How to Ganache a Square Cake with Sharp Corners~ Video
In this cake video tutorial, I'm going to demonstrate how to frost a square cake with ganache...and how to sharpen up those edges & corners! ;0)
I just LOVE ganache. It tastes fabulous, it can be smoothed to a flawless finish, and when making a fondant covered cake, it provides the perfect foundation.
Square cakes do not have to have the super sharp edges that you see in our tutorial--I think that cakes with softer corners are beautiful also.
However, since the sharp corners are a little more tedious, and a little more sought after these days, we wanted to demonstrate the technique for you.
The cake that you'll see in this tutorial will eventually be covered with fondant in another tutorial of ours. You can find it here: How to Cover a Square Cake with Fondant
Also, make sure to check out our Materials list below. We hope that you enjoy the video!
Table of Contents
Materials
- Three 6 inch square cake layers (White Almond Sour Cream Recipe)
- Foam Core Cake Board, approximately ¼ inch larger than the size of the cake on each side. (Ours was a 6 ¼ inch board, but our cake layers shrunk to a little under 6" during baking). Use a board that is approximately ¼-1/2 inch thick.
- Bench Scraper-One that has a handle that is not wider than your edge. (Mine has a curled handle which is nice)
- Turntable- Optional but always helpful!
- Simple, Spreadable Ganache- We used a 2:1 ratio of dark chocolate (60% cocoa) to heavy cream.
- Spatula for spreading the ganache
- Right Angle Straight Edge- Optional
- Pot of hot water to heat your bench scraper
- Bubble Level- Optional
Notes
Remember to check out our Simple Spreadable Ganache post in the Recipes section for preparation details & additional notes! When using white or milk chocolate, you'll need to use at least a 3:1 ratio of chocolate to cream.
This technique for applying ganache to a square cake does take some practice and patience, but it is not difficult once you get the hang of it! It may take a few tries before it comes naturally, but don't give up ;0)!
** There are a couple of popular blog tutorials that are so creative and well done when it comes to techniques on getting smooth cakes with sharp corners.
One is a tutorial by Jeff Arnett which you can find HERE on Cake Central.
The other is a very cool technique as featured on Not Quite Nigella's blog as taught to her by decorator Faye Cahill. You can see it HERE! With this method, you would have a board both on top and bottom to guide you. I hope you'll experiment and find what works best for you!
Can you show us how to plastic wrap cakes after filling? You mention that you did so in the first few seconds of the video.
I have seen some videos where decorators plastic wrap iced cakes, I never understand how that is possible.
Please explain.
Hi Bee-- Thanks for your question. If you click the link below and skip forward to the 13:10 mark, I show applying plastic wrap and a "weight" (a book) to a cake which then settles overnight. The same would apply in this case, except I did not crumb coat. I only filled the layers. The plastic wrap keeps the cake from drying out.
If you add plastic wrap to a frosted cake, you would either wait until the cake is crusted if it is a crusting buttercream, or you would chill the cake for a few minutes, then cover with plastic wrap and return to the fridge. Hope this helps! It's important for the cakes to settle before applying the final coat of frosting so that you don't have bulging issues later.
Great video as always, Melissa! I love working with ganache. My only question is did you cut the foam core board yourself? If so, how did you get it so straight? I don’t think I could do that. Do we ever get to see the mysterious BeBe? Love her voice ☺
Hi Donna, I cut the foam core and it is a smooth cut because I have a mat cutter, I used to frame pictures. Of course, not many people have that and foam core is difficult to cut. Here are 2 links that I hope will help you, the one using the sewing machine is very interesting.
Is there a difference between frosting with ganache or buttercream (a pure butter no shortening one)?
I have never used ganache before and with heating the bench scraper it seems to work well. With a coloured buttercream I notice when I heat my bench scraper then the colour fades where heated. How can I avoid this or use this method with a coloured buttercream? Thanks
never used a ganache before. Can't wait to try it. Thanks for this video.
Hi there, thank you so much for the fabulous video. I have my first wedding cake due next week and it happens to be a three tier square cake!!! I'm a little worried about achieving the sharp edges, but I'm going to give it a try.... I'm just wondering with your chocolate ganache recipe used in the video, can I use Hershey's pure semi-sweet chocolate chips? Thanks
Carol
Hi Carol, I haven't tried Hershey's. We get best results when using a chocolate that has at least 53 % cocoa. I have used Ghirardelli baking chips that is 60 % cacao and also chocolate from Trader Joe's ( hope one is near you) that is called Pound Plus dark chocolate. If Hershey's has that percentage cocoa (or more) you should be fine. Always let the ganache come to room temperature on its own, trying to speed up the process with refrigeration always causes problems for us. Good luck with your cake.
how mcug ganush do you need to cover a 8 inch cake how much chocolate do i need
where do you get the foamcoare board
Hi Sarah, if you are making a 3 layer 8 inch round cake you will need 7 ounces of ganache per layer....that would be 21 ounces of ganache. Using the 2 to 1 ratio (2 parts chocolate to 1 part heavy cream) to make ganache.......you would use 14 ounces dark chocolate to 7 ounces heavy cream.
Foam core can be found at craft stores also online. It is difficult to cut but you could have it cut at an art shop, you could also buy it there but it may be more expensive. Look above to a post I made on Feb. 9th. I post links to cutting foam core.
Hi melissa - i see you use 54% drk choc , is it ok to use 74% as i cant get seem to find 54% ??
Thanks
Anne marie x