Simple Chocolate Ganache Recipe – Plus Ganache FAQ

Simple chocolate ganache is just a combination of cream and good quality chocolate. It’s an incredibly versatile recipe that can be used in a multitude of ways.

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Chocolate Ganache is a truly beautiful thing. It’s made by pouring warm cream over chocolate, letting it sit for a few moments, and then stirring it together to form a luxurious ganache. 

The resulting ganache can be poured over cakes as a topping, piped onto cupcakes, whipped to form a light fluffy chocolate topping or sandwiched between cookies. It’s such a versatile recipe that it’s become a real staple in my kitchen!

Why Make this Chocolate Ganache Recipe?

Versatile: this super simple chocolate ganache can be used in tons of different ways and is genuinely a building block for other recipes.

Delicious: It’s probably not the healthiest thing to do but I could happily eat spoon fulls of this stuff.

Great Skill to learn: When I was studying in pastry school, this was the type of recipe that we used all the time. It teaches you a lot about chocolate and how to work with it properly, and it’s a great thing to know how to do off the top of your head.

If you understand your chocolate and the base recipe, it’s easy to adjust it if you want to know how to make white chocolate ganache or milk chocolate, etc.

What Do I Need to Make this Simple Chocolate Ganache Recipe?

• Good quality chocolate – Semi sweet is traditional but any type is fine
• Cream
• Heatproof bowls – you’ll want two heatproof bowls

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Here are a few things that might be useful!

Pyrex bowls are great for making ganache because they’re heatproof. I also love the versions with lids, as they’re great for storing things! Ghirardelli chocolate is often my go to, and finally I’ve included a link to some cute little molds you could use to make truffles from your ganache!

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How to Make Ganache

Once you have your ingredients this simple chocolate ganache recipe is a breeze to make. In order to make the ganache you’ll :

1. Finely chop 300 g of chocolate and place it in a heatproof bowl.
2. Gently warm 300 ml of cream and pour it over the chocolate
3. Let it sit for 5 minutes before gently stirring it together.

How to Make White Chocolate Ganache 

Follow the same process as above, but reduce the amount of cream to 200 ml instead of 300 ml.

This is because white chocolate is naturally softer because it doesn’t contain cocoa solids. If you use the full quantity of cream, the result will be far too soft.

Expert Tips 

1) Choose your chocolate

Because chocolate ganache is mostly chocolate, you’ll want to choose a high quality chocolate. I like Ghirardelli semi sweet chocolate chips for ganache (not sponsored, just a genuine fan) but you can also use a bar of good quality chocolate.

I normally use semi-sweet or dark chocolate, but you can also use milk or white chocolate if you prefer. If you choose to use white chocolate, remember to reduce the amount of cream to 2/3 the original amount.

Regardless of the type of chocolate it’s important to make sure you’re choosing a high quality product otherwise you may end up with a ganache that isn’t smooth!

2) Finely Chop the Chocolate

If you’ve gone the bar of chocolate route, you’ll want to take the time to carefully chop your chocolate. Large pieces won’t melt easily and will prevent you from getting the perfect – smooth chocolate ganache you’re looking for!

3) Gently Heat your Cream

I prefer to microwave the cream in 15 second intervals, stirring at each interval, until it’s warm but hasn’t boiled. If it boils, it’ll be too hot and could separate or burn your chocolate.

4) Let the simple chocolate ganache sit before stirring

It’s important to let your ganache rest before you stir it. This gives the chocolate time to melt smoothly before you agitate it. 

5) How to adjust the consistency of your ganache

If you want thicker ganache then your best bet is to wait. Freshly made ganache will naturally be quite liquid-y which is great if you want a thin coat or are using it to dip things into, however, if you’d like a thicker coating simply wait 10-15 minutes until the ganache has set slightly more.

You can also adjust the ratio of cream to chocolate, more cream will give a thinner ganache while more chocolate will result in a thicker consistency!

If you’re looking to use your ganache to make something like chocolate truffles, you’ll definitely want to use a higher ratio of chocolate to cream. For truffles, a 5:4 ratio of chocolate to cream tends to work well. See “How to Use this Ganache” for a truffle recipe from Kickass Baker.

6) Adding other ingredients to your simple chocolate ganache

I think a little sea salt goes a long way towards improving the flavor of ganache. You can also add small quantities of vanilla extract, strong coffee or alcohol to add flavor to the ganache. This is especially good if you’re using it to make truffles!

Recipe FAQs

How long should ganache take to set?

If you’d like to pour it over a cake let it set for about 10-15 minutes. For a thicker ganache that you can pipe leave it to cool for a couple hours until thick.

How do you know when ganache is ready to pour?

If you’re pouring your ganache over a cake let it sit for 10-15 minutes until it’s just slightly warm. 

Can you freeze and reheat chocolate ganache?

You can freeze ganache by storing it in an airtight container and freezing for up to 3 months.

To reheat it, let it sit in the fridge overnight and then warm it in a heatproof bowl placed over a pan of simmering water.

It might look greasy and split at this point, but stir it regularly, and it should come back together.

What to do with greasy ganache?

Greasy ganache happens when the ganache splits as is often the case with reheated ganache. There are a couple possible solutions for this issue. I’ve listed them here in order of what I would recommend trying!

1. Place the ganache in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water and gently stir. As the ganache melts, it should come together again.
2. Slowly add a tsp of hot milk to the mixture at a time and whisk vigorously until it’s come back together.
3. If your ganache is still warm, you can also try adding a bit more chopped chocolate. This will make your ganache stiffer which might not be an issue depending on what you want to use it for.

What to do with seized ganache?

When chocolate seizes it turns into a gritty grainy mess. Understanding what has gone wrong can help you trouble shoot. If the chocolate is gritty and rough, then slowly stir in boiling water, 1 tsp at a time, until it smooths out.

If the chocolate has gone dull and thick it’s probably overheated, to fix this try stirring in more finely chopped chocolate to bring down the temperature. 

For more help with seized chocolate, take a look at this article from the Spruce Eats, which gives really great advice on working with seized chocolate.

How to use this ganache

Now that you’ve mastered chocolate ganache consider using it in one of these recipes:

• Easy Chocolate Truffles – Here’s an easy truffle recipe from Kickass Baker that uses chocolate ganache as the base recipe!
• Mini Cake for Two – Use it as an icing for this chocolate cake recipe
• Air Fryer Donuts – Use it as a filling for these air fryer donuts