Chocolate ganache
A step-by-step guide to making chocolate ganache – surely the most delicious way to cover a chocolate cake. Read the recipe tips if you are a first timer. Ganache is easy to make and work with, but taking care with the ingredients and technique will avoid any mishaps.
This recipe makes enough to fill and coat an 18–20cm/7–8in two-layer cake.
Ingredients
- 200g/7oz dark chocolate, minimum 64% cocoa solids, finely chopped
- 10g unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 300ml/10fl oz double cream
- 2 tsp caster sugar
Method
Tip the chocolate and butter into a bowl and set aside.
Pour the cream into a saucepan, add the sugar and bring to the boil, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat, leave to cool for 30 seconds and then pour over the chocolate mixture. Leave the hot cream to melt the chocolate without stirring for 1 minute and then stir in one direction only, using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, until smooth and glossy.
Once the ganache is smooth, leave it to cool and thicken slightly before using.
Recipe Tips
Always use a good quality chocolate – anything higher than 70% cocoa solids will be tricky to work with and can be too bitter and may split. The same applies to a chocolate of lower cocoa percentages. 64% has about the perfect balance of sweetness to bitterness.
Always finely chop the chocolate – this makes melting quicker and reduces the amount of stirring required to get the ganache to be silky smooth. Over-mixing can split the ganache.
Always stir the ganache in one direction, either clockwise or anti-clockwise, as this helps bind the ganache and prevents splitting.
If the cream is too hot when it’s poured onto the chocolate it can burn and ‘seize’ the chocolate, making the ganache grainy or oily – and this is impossible to rectify.
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