I tried making "Dark and Stormies" out of Greweling's book (Chocolate and Confections). The center is a white chocolate ganache infused with vanilla and ginger and with rum. Both times I tried it, the ganache came out grainy or almost spongy in appearance.
I've never had this problem with ganache (although I'm aware that it is very common). I've also never used Greweling's technique for ganache. It has two primary differences:
- The chocolate has to be tempered prior to using it for the ganache.
- The chocolate is melted at 86 F (for white chocolate) before the cream is added.
Normally, I would use chopped up unmelted chocolate and pour hot cream over it. I wanted to try Geweling's method, though.
Attempt 1:
I know the chocolate was over heated (probably to around 130-140) during tempering, but the chocolate didn't show any signs of burning.
Attempt 2:
This time the chocolate was kept at the right temperature. I also stirred the ganache slightly less. The result seems to be better, but still separated.
Thanks!