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 your 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!
- 12 ounces chocolate, chopped into small pieces
- 1 cup heavy cream
- optional 3 tablespoons flavored liqueor
- 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.
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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! 😀
Woman you are incredible! Your piping skills are out of this world. Ganache is one of my favorite things on the planet.
Looks delicious, and I LOVE the photos! Beautiful!
Oh okay. Looking forward to use this method.
Wow! Your pictures are amazing!!!! Your recipes are delicious!!!!
Must.have.chocolate.now.
Great post! Is there anything better? 🙂
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!
Ah, these look delicious. I love the way the ganache looks piped.
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….
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?
That is just heavenly. Never occurred to me to whip ganache.
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!
Not really sure why I’ve never thought to whip the ganache to get a good whipped frosting! Genious! Great idea!!!
Very helpful, i love to frost my cakes with ganche, never whipped up though will try sometime 🙂
Hey. Nice picture. What should I do if i would wanna get the whipped consistency? Looking forward for your reply.
I agree…BIG YES!! It’s the best, yummiest & easiest way to frost!
I love Chocolate & I really love ganache ….this is amazing!!!!
They all look great but I think I would love to try the whipped ganache the most. Yum!
I’ve always wondered what else you could do w/ ganache. PERFECT tutorial. Thanks for sharing. I’ll use this!
Wow…it looks so good! Thanks for recipe and for showing.
Very informative post, Alice!
They all look beautiful, but that piped ganache looks decadent!
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? 🙂
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.
Gorgeous photography, Alice. I’d scoop up the whipped cupcake first (if Janet doesn’t beat me to it).