Techniques › Baking and pastry
Ganache
Beginner Baking and pastry
Chocolate melted into hot cream; the ratio decides whether it's a pourable glaze, a spread, or firm truffle centers.
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How do you do it?
- Chop the chocolate finely and put it in a heatproof bowl.
- Heat the cream until it just simmers at the edges, pour it over, and leave it alone for 3 to 5 minutes.
- Stir gently from the center outward in small circles until glossy and smooth.
- By weight with dark chocolate: about 1 part chocolate to 1 part cream for glaze or drips, 2 to 1 for truffles. Milk and white chocolate need more chocolate.
Why does it work?
Ganache is an emulsion: cocoa butter droplets and cocoa solids spread through the water in the cream. Stirring from the center builds a small, stable emulsion first and then widens it. Too much fat for the water, or too much heat, and the fat separates out as an oily layer. Milk and white chocolate contain less cocoa solid, so they set softer at the same ratio.
What are the common mistakes?
- Boiling the cream hard — overheated chocolate can turn grainy or oily.
- Whisking hard right away — it traps bubbles and can break the emulsion.
- Throwing out a split ganache — stir in a spoonful of warm milk to bring it back.
Still stuck? Watch someone do it on YouTube.
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