Milk- Ghiradelli 60% Chocolate 280 g, Ghiradelli Milk Chocolate 120 g & Olde Mother Oatmeal Stout 200 g
70/30 Milk/Semisweet- Ghiradelli Milk Chocolate 280 g, Ghiradelli Semisweet Chocolate 120 g & Black Flag Brunch Chocolate/Coffee/Oatmeal Stout 200 g
50/50 Milk/Semisweet- Ghiradelli Milk Chocolate 200 g, Ghiradelli Semisweet Chocolate 200 g & Firestone Walker Mocha Merlin Coffee-Infused Oatmeal Stout 200 g
Heat beer on the stove over low heat until lightly simmering. Turn off the heat and add in the chocolate, letting it sit without stirring for 10 minutes. Stir the chocolate to incorporate. If necessary, turn the stove on very low to heat the mixture. Allow to cool to room temperature and store in the fridge.
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