As much as I love American fudge frosting, nothing beats the decadent, indulgent taste and texture of chocolate ganache. Made of pure chocolate and heavy cream, ganache is a chocolate lovers best friend. Its versatility as a glaze, decorative piping, and whipped cream answers the need for icing, frosting, and filling.
Below I have pictured 3 different ways to adorn cupcakes using the same recipe and batch I made yesterday. As a glaze, you can easily pour ganache over cakes for a nice smooth finish. If you are looking for a chocolate whipped filling, look no further. Just whip the ganache as you would heavy cream, making sure you mixing bowl and beater are nice and cold. And whatever you do, not put your ganache in the freezer with the hopes of whipping it. It will not whip and have a curdly like texture. For a thick frosting or decorative piping, allow the ganache to cool for a truffle like texture. Anyway you decide to eat it, this ganache will satisfy your sweet tooth and chocolate cravings. Below are step by step photos to guide you. Enjoy!
Chocolate Ganache Recipe:
INGREDIENTS
8 ounces of chocolate, chopped into small pieces
1 cup heavy cream
*optional 3 tbl. of flavored liqueor
DIRECTIONS:
Place chocolate pieces in a large bowl. Heat heavy cream on medium high until it comes to a boil. Remove from heat and immediately pour cream over chocolate and stir until completely mixed and glossy. Allow ganache to cool before pouring over cakes as a glaze. The longer you allow the ganache to cool, the thicker it will set. Typically I stick mine in the refrigerator so it is slightly cold before whipping. For piping or frosting, allow the ganache to completely cool and set up. When you are able to spoon the ganache and it can hold its texture, it is ready for piping. Below are step by step photos to help you. Enjoy!
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{Related Post} Simple Caramel Sauce Recipe
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You have some serious piping skills! I have a party for 50 pp next week in the Hamptons so can i order 50 of each to be delivered on thursday, nice and pretty?
Gorgeous photography, Alice. I’d scoop up the whipped cupcake first (if Janet doesn’t beat me to it).
They all look beautiful, but that piped ganache looks decadent!
Very informative post, Alice!
Lovely. I’m all for a good ganache. I just usually end up putting a big sloppy dollop on mine and ends up a big mess. LOL.
I’ve always wondered what else you could do w/ ganache. PERFECT tutorial. Thanks for sharing. I’ll use this!
They all look great but I think I would love to try the whipped ganache the most. Yum!
I love Chocolate & I really love ganache ….this is amazing!!!!
I agree…BIG YES!! It’s the best, yummiest & easiest way to frost!
Wow…it looks so good! Thanks for recipe and for showing.
Hey. Nice picture. What should I do if i would wanna get the whipped consistency? Looking forward for your reply.
Very helpful, i love to frost my cakes with ganche, never whipped up though will try sometime
Your ganache looks wonderful… I will have to give your recipe a try! My ganache always turns out too runny. I definitely love the idea of whipping it and piping… I find piping to be a much faster method of icing things than using a spatula!
Not really sure why I’ve never thought to whip the ganache to get a good whipped frosting! Genious! Great idea!!!
Hi Janice,
It is the same exact process as whipping heavy cream. Just make sure the ganache is completely cooled and slighty cold. DO NOT put it in the freezer (it will get a curdle like consistency).. once it has reached room temperature, stick it in the fridge for 15-20 minutes. Using a cold mixing bowl and beaters, whip just as you would heavy cream. Enjoy!!
Alice
To Everyone Else: Thanks for your sweet comments. I hope this post will help you in your baking adventures. So many of you left comments about the whipped ganache. This makes excellent cake filling. You can use it for frosting too!
Must.have.chocolate.now.
Great post! Is there anything better?
That is just heavenly. Never occurred to me to whip ganache.
I’m thinking of trying something called To Try Tuesdays where I link to recipes (on Tuesdays, duh
) that I am bookmarking for me to try (on my blog). I want to include yours. What I cannot decide is as long as I link back can I use one of your photos? Even if you don’t care, do you happen to have an opinion on whether I need permission (it could get cumbersome always waiting for permission). People have always used my photos for such things and it does not bother me as long as they link back rather than providing the recipe so I never thought about but I know copywriting is a big issue right now. Any thoughts, both for yourself and in general?
