One of my favorite easy things to dress up a cake is to do a chocolate ganache drip finish. Over the years, my ability to create the drip look has definitely grown, and I get tons of questions asking what my secret is. The truth is, chocolate ganache has definitely put me through the wringer before (especially white chocolate ganache, which used to be my absolute nemesis). After figuring out the perfect ratio for chocolate to heavy whipping cream and learning the do’s and don’ts of drip cakes, I’ve got it down to a science these days. And now you will too!
How to Make Chocolate Ganache for Drip Cakes
This chocolate ganache recipe has been my go-to forever, and it involves only two ingredients: chocolate and heavy whipping cream. There’s no need to be intimidated with this one. First, measure out the chocolate chips (or quality chocolate bar chopped into bits) into a glass or metal bowl. I like to measure these by weight for precision, but I’ve provided both metric and Cups measurements in the recipe below.
Next, bring the heavy whipping cream to a soft simmer in a saucepan over medium heat. Then, pour it over the chocolate and let it sit for about 30 seconds. This gives the chocolate a chance to soften up before whisking.
Whisk the cream and chocolate together until it’s uniform. It will look thin and resemble chocolate milk before it starts to come together, but keep whisking until it’s smooth.
Finally, let the chocolate ganache cool until it’s room temperature or slightly above. I recommend testing out a drip on an inverted glass to make sure it doesn’t drip too far (if it does, keep cooling it) or not far enough (if this is the case, warm it back up slightly in 5-second intervals in the microwave until it’s perfect drip consistency).
The type of chocolate you use will determine the amount of heavy whipping cream to incorporate for the perfect consistency. Although semi-sweet chocolate is the most common type I use for drip cakes, I’ve listed the ratios I use for all different types of chocolate below.
Although the recipe seems straightforward enough, there are quite a few tricks to learn before mastering the art of the drip. I’ve listed out a basic step-by-step tutorial and some troubleshooting tips below, but first, here’s a detailed video to show you how to make the recipe and everything you need to know about the technique I use for drip cakes:
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Chocolate Ganache For Drip Cakes
Ingredients
- 1 cup (185g) semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips, or a bar chopped up into bits
- 1 cup (240ml) heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- Place chocolate chips into a heat resistant bowl (glass or metal). If you’re starting with a chocolate bar, chop it into small pieces until they’re about the size of chocolate chips.
- In a saucepan over medium-high heat, warm heavy whipping cream until it just starts to simmer. I always look for small bubbles forming around the edge and a soft simmer starting in the middle. When it's reached this point, pour the cream into your bowl of chocolate and let sit for about 30 seconds.
- Whisk it together until it’s uniform in consistency and there are no bits of chocolate left on your whisk. Cool ganache at room temperature for 10-20 minutes, or until the ganache itself is room temperature or slightly above.
Notes
Tips For Perfect Chocolate Ganache Drip Cakes
Tip 1: Be Patient With The Cooling Process
Once you’ve whisked the ganache together, it’s crucial to let it cool on your countertop until it’s room temperature or slightly above, about 10-20 minutes depending on how cold your environment is. Trying to speed up this process by placing ganache in the refrigerator doesn’t usually end well – I’ve found that it cools unevenly, leading to thick, globby drips.
Cooling in the fridge also leads to the urge to stir it too often. Ganache (especially white chocolate!) does not like to be stirred too often, and the end result can mean that your whipping cream starts to separate from the chocolate. You’ll know that this has happened because the ganache will look grainy and dull, or even separated like oil and water. To fix situations like these, you’ll need to reheat the ganache to 92ºF to melt the fat crystals and re-whisk to bring it back together.
Tip 2: Make Sure Your Buttercream Is Chilled
There’s a science to this tip. Since molecules move more slowly at cooler temperatures (and warp speed at higher temperatures), it makes a lot of sense that you can better control how far the chocolate ganache drips when the buttercream is chilled. Make sure that after you do your final coat of buttercream, you chill the cake in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
Tip 3: Always Do A Test Drip
When your buttercream is nice and chilled, do a test drip by letting the ganache run down the side of your cake. If it travels rapidly and pools at the bottom, your ganache is too warm. Continue to cool the ganache for another 5-10 minutes and try your test drip again. If it’s globby or doesn’t travel very far down the side of the cake, it’s too cold. Reheat the ganache in the microwave for about 10 seconds, stir, and try again. Repeat the reheating process as needed until you get the perfect consistency.
The good thing about a test drip is you’re able to see how the ganache will behave. That way you don’t have to commit until you like what you’re seeing.
Tip 4: Drip The Sides Before Filling In The Top
When I first started caking, my initial thought was to just dump ganache over the top of the cake and let it run down the sides naturally. If you’ve ever tried that before, you’ll know it doesn’t end up looking good. You’ll have a lot more control over the appearance if you start by dripping the sides until they’re aesthetically pleasing before filling in the top of the cake.
Try not to add too much ganache to the top when filling it in, because if you add any more to the drips you’ve created, it will make them travel farther than you’d like. Instead, try to use just a little ganache and spread it so that it just touches where your drips begin. The ganache on the top should self-level a bit, so don’t worry too much about getting it super smooth.
Tip 5: Don’t Touch Those Drips
If you’ve ever made a drip cake with ganache before, you’ll know that it’s a little sticky to the touch when it’s room temperature. When the drips have been refrigerated, they’re a little less fragile, but try not to touch the drips at all during the decorating or boxing-up process.
Chocolate Ganache Troubleshooting Tips
Since the consistency of your ganache is pretty much everything when it comes to a successful drip cake, I wanted to take a moment to talk about what to do if your drips are too thick or too runny. Most of the time, it doesn’t take a whole lot to bring your ganache back to ideal drip consistency. Here are some common problems and ways to solve them:
Problem 1: The drips are pooling at the bottom of the cake – this typically means your ganache is too warm, in which case I recommend to give the ganache 5-10 more minutes to cool down before attempting your next test drip on your chilled buttercream cake.
If you’ve let the ganache cool for a significant amount of time and the drips are still too runny, it means that too much liquid (heavy whipping cream) was incorporated into the recipe. To fix this problem, you’ll need to thicken the ganache with more chocolate. This will mean melting about 1-2 additional oz of chocolate in the microwave, warming the existing ganache to the same temperature as the melted chocolate, then whisking it all together before letting it cool back down to ideal drip consistency.
Problem 2: The drips are thick and gloppy – this means your ganache is too set (or too cold). To fix this, gently warm the ganache in the microwave in 5-10 second increments until it’s ideal drip consistency.
Problem 3: The ganache has split – this has never happened to me with this recipe, but if your ganache looks grainy or seized, it means that for some reason, the fat is separating from the liquid. To fix it, gently reheat the ganache in the microwave or over a double boiler to 92ºF to melt the fat crystals, then re-whisk to bring it back together.
Is there anything else you’d like to know about drip cakes? I’m certainly not an expert per se, but if you have more questions, let me know in the comments below and I’ll do my best to answer!
Hi Whitney!
Love the recipe. Going to be trying it today with ghardelli chocolate chips. Can I pour it directly over this cake https://temeculablogs.com/instant-pot-chocolate-cake/ after it cools? Or do I have wait 30min for the ganache to set?
Hi Anisha! I would wait until it thickens and cools to just above room temp, about 10-20 minutes. Otherwise it will be too watery and will just soak right into the cake. Enjoy!
Hola Whitney! Encantada con tus recetas, solamente no sé si me pudieras compartir que marcas de chocolate utilizas tanto obscuro como blanco, por que yo he probado con Turin y no gotea muy bien, no me gusta el resultado, espero me puedas compartir tus marcas por favor, gracias!
¡Hola Marilyn! Por lo general, uso chips de chocolate blanco o negro de la marca Nestlé, Ghiradelli o genéricos de la tienda y los tres han funcionado perfectamente con esta receta y técnica. ¡Espero que ayude!
Hi! If I want to add decorations (like chocolate pieces and piping), on top of the cake after doing the drip, should i wait till it has set or do it straight away?
Hi Ellie! Definitely pop the cake in the refrigerator for at least five minutes before continuing on with the decorating process. You’ll want that ganache nice and set so the rest of the decorations don’t go sliding off. Hope that helps!
Will the ganache work ok if dripping on to an ice cream cake?
Hi Michelle! I’ve never tried this technique on an ice cream cake, but I’m sure it would work!
Could I do this on an ice cream cake with whipped cream frosting?
Hi Suzanne! Although I’ve never tried that before, I’m sure that would work just fine as long as you’re using stabilized whipped cream frosting.
Fantastic info thanks, when you have applied the drip to the chilled cake, would you chill it again after or sit out on the counter. If you don’t chill it what do you do in warm weather?
Hi Helen! Refrigerating after dripping the cake isn’t necessary, but I like to pop it in the fