Use this as your complete guide for making homemade chocolate ganache. Chocolate ganache is a 2-ingredient recipe with virtually endless uses. For the best tasting ganache, I recommend using semi-sweet chocolate.
Chocolate ganache is a 1:1 mixture of chocolate and warm cream. Stirred until smooth, silky, and shiny, ganache is a staple in any baker’s kitchen. It’s not only easy and quick, it’s uniquely versatile. Chocolate ganache can be a filling, dip, spread, frosting, topping, or layer in a cake. The uses are virtually endless!
Uses for Chocolate Ganache
- Topping for chocolate cupcakes, cream-filled chocolate cupcakes, or no-bake cheesecake jars
- Filling for layer cakes
- As a frosting for chocolate peanut butter cake or chocolate mousse cake
- Swirl in chocolate marble banana Bundt cake
- Topping for homemade brownies, pound cake, vanilla cake, or ice cream
- Filling for chocolate hand pies
- Dip for strawberries and other fruit (serve with a bowl of whipped cream, too!)
- Topping for chocolate cake or flourless chocolate cake
- Frosting for chocolate raspberry cake (and you can even flavor it with raspberry liqueur)
- Layered in trifles
- Filling for no-bake s’mores cake
- Topping for homemade eclairs, crepes, angel food cake, and peanut butter pie
- Filling for orange butter cookies and striped fudge cookies
- Topping for marble loaf cake (with slightly reduced cream for a thicker ganache!)
- As a layer in peanut butter banana cream pie
- Filling inside of Easter cupcakes
Let’s dive into an in-depth chocolate ganache tutorial. If you don’t care to read through the tutorial, feel free to jump straight to the recipe below.
Chocolate Ganache Video Tutorial
2 Ingredients in Chocolate Ganache
- 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. See recipe note.
- Pure Chocolate: You can use semi-sweet chocolate (recommended), bittersweet chocolate, milk chocolate, or white chocolate. See recipe note.
When making homemade ganache, you need a 1:1 ratio of cream to chocolate.
Did you know that chocolate ganache is the base for chocolate truffles? I actually use less cream when I make chocolate truffles because the 1:1 ratio is too thin and sticky. Instead of a 1:1 ratio, use 8 ounces of chocolate and 2/3 cup (160ml) cream for truffles.
Best Chocolate to Use in Chocolate Ganache
The best chocolate for chocolate ganache is a pure chocolate baking bar, such as Bakers or Ghirardelli brands. (Not sponsored, just a genuine customer!) These are typically sold in 4-ounce (113g) bars in the baking aisle near the chocolate chips. Do not use chocolate chips because they will not melt into the best ganache consistency—save them for chocolate chip cookies instead. If you absolutely must use chocolate chips, make sure they are higher-quality chocolate such as Ghirardelli or Guittard brand semi-sweet chocolate chips.
For traditional chocolate ganache, I recommend using semi-sweet chocolate. This is the most commonly found chocolate in the baking aisle. Semi-sweet chocolate contains 35–45% cacao and is usually sweeter than bittersweet or dark varieties and darker than milk chocolate and white chocolate. If you like it a little darker, bittersweet chocolate (60% cacao) also makes an excellent ganache.
TIP: The best tool for chopping chocolate is a large serrated knife. The grooves help chip away the hard chocolate bar texture.
How to Make Chocolate Ganache
- Place finely chopped chocolate into a heat-proof glass or metal bowl.
- Heat cream on the stovetop until just simmering. If it’s boiling, the cream is too hot and could separate or even burn the chocolate. Once you see little simmers around the edges, turn off the heat and immediately pour the warm cream over the chocolate.
- Let the 2 sit for a few minutes before stirring.
- Stir slowly until smooth.
After you stir the chocolate and warm cream together, use the ganache right away as a fruit dip or drizzle on top of cakes, cupcakes, pound cakes, ice cream, and more. But if you wait about 2 hours and let it cool completely, the ganache can be scooped with a spoon, spread onto desserts, or piped with piping tips.
