Just like anything keto, keto ganache is not as simple as regular ganache. I tested 3 different brands of keto chocolate and 12 different varieties within those 3 brands. And because unlike regular chocolate which is all pretty much made of the same simple ingredients, all the keto chocolates have different ingredients and act differently when making a ganache. So below are my finding for the 3 main varieties of keto chocolates I tested. And all the tips and tricks with working with any chocolate, regular or keto.
This is all about ganache, I have some truffle recipes on my channel already and I have everal videos all about melting keto chocolate.
Ferrero Rocher Truffles- https://youtu.be/sv5W-qgNPC4
Cookies & Cream Truffles- https://youtu.be/Q47cwEsZ4ts
Chocolate Covered Strawberries- https://youtu.be/9k5c0kuVNSQ
Hot Cocoa Bombs- https://youtu.be/PRCI77HBGqs
A regular ganache is usually a 1:1 by weight chocolate and heavy cream usually using a high quality a bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate. With any chocolate you never want to overheat, whenever I work with chocolate I always use 50% power on my microwave and never heat for longer than 30 seconds. A ganache is simply chocolate and heavy cream, some recipes have added ingredient like butter and extracts. I didn't use butter in any of the tests so they were all the same. Extracts can be added but you just have to know what to do if the ganache ceases or ends up looking separated. Chocolate can only take so much liquid so adding some may cease the chocolate but adding a little more a little at a time will turn it back into a smooth shiny ganache again. If you aren't adding extracts you may need to add a tiny bit of warm cream a little at a time until it smooths out.
With all the different keto chocolates, they all have different ingredients and therefore different sweetness levels and different carb counts. I tend to like to buy the lower carb count chocolate and then I can add my own sweetness using liquid stevia. But again that can cause the ganache to separate so you may need to fix it with cream. You can also use flavored stevia to make flavored ganache.
Ganache can be used for several things. You can cover an entire cake in ganache, in that case you would want a thinner ganache, adding a little extra warm cream until it is shiny and thin enough around 100 degrees to spread across the whole cake, I have a tutorial on how to do this in this video- https://youtu.be/ZaL9N-L7p78 . You can just drip a border around the edge of a cake, for that you would like a thicker ganache, if you use a dark chocolate it will be thick when doing a one for one by weight. All keto ganache seems to work at a warmer temperature on a room temperature cake or a frozen cake. For refrigerated cakes I've had the ganache crack on me after pouring and returning the cake to the fridge, still haven't mastered it exactly. I also just make a quick small batch to pour on top of ice cream as a chocolate sauce. When heating the cream for ganache you just want the edges bubbling and to see steam. You can do this on the stove or in the microwave but temperature should be between 140-160 degrees. Pour over the chocolate chips and make sure all the chips are submerged, cover and let sit for 5 minutes before starting to whisk. All the chips still may not melt, in that case heat for 10 second intervals on 50% power in the microwave.
For Valentine's Day I use ganache to make truffle fillings. All the different brands act differently when trying to make ganache for truffles. But if I don't cover one in this post just know you can always reheat and add more chips if the solid ganache isn't able to be scooped and rolled into a truffle center. Just remember the rules if the ganache ceases and to never overheat the chocolate. You don't want the ganache runny to make truffle centers, you want it the consistency of a thick sauce once all melted. The thicker the ganache the more solid the truffle center. The thinner the ganache the softer the truffle center will be, if too soft it won't be able to be rolled and dipped.
Choczero chips are my least favorite chip just because of the flavor and consistency when melted. They are a favorite among people whom can't have sugar alcohols because they are all sweetened with monkfruit extract. But they all contain Non GMO resistant dextrin which can cause some peoples blood sugar to spike. To me the milk and peanut butter chips have a fruity flavor that I don't prefer and don't taste that much like chocolate or peanut butter. I do like the flavor of the white chocolate chips but they need much more than equal parts to make a scoopable truffle center. The milk chocolate needed a lot more and was still a strange texture once solid, almost like it would never be solid. Even when I just eat the milk chocolate chips they are soft and stick in my teeth. The peanut butter I don't feel like it has enough peanut butter flavor to overpower the fruity flavor I taste. I believe the dark chocolate choczero chips would work for a truffle center because most do because there isn't milk in dark chocolate, I just ran out of those and they take a few weeks to delivery. This is the only brand I tested that you can't find in Walmart near me in Buffalo, NY. But I did get a good deal on them through choczeros website. Many that I bought were on sale. All in all I don't suggest the choczero peanut butter, white or milk for truffle centers. I do like the white chocolate to dunk candies and truffles in and I use them all to bake in my cookies and brownies.
Baked believe is another brand of keto chocolate chips. I believe the first readily available in stores until Lily's started showing up in stores. This brand is cheaper and has decent ingredients and similar carb counts to most. The dark and semi-sweet have 1 Net Carb per half ounce and the milk and white have 2 per 1/2 ounce. They also have a melting wafer that is 3 g net carbs for 1 ounce and it tastes amazing. All of these chocolate worked with using one part chocolate to one part cream to make truffle centers, the dark of course was thicker than the milk and semi-sweet but they were all scoopable and rollable to dunk in chocolate. You can work with them to get the consistency you prefer for your truffle centers. Because of the sweetener, erythritol, there is a bit of grittiness from the erythritol crystallizing when it is heated and cooled. If you ganache something it will stay not crystallized for awhile, so I always suggest doing it the day of. I used baked believe white chocolate chips in a few recipes and wasn't a huge fan, I thought they were overly sweet. They may have changes since then because it has been a few years since I had them.
