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Hi, I have just had my third environmental health inspection which all went great, apart from the fact I told her I have now started to ganache my cakes (since watching Paul!). She has insisted that I will need a separate fridge to store the ganache (which is no problem) but that the finished cakes will then also need to be refrigerated – which would ruin the sugarpaste and decorations. Does anyone have any evidence/advice I can use to convince her that it is ok to leave them out? I really don’t want to stop using ganache! TIA

Hi helenabakes

I’ll try and answer your question and hopefully make some helpful suggestions. I’m not in business so not subject to the same level of constraints as someone who is.
The Food Standards Agency/Environmental health department gives a guide line of 2 days shelf life for dairy products and products which contain dairy at a cool room temperature. I haven’t been able to find any documentation from the FSA site which actually gives definite and specific guidance for ganache (grey area). I’m not really sure how your inspector has been able to make assessment that ganache specifically used in cake decorating has to be refrigerated all the time. The shelf life of products is determined by many factors and not just by the ingredients. Factors such as home handling of the food product, cleanliness of equipment, freshness of ingredients, ratios of ingredients used in formulation of recipes, the temperature food is manufactured and stored at, and how customers handle and store it once it has left the place of manufacture/ your home. This is by no means a comprehensive list, it goes on and on in minefield of jargon!
My suggestion would be to contact a food testing lab, eg one like this http://www.ils-limited.co.uk/ and ask them to run a food stability test for you. In my local area (South England) such a test costs £25.00. The information in the set link will give you an idea how the tests are run and what is expected from you. As you are in business any fees incurred would be tax deductable as business expense. This is the best solution I can offer for the present. I’m sorry I can’t help more. I have absolutely no problems with ganache, no one has ever been ill even though they’ve had cake sitting around for up to 10 days in an airtight container. I do use quite a bit of alcohol in my cakes and in ganache which helps act as preservative but I’m no micro biologist!!

I had a similar experience with ganache. I do not require a separate fridge just sensible precautions to avoid cross contamination. The ganache I have was actually tested at a ratio of 4:1 choc-just boiled cream and it was fine at room temp for the 2 days to decorate and then 2 days to cut, after which it was suggested refrigeration would be beneficial, but not essential, as microbial growth had been low. The report suggested ganache made at nearer a 2:1 ratio would need refrigeration.