Chocolate Ganache Frosting Recipe

This chocolate ganache frosting is made from 8 ounces of finely chopped semi-sweet or dark chocolate and 1 cup of hot heavy cream, with butter, vanilla and a pinch of salt if you like. It takes 10 minutes to make plus 30 to 45 minutes to thicken, and frosts one 8 or 9 inch cake or 12 cupcakes.

Pour the cream over the chocolate, wait, then stir. What you do next decides the texture. Use it warm as a glossy glaze, let it thicken into a spreadable frosting, or chill it and beat it into a fluffy whipped ganache for piping.

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Three Textures From One Bowl of Ganache

• Pourable glaze: 10 to 15 minutes after stirring, at about 90 to 95°F, when it coats a spoon but still runs off it
• Spreadable frosting: 30 to 45 minutes in the fridge, stirred every 10 to 15 minutes, or about 1 to 2 hours on the counter; it should hold a swoop like soft peanut butter
• Whipped and pipeable: chill until firm all the way through, then beat with a mixer for 3 to 5 minutes until lighter in color and fluffy
• Amount: a little under 2 cups of ganache, a bit more once whipped

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Chocolate to Cream Ratios: 1 to 1 vs 2 to 1

Eight ounces of chocolate and 1 cup of cream is close to 1 part chocolate to 1 part cream by weight. That ratio sets soft enough to spread and slice cleanly, but firm enough to hold a piped swirl once whipped.

• 1 to 1 (this recipe): glaze, spreadable frosting, whipped frosting, cake filling
• 2 to 1, chocolate to cream: thick and fudgy, for chocolate truffles, tart fillings, or a filling that must hold up a tall cake
• 1 to 2, chocolate to cream: thin, for a light drizzle or a whipped ganache that needs a long chill

The kind of chocolate shifts these numbers. Milk chocolate has less cocoa and sets softer, so use about 2 parts chocolate to 1 part cream for the same body. White chocolate needs about 3 to 1, which is how my white chocolate ganache filling is built. For pours and tarts made with a different method, see my chocolate ganache recipe.

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Which Chocolate and Cream Melt Smoothest

Use semi-sweet or dark chocolate bars, about 55 to 70% cocoa. Chocolate chips are made to keep their shape in cookies, and the stabilizers that help them do that also stop them melting into a smooth ganache. Above 70%, ganache splits more easily, so chop it extra fine and keep the cream below a boil.

For the cream, use heavy cream or whipping cream with 35 to 40% fat. The fat is what holds the chocolate and liquid together. Half-and-half or milk gives a thin ganache that will not set on a cake or whip at all.

The butter is optional and adds shine. Vanilla and salt make the chocolate taste rounder, most of all in whipped ganache.

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Chopping the Chocolate Small Enough

Chop the chocolate into pieces no bigger than a pea. Work from one corner of the bar so it shaves off instead of shattering.

Small pieces all melt in the heat of the cream. Big chunks stay solid after the cream cools, and then you are reheating the bowl.

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Heating the Cream to Just Below a Simmer

Warm the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat. Take it off as soon as small bubbles form around the edge of the pan and steam rises. Do not let it boil. Boiling cream is hot enough to overheat dark chocolate, and that is how ganache turns oily.

Pour the cream over the chocolate right away, making sure every piece is covered. Then leave it alone for 2 to 3 minutes.

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Stirring From the Center Until It Turns Glossy

Stir with a spatula or whisk in small circles in the middle of the bowl. At first it looks streaky and thin. Then a dark, shiny patch forms in the center, and as you widen the circles it pulls the rest of the bowl in. When the whole bowl is glossy and smooth, stir in the butter, vanilla and salt while it is still warm.

Stirring before the rest is over leaves bits of unmelted chocolate. If a few pieces stay solid, set the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water for 30 seconds and stir again.

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Glazing, Filling and Piping a Cake With Ganache

For a glaze, set the chilled cake on a rack over a tray and pour the warm ganache into the middle of the top, nudging it to the edges with an offset spatula. For a drip cake, test one drip on the side first. If it runs to the bottom, wait 5 minutes and test again. It works on chocolate cupcakes, a bundt, or a pan of fudgy brownies.

To use it as a chocolate ganache cake filling, wait for the spreadable stage. Pipe a ring of slightly firmer ganache around the edge of the bottom layer, fill the middle, and stack the next layer. Chill the cake for 20 minutes before spreading the outside, so the layers do not slide. It suits a dark sour cream chocolate cake or a chocolate fudge cake.

For piping, whip it, then use it right away. Whipped ganache firms up as it sits, so pipe the swirls within 10 to 15 minutes. If you want a softer, sweeter chocolate frosting to pipe, try my chocolate buttercream frosting or the whipped chocolate frosting.

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Split, Grainy or Runny Ganache and How to Save It

• Split or oily: the cream was too hot or the chocolate is very dark. Whisk in 1 to 2 tablespoons of warm cream, working from the center out, or blend it for a few seconds with an immersion blender.
• Too thin after chilling: give it more time in the fridge, or melt in another 1 to 2 ounces of finely chopped chocolate.
• Too thick to spread: warm the bowl over barely simmering water for 10 to 20 seconds and stir.
• Grainy whipped ganache: it was beaten too long. Melt about a third of it, fold it back into the rest, chill briefly and beat again, stopping as soon as it holds soft peaks.

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Making Ganache a Few Days Ahead

Keep ganache in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week, or freeze it for up to 2 months and thaw it overnight in the fridge. It sets hard when cold. For a glaze, warm it gently over a double boiler, stirring, rather than in the microwave, which melts it unevenly and can split it.

A cake glazed or frosted with ganache keeps at cool room temperature for a day. After that, store it in the fridge and let slices sit out for 20 to 30 minutes before serving so the ganache softens.

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Short Answers on Ganache Icing

Is ganache icing the same as ganache frosting?

Yes. Both names mean chocolate melted into hot cream. People often say icing for the pourable glaze and frosting for the spread or whipped stage.

How long does ganache frosting take to set on a cake?

A thin glaze sets to the touch in about 30 minutes at room temperature, or 15 minutes in the fridge. A thick spread stays soft and creamy at room temperature.