Lily's is by far my favorite brand, mostly because they have so many flavors to choose from and I like the taste. But they are usually the most expensive. But they have candy bar flavors and different chip flavors available in stores, mainly Walmart where I shop has tons of different flavors. The milk, dark and semi-sweet chips, along with the chocolate bars work well for truffle centers. The white chips, white chocolate bars and flavors are a little softer and need 1-1.5 ounces more chocolate per a 2 ounce batch of ganache. So I did 3-3.5 ounce of chips with 2 ounces of warm heavy cream to make a thick enough truffle center. Lily's milk and flavored chips have usually 2 g of net carbs per 1/2 ounce and the dark and semi-sweet have 1 g net carbs per half ounce. Lily's will also crystallize when heated and cooled because of the erythritol. Minimal heating to too high of a temperature will mitigate some of the crystallization.
Amazon Affiliate Links for products I use and items I regularly buy on Amazon: If you want to support my channel in a small way by buying ingredients you already use or need by clicking my links, I'd really appreciate it. I get a few cents per purchase which could really help with all the testing I do, to make these recipes the best possible.
Portion Scoops - https://amzn.to/3nAKgnD
Mini candy molds- https://amzn.to/3gQwSKF
Silicon spatulas- https://amzn.to/3u8rQNw
Silicon whisks- https://amzn.to/3ujOMtn
Scale - https://amzn.to/339tsKN
Infrared Thermometer - https://amzn.to/3awzMQB
Mini Offset Spatula - https://amzn.to/3e4i09O
Pyrex measuring cups - https://amzn.to/2QIcd0J
Pyrex bowls- https://amzn.to/3t4sKcj
Restaurant 10 in Spatulas- https://amzn.to/3Tq1ALd
Restaurant 14 inch Spatula- https://amzn.to/3VUalP3
Icing Spatula Set- https://amzn.to/3FavezS
Colored Portion Scoops - https://amzn.to/3VX0fNF
1 Tbs., 2 Tbs., 3 Tbs. Portion Scoop- https://amzn.to/3f3YUDT
Instant espresso powder- https://amzn.to/3xEdRkL
SweetLeaf Sweet Drops Liquid Stevia Sweetener, Vanilla Creme, 2 Ounce https://amzn.to/2PEGcWU Sweetleaf Sweet Drops Liquid Sweetener, Caramel - https://amzn.to/3CMJ0WP
Peppermint stevia- https://amzn.to/2S7UlfY
Lily's Dark Chocolate Chips - https://amzn.to/3esZ6c7
Lily's Milk Chocolate Chips- https://amzn.to/3Shgvcm
Lily's White Chocolate Chips- https://amzn.to/3tGmMFe
Liquid Stevia - https://amzn.to/3nGEReD
Cherry extract - https://amzn.to/3oQHLOE
Orange Extract - https://amzn.to/2SSDaQn
Keto Sprinkles - https://amzn.to/3dj5gLo
Luster Dust- https://amzn.to/48YaSpf
(As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases)
Lily's Milk, Dark and Semi-Sweet Chips and Bars Ganache for truffles
4 oz. heavy Cream
4 oz. Chocolate Chips
Lily's white chocolate chips and flavored chips
4 oz. heavy cream
6-7 oz. Chips
Baked Believe Milk, Dark and Semi-Sweet Chips
4 oz. heavy cream
4 oz. chips
Choczero milk chocolate chips
4 oz. heavy cream
8-10 oz. chocolate chips
Choczero peanut butter chips
4 oz. heavy cream
6 oz. peanut butter chips
Choczero white chocolate chips
4 oz. heavy cream
6-7 oz. Chocolate chips
Choczero Dark I think will be fine as a 1:1 ratio of chocolate to heavy cream
All recipes will make between 12 and 18 1 ounce truffles, if using the little heart mold it will be 24-30 small truffles
Macros all depend on the chocolate but always weight the chocolate you use to coat so you can get an accurate amount of actual chocolate used.
To coat a whole cake you would need 12 ounces total of a thinner ganache, so 6 ounces heavy cream, 6 ounces chocolate chips, more heavy if needed. For the ganache torte I used Lily's semi-sweet chips and it was the right consistency to pour. For just dripping I make a 4-6 ounce batch of ganache 2-3 ounces heavy cream, 2-3 ounce chips.
If you would like to support the channel in some way or thank me for the recipes and work I do there are several links below you can use.
Also for any questions you can find my email address or contact me through my website.
I have a PO box for anyone interested in sending things also.
Buy Me a Coffee- http://buymeacoffee.com/ketoupgrade
Perfect Keto Link: https://perfectketo.com/KETOUPGRADECHEF
Code for 20% off- KETOUPGRADECHEF
Ketoupgrade is a participant in the Perfect Keto Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Perfect Keto. As an Perfect Keto Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
I created a patreon account. I have many ideas for the future of this channel and maybe even creating my own keto line of desserts at some point. I'm going to be posting some inspirational stuff over there along with more information about my life, past, present and future. I'm excited to take this extra step and do some extra content for supporters. Some behind the scenes of my recipe testing successes and fails alike. Maybe even some merch down the line! If you would like to support me and this channel, please consider becoming a patron.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/KetoUpgrade
Address:
Alycia J Distefano
P. O. Box 56
Derby, NY 14047
Instagram-@Ketoupgradechef https://www.instagram.com/ketoupgradechef/?hl=en
Reddit-u/KetoUpgrade https://www.reddit.com/user/KetoUpgrade
Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/Keto-Upgrade-101196711864226
Business Inquires:
Keto Upgrade e-mail - ketoupgrade.info@gmail.com
Comentarios