Chocolate Ganache Recipe

This easy chocolate ganache recipe makes smooth, shiny ganache from dark, milk, or white chocolate. Use it warm for a chocolate drip down the side of a layer cake, let it set into a creamy frosting, or roll it into truffles. It's just chocolate and cream, but the ratio and the chocolate you choose change everything, so I'm giving you my full ratio chart and every fix I know.

Chocolate Ganache Ingredients

You only need two ingredients, so quality matters. I always recommend weighing your ingredients with a digital kitchen scale for the most accurate results, especially for ganache, where the ratio is everything.

• Chocolate. Dark, milk, or white, use good-quality chocolate with cocoa butter listed in the ingredients, not hydrogenated palm kernel oil. Some grocery store chocolate chips don't contain cocoa butter, so check the back of the bag. Brands I like are Ghirardelli, Lindt, Guittard, and Callebaut.
• Heavy cream. Heavy cream or heavy whipping cream gives ganache its thick, creamy consistency.
• Corn syrup and butter. Also optional. A little of either makes ganache extra creamy, shiny, and stops it from getting grainy.

How To Make Chocolate Ganache Step-By-Step

Before you start: weigh your chocolate and cream using the ratio chart below, and grab a medium heatproof bowl and a small saucepan.

1. Chop the chocolate finely and place it in your heatproof bowl. Smaller pieces melt more evenly.

2. Heat the cream in your saucepan until steam just begins to rise from the surface. Whisk occasionally and don't walk away, or it can boil over.

3. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and push the chocolate down so it's all under the surface. Let it sit for 5 minutes.

4. Whisk from the center out. Use small circles in the center until the chocolate and cream come together into a smooth emulsion.

PRO TIP: Don't skip the 5-minute wait. Whisking while the cream is still very hot is what makes ganache grainy.

5. Blend out any lumps. If you still see unmelted chocolate, use an immersion blender for a few seconds for super smooth ganache.

6. Use it warm or let it cool. Warm ganache is perfect for piping, drizzling, and drips. To cool it faster, pour it into a baking sheet.

PRO TIP: For a drip cake, cool your ganache to about 90ºF and always drip onto a cold cake so it doesn't run too far down the sides. See my drip cake recipe for the full technique.

7. Cover and let it set. Press plastic wrap right onto the surface so a crust doesn't form, and let it rest at room temperature for about 4 hours or overnight. When it reaches peanut butter consistency, it's ready for frosting, filling, piping, or truffles.

Chocolate Ganache Ratios

The ratio is the amount of chocolate to cream, by weight. The first number is chocolate, the second is cream. More chocolate makes a firmer ganache; more cream makes it softer.

PRO TIP: The brand of chocolate matters. Each brand has a different amount of cocoa and cocoa butter. I use Guittard for these ratios, so if you use another brand, start here and add more cream or chocolate until you get the consistency you want. The darker the chocolate, the firmer it sets.

Why milk and white need more chocolate: milk chocolate has more sugar and milk solids, so it's less stable than dark. White chocolate has no cocoa solids at all, only cocoa butter, so it takes a lot more chocolate to set. Fun fact: white chocolate ganache doesn't sweat, which makes it ideal for hot climates like Florida, Texas, and the Caribbean. My white chocolate ganache post covers it in depth.

Want to whip it? A 1:1 ganache whips into a light, fluffy frosting. Here's my whipped ganache method. For bright colored drips, try my water ganache.

Soft & Creamy Ganache (With Butter)

For an extra silky ganache, add a little butter and corn syrup. Butter makes it richer and smoother, and corn syrup adds shine and keeps it from setting too firm. The result is a soft, creamy milk chocolate ganache that spreads and pipes beautifully.

How to make it: Warm 1 ¼ tablespoons of light corn syrup with 6 ounces of heavy cream, pour it over 8 ounces of finely chopped milk chocolate, and whisk until smooth. Let it cool to about 95ºF (35ºC), then blend in 3 tablespoons of softened unsalted butter until glossy. You'll find this version as the fifth ingredient group in the recipe card below, and you can watch me make it on YouTube.

Chocolate Ganache Temperatures

• Warm ganache is very liquid. It's ideal for glazing, drip cakes, and pouring over ice cream.
• Cooled ganache sits at room temperature for a few hours until it's semi-solid, what I call peanut butter consistency. This is perfect for frosting, filling a cake, or rolling chocolate truffles.
• Too cold? If it gets too firm to spread, microwave it for a few seconds to bring it back to peanut butter consistency.

6 Ways To Use Chocolate Ganache

• Fill a layer cake with set ganache, like my easy chocolate cake or death by chocolate cake.
• Frost a cake with ganache at peanut butter consistency. New to frosting? My beginner's guide to decorating a cake walks you through it.
• Drip a cake with warm, soft ganache in a piping bag.
• Dip chocolate cupcakes or strawberries in soft ganache.
• Glaze the top of a Boston cream pie.
• Roll truffles. Flavor the cream first by steeping tea, herbs, or spices, like in my rose chocolate truffles.

Common Chocolate Ganache Problems To Avoid

• Lumpy ganache. The chocolate didn't fully melt. Reheat in the microwave in 30-second bursts, or blend it smooth with an immersion blender.
• Broken or oily ganache. The fat separated. Whisk in 1 tablespoon of warm water or cream at a time until it comes back together.
• Grainy ganache. You whisked while the cream was too hot. Remelt it over a double boiler and let it set again. Don't serve it grainy; the texture won't improve on its own.
• Runny ganache that won't set. Too much cream for your chocolate. Whisk in 2 ounces of melted chocolate at a time until it firms up.
• Ganache too stiff. Too much chocolate, or it's too cold. Add 1 ounce of warm cream, or warm it for a few seconds.
• Crust on top. It sat uncovered. Always press plastic wrap right onto the surface while it sets.

Final Thoughts

Ganache is only two ingredients, but it's the recipe I get the most questions about, and almost every problem comes back to the chocolate or the ratio. My one last lesson: weigh everything and give it that full 5 minutes before you whisk. Patience is what makes it shiny.

Chocolate Ganache FAQs

More Chocolate Recipes To Try