Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

Hi there,

I successfully made Paul’s dark choc cake swapping out buttermilk and replacing with coconut milk soured slightly with lemon juice, but I am now facing the ganache production to both fill, and ice the cake with. I used the leftover coconut milk to trial using that with 2:1 choc:milk ratio with dark chocolate, but it did seem rather soft. Would coconut cream be a better replacement than the milk?

My friend prefers to avoid milk proteins as in liquid milk products, but says she is OK with chocolate 🙂

Any experience or advice much appreciated.

Hi BennyMcS

Using a higher ratio of chocolate with coconut cream will yield better results. Instead of 2:1 ratio use 3:1 and as higher fat as possible in the coconut cream. If it still remains a little on the soft side, gently whip the ganache with an immersion blender for a few seconds to thicken it up. Keep the blender in the ganache while whipping so as not to aerate it.

Thank you so much madeitwithlove 🙂 Had to google immersion blender- turns out I do actually have one in the cupboard! phew! Todays the day for ganaching, and finishing off tomorrow on party day with tempered chocolate paintbrush strokes. Couldn’t have done it without Paul’s tutorials; how to make cake; how to ganache cake; how to stack cake!..and you swiftly answering my query, thank you.

Final hurdle in sight, good luck!! I hope everything goes to plan. Looking forward to hearing back from you 🙂