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Hi, iv noticed that most cakes that are ganached are chocolate cakes so chocolate ganache is used. If making a vanilla sponge which ganeache is best, dark, milk or white choc or do i play it safe and use the good old vanilla buttercream? Or maybe you dont ganache a vanilla sponge in general? Any help at all welcome please 🙂

Hi lillyc

You can use which ever ganache you like, it is personal preference. I like to use white vanilla flavoured ganache with vanilla cake. If you don’t want to buy the ready flavoured vanilla white chocolate add some vanilla extract to the ganache or boil up a vanilla pod with the cream and let it infuse for a couple of hours. Remove the pod, scrape out the pod, re boil the cream and make the ganache, add the scraped out bean paste to the ganache. I also use a little sharp raspberry jam or lemon curd in the sponge filling to bring a little tartness to off set the sweetness of the white chocolate which can be a little sickly on it’s own. Again that’s personal preference you don’t have to.

Thank you very much for this. Can i just ask, is it more common to use buttercream or ganache for a vanilla cake? Which is easier to store if u am covering it with fondant i.e. does a white choc ganached cake need to be refridgerated after applying fondant since it contains cream?
Thanks in advance 🙂

Ganache is a lot easier. It doesn’t need to be refrigerated after fondant is applied because the chocolate changes the nature of the cream making it stable. Ganache sets much firmer than buttercream so you’ll get a sharper finish. I don’t think using ganache with vanilla cake is any less common than using butter cream, most people who start using ganache find they have no need to return to butter cream unless they have request for it. If you need help with ganache quantities this chart may help http://www.cakeflix.com/blog/how-to-ganache-cakes-without-gnashing-your-teeth

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply its much appreciated. I think i will give the ganache a go (for the first time) 🙂

You’re welcome and you’ll be fine. Have a little read of the blog in the above link for a few tips. x

Most of my customers still want vanilla cake with jam and buttercream but if its something that really needs to be ganached, like a handbag cake, but they don’t want chocolate cake then I use vanilla cake with dark chocolate ganache and its yummy!