OK sorry to inundate you with comments today. Have decided that for now am going to post links without photos. So expect to see a link back to this….
Ah, these look delicious. I love the way the ganache looks piped.
Wow! Your pictures are amazing!!!! Your recipes are delicious!!!!
Oh okay. Looking forward to use this method.
Looks delicious, and I LOVE the photos! Beautiful!
Woman you are incredible! Your piping skills are out of this world. Ganache is one of my favorite things on the planet.
Any photos of chocolate are bound to make me lick my computer screen and drool all over my keyboard. There are a few things that I can eat alone without them being on a cake, a slice of bread, or spread on anything yummy- Nutella, any type of nut butter, and chocolate ganache. Pure luxury and super yumm!
Big mistake reading this at midnight. Now I want some of those amazing looking cupcakes. Ganache is tough for lots of people. Great lesson.
your chocolate ganache 3 ways, 3 differnet reasons to it.
MARIA
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Wow! I’ve been anxious to try ganache..now maybe I can!
Thanks for the great tips!
Hello Alice, I’m new to your blog but I love it the first time I saw it. What a tempting chocolate ganache. You also have such great, great photos. I’m now setting some time to read some of your previous blogs and more of your future blogs. Thank you.
Oh mamma! Look at that gorgeous chocolately goodness!! How did you manage to resist eating the whole batch!??! Must. Make. Ganache. Immediately.
What a beautiful post! I just stumbled on your blog today and am totally in love. Especially with this post on ganache and cupcakes. I am a total sucker for beautifully decorated cupcakes (especially the chocolate ones…) so this was right up my ally. Beautiful photos as well!
Wow Wow Wow GREAT photo tutorial!!! Amazing!
Gorgeous photos, Alice. I totally love how you’ve shown three ways here. I usually spread the ganache on top of a cake. No patience for piping and never really thought of whipping it up. I’m going to bookmark this post. Thanks.
Only made ganache but one time before. However you have inspired me to try this again. Delicious and decadent cupcakes
Wow is this fantastic! Just gorgeous! I love ganache and don’t make it often enough but now I think I will. I must try the fancy piping like you did (and pray that it looks as pretty).
Wow gorgeous photos! I love using ganache thanks for a great tutorial!!
I can’t stomach frosting with anything other than ganache, or swiss meringue! These are beautiful!
Hi Alice!
Can you tell me what type of chocolate you used? Semi-sweet? Please let me know!
Thanks so much!
Lisa
Hi Lisa,
I just use whatever type of chocolate I have on hand. Usually its the Nestle Toll House Semi-sweet or the Ghiradelli’s Bittersweet. I buy them both bulk at Sams Club.
Alice, your descriptions and photos are just wonderful. I love baking and cooking and can hardly wait to make these for Christmas. It is very inspiring. Besides the cupcake ideas, using it to make truffles will be great. Oh, so many ideas! Thank you.
P.S. I posted your website on my facebook, it is a must share.
Would the amount for ingredients be the same if I wanted to make a white chocolate ganache? What type of white chocolate would you recomend?
Yes it would be. Honestly, I would use White Chocolate Bark.. it melts very smoothly and is readily available this time of year. Hope this helps.
How many cups does your recipe make; what size cake does it cover? I’m looking to make the whipped version to crumb coat the cake and then the glaze to cover the entire cake. I’m looking to make a 7 or 8 inch cake. I’ve never worked with ganache, so this will be my first time….so any tips would be great too:) Thanks in advance!
This is an excellent filling on a chocolate or vanilla cake. This recipe is my husband’s absolutely favorite! We make it for every holiday and get together, it is divine.
-Sylvia
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about how much ganache does this recipe make?
thanks
Hi Jess. This makes about 2 cups of straight ganache.. but it will increase with volume if you whip it.
thank you so much!
I made this today and piped on top of deep chocolate cupcakes – YUM!!! (I even tried one with flaked sea salt on top – it was killer!) I used half Ghirardelli Semi-sweet and half Bittersweet for mine
Thanks for sharing, I’ve only seen ganache as the first smooth type – I had no idea about cooling and piping or whipping!