Piped Chocolate Ganache
If you’re craving a pure chocolate topping for your desserts, choose chocolate ganache. Once it cools and sets, you can pipe it onto your favorites including chocolate cupcakes. Super intricate piping tips aren’t ideal. Wilton 1M piping tip or Ateco 844 piping tip are my favorites for piped chocolate ganache. I used Ateco 844 in these photos.
Whipped Ganache
Let’s take chocolate ganache 1 step further. Did you know that you can beat ganache into a whipped frosting consistency? Think of the whipped buttercream from this vanilla sheet cake, but not as sweet or heavy. Once the chocolate ganache cools completely, whip it on medium-high speed until light in color and fluffy in texture, about 4 minutes. Now you have a decadent mousse-like frosting without an onslaught of extra sugar. It’s REALLY good!
You can pipe the whipped ganache, too. I used Ateco 844 piping tip in this next photo.
These 2 Tricks Make Chocolate Ganache Even Easier
Here are my 2 super simple tricks that make ganache even easier to make.
- Chop the chocolate as fine as possible. The finer you chop the chocolate, the quicker it melts with the cream. If the chocolate is in large large chunks, it won’t fully melt. And if the chocolate is not melting, reference Troubleshooting Chocolate Ganache below.
- Pour the warm cream over the chopped chocolate and let it sit before stirring. After you pour the warm heavy cream over the chopped chocolate, let it sit for a few minutes. During this time, the chocolate will soften and begin to melt which means that you won’t need to over-stir it. I’d rather spend extra minutes doing nothing than extra minutes stirring chocolate that won’t melt. Wouldn’t you?!
Troubleshooting Chocolate Ganache
After writing an entire cookbook (Sally’s Candy Addiction) on chocolate and candy, I’ve seen it all when it comes to making chocolate ganache. Seized chocolate? Yep. Grainy ganache. Yep, that too. Here are 3 problems you could encounter and how to fix each.
- Chocolate Isn’t Melting: If the chocolate isn’t melting, it wasn’t chopped fine enough or the cream wasn’t warm enough. Chop the chocolate into very small pieces and warm the cream until it’s just simmering. The microwave doesn’t evenly warm cream like the stove does, so I always recommend the stove. If you’re left with chocolate chunks swimming in cream, do not microwave it. Instead, place the mixture into a double boiler OR place the (heat-proof!) glass bowl over a small saucepan of simmering water. Do not let the surface of the simmering water touch the bottom of the glass bowl. Stir the ganache constantly over the indirect heat until it’s smooth.
- Chocolate Seized: When chocolate seizes, it creates a gritty and solid mass of chocolate. Simply put, seized chocolate will not melt. Chocolate seizes when it comes into contact with water. Don’t let even a drop of water into the bowl! Here is a wonderful article on overheated and seized chocolate.
- Greasy or Grainy: Use a glass or metal bowl. A plastic bowl could melt or leave you with a dull or grainy ganache. Use real chocolate; cheap chocolate chips result in a grainy ganache. Use a spoon or small rubber spatula to stir the chocolate and warm cream together. Do not use a whisk. The whisk incorporates too much air into the delicate melting chocolate, which could cause the fat to separate and turn greasy.
How to Make Chocolate Ganache
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 3 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 1 and 1/2 cups
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Stirring
- Cuisine: American
Description
You only need 2 ingredients and a few minutes to make pure chocolate ganache. For ganache success, I encourage you to read the troubleshooting tips above and recipe notes below before beginning.
Ingredients
- two 4-ounce quality semi-sweet chocolate bars (113g each), finely chopped (see Note about using white chocolate)*
- 1 cup (8 ounces; 240ml) heavy cream or heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- Place chopped chocolate in a medium heat-proof bowl. Heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until it begins to gently simmer. (Do not let it come to a rapid boil—that’s too hot!) Pour over chocolate, then let it sit for 2–3 minutes to gently soften the chocolate.
- With a metal spoon or small rubber spatula, very slowly stir until completely combined and chocolate has melted. The finer you chopped the chocolate, the quicker it will melt with the cream. If it’s not melting, do not microwave it. See Troubleshooting Chocolate Ganache in blog post above.
- Ganache can be ready to use as a drizzle or you can let it sit at room temperature to cool and thicken. It will fully cool within 2 hours. Refrigerating speeds this up, but the ganache will not cool evenly. Stir it a few times as it sets in the refrigerator so it remains even and smooth.
- Once completely cool and thick, the ganache can be piped with a piping tip or scooped with a spoon. You can also beat the cooled thickened ganache with a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment until light in color and texture, about 4 minutes on medium-high speed.
- Cover tightly and store ganache in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Once ganache cools completely, you can cover it tightly and freeze it for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator. To rewarm or thin out again, stir constantly over low heat on the stove in either (1) a double boiler or (2) in a heat-proof bowl placed over a pot of simmering water. Don’t let the bottom of the bowl touch the simmering water.
Notes
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowl | Small Saucepan | Double Boiler | Rubber Spatula | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) if whipping the ganache
- Chocolate: Ganache will only set if the correct chocolate is used. You can use high-quality chocolate chips if needed (I prefer Ghirardelli or Guittard semi-sweet chocolate chips), but I recommend using pure chocolate baking bars, in either semi-sweet or bittersweet. You can find them right next to the chocolate chips in the baking aisle. They are sold in 4-ounce (113g) bars. I like Bakers or Ghirardelli brands. You can use other varieties of chocolate too, such as milk chocolate (aka German chocolate) or dark chocolate. If using white chocolate, reduce the cream to 2/3 cup (160ml). White chocolate is softer, so you need less cream.
- Halve or Double: You can easily halve or double this recipe. No matter how much ganache you are making, you always need equal parts chocolate and cream.
- Dairy-Free Alternative for Heavy Cream: Use full-fat canned coconut milk. Shake the can well before opening. Whisk on the stove as it heats and bring to a simmer. Measure 1 cup (8 ounces; 240ml). Use instead of warm heavy cream.
- Yield: Yields 1 and 1/2 cups liquid/drizzle/scoop-able ganache. This is enough to cover 1 dozen cupcakes. For piped cupcakes, you may want to double the ganache to ensure there is plenty for piping. If whipping the ganache, you’ll have close to 3 cups. This is enough for 1 dozen cupcakes.
Keywords: chocolate, sauce, frosting
I would like to flavor the chocolate ganache with blackberry. Could I use part blackberry jam with cream heated together?
Hi Donna! It would take some recipe testing to figure out how best to incorporate jam so that the ganache still thickens and sets. If we were to experiment, we’d start by heating the jam and cream as you mention. Let us know if you try it. Or, if you’re open to using blackberry liqueur, you could swap it with the raspberry liqueur used to make the raspberry ganache in this chocolate cake recipe.
I usually just make the banana muffins without an icing but a friend wanted one. I tried this for the first time making it at my friends guarding it for the 2 mins so no one stirred it while the chocolate melted. (I could only get choc buttons so put in the microwave for 30 secs before adding the cream.) Absolutely divine!!! Thanks so much, will become the staple with the perfect muffin.
I’m excited to make this! My plan is to us it as a filling in your chocolate cupcake recipe. I’m going to put your caramel frosting on them and also maybe drizzle some of the ganache on top of that. A true chocolate-caramel cupcake fantasy.
I also have some homemade caramel sauce (from your recipe). I’m imagining a way to combine some caramel sauce and chocolate ganache together for the cupcake filling. Am I just dreaming or could that work?
Hi Sarah, sounds delicious! We have never tried it before. You can try making homemade caramel, and then pouring the hot caramel sauce over the chopped chocolate instead of the one cup of heavy cream used here. Let us know if you try anything!
Putting the hot caramel sauce over the chocolate worked great! Plus the caramel was hotter than the cream is in the regular recipe, so there was no issue with the chocolate not melting.
The only things I did differently was that I used 4oz semi sweet and the other four ounces I used bittersweet. I figured with the sweetness of the caramel, less sweetness in the chocolate would be fine.
It’s a delicious chocolate-caramel ganache and I’m confident it will make an awesome filling for the cupcakes!
It is so amazing!!! Thank you very much for the recipe and all details!
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this was very helpful, thanks.
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This is so satisfying to make and eat! I wish the Ghirardelli semisweet chocolate bars came in larger sizes. I usually make a double batch and then I’m pretty much out of chocolate bars. I have seen the chocolate sold in wafers on their website, but they kinda look like big chocolate chips. Would these be suitable to use?
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Yes, you can definitely use those.
Hi sally, I was wondering if this ganache recipe will be able to set to a cake frosting consistency, and the amount i would have to make to cover a 6” cake?
Hi Abby, you can whip the ganache (details outlined in the post) for more of a pipeable frosting consistency. This amount of whipped ganache (3 cups whipped) should be plenty for frosting and filling the small 3 layer 6 inch cake, but feel free to 1.5x the recipe if you plan to do any extra piping/decorating on the tops/outside. Hope this helps!
Thank you for answering all my questions! Love this recipe and the results were great!
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Hi.. your tips are very helpful to have a successful ganache, I have question though, can I add food coloring on white ganache ? If it’s possible, when is the best time to add food coloring? Thanks
Hi Vondat, you can certainly add food coloring to it. We recommend using gel food coloring (and just a drop or two) so that you’re not adding too much liquid to the ganache. Add it in Step 2 when you’re mixing the heavy cream and chopped chocolate. Enjoy!
Would you cover Italian Rainbow Cookies with chocolate ganache or just melted chocolate?
Hi Joan, chocolate ganache will not harden all the way, so keep that in mind if you’d like something that will completely set and be better for stacking/storing. Melted chocolate will be the better option!
Well, Sally, you’ve done it again! Your step-by-step instructions made me feel brave enough to try something I never thought I’d do. And I DID IT! This ganache is so silky smooth and delicious. It was so easy – I will be making this over and over again. My baking has just moved to a new level. Thank you for inspiring me, Sally.
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Hi Lizzie, we’re so glad you enjoyed this! Happy baking!
If I used white chocolate do you think i could add food coloring?
Hi Kay, should work just fine!
Hi! My son has a very specific vision in mind for his 4th birthday cake. Do you think this would work pooled on top of / drizzling down the side of the ice cream cake recipe? Thank you!
Yes, absolutely!
I made this ganache tonight to drizzle on a chocolate pound cake. I am decorating the cake with chocolate dipped strawberries too. This recipe is very easy and super delicious.
I have never made ganache before this made me look like a pro. Thank you so much. Just followed the simple steps
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Thank you for the trouble shooting tips. They were very helpful
Simple and tasty. Thank you for sharing
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Easy to follow recipe. One question I have is if it would work to fold in whipped cream to the whipped ganache to give it a lighter chocolate flavor?
Hi Kacie, I’m sure that could work.
I would like to put this on your easy cheesecake pie. Do I put it on after its been refrigerated or before? Love the cheesecake!
Hi Jo, we’d let the cheesecake pie fully set in the refrigerator before adding the ganache. Enjoy!
Thanks for quick reply! I’ve been told my cheesecake (your recipe ) is the best cheesecake they have ever had! Hopefully the ganache will add to it!
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Hi, I am baking large cheesecakes and cutting them into 1.5″ squares to serve at a wedding. You said that this would be enough for a dozen cupcakes. I will pipe a swirl of ganache on each piece. Can you give me an idea of how much I would need to make to “swirl” 130 servings of the cheesecake squares?
Hi Connie, it would really depend on how lightly/heavily each piece of cheesecake is topped with the ganache. You could make a single batch, see how many it frosts, and then make an additional batch (or a double batch if needed) to finish the remainder.