How to Make Chocolate Ganache

What is Chocolate Ganache?

Ganache is a French word for "chocolate sauce." It is a very versatile chocolate frosting or filling that can be used for cakes, cupcakes, and other desserts. Ganache can be made with dark, milk, or white chocolate. The most important thing to remember when making ganache is to use high-quality chocolate. In this blog post, we will show you how to make chocolate ganache using different types of chocolate.

Ingredients

• Chocolate: You can use semi-sweet chocolate (recommended), bittersweet chocolate, milk chocolate, or white chocolate.
• Heavy Cream or Heavy Whipping Cream: Do not use half-and-half, whole milk, or any other liquid because the ganache won’t set up properly. For a non-dairy alternative, use canned coconut milk

When making homemade ganache, you need a 1:1 ratio of cream to chocolate.

Recipe

1. Chop Chocolate into small pieces. If you remember our post, How to Temper Chocolate, the smaller the pieces, the better it will melt.
2. Place chopped chocolate into a heat-proof glass or metal bowl.  Choose a glass or metal bowl that is large enough to easily stir the chocolate as it melts. Make sure the bowl is dry, as any water droplets can cause the chocolate to seize and become lumpy.
3. Heat cream on the stovetop until it begins to simmer, just below boiling point. Any hotter and it may cause the chocolate to seize and become grainy and could separate or even burn the chocolate. 
4. Pour cream over chocolate. Once you see little simmers around the edges, turn off the heat and immediately pour the warm cream over the chocolate. 
5. Let the two sit for a few minutes before stirring.
6. Stir until smooth.

After mixing the chocolate and heated cream, use the ganache immediately as a fruit dip or pour on top of cakes, cupcakes, pound cakes, ice cream, and other desserts. However, after roughly 2 hours of cooling, the ganache may be scooped with a spoon, spread onto pastries, or piped with piping tips.

Conclusion

So, there you have it. Our recipe for the perfect chocolate ganache. We hope you’ll give it a try and let us know how it turns out. Happy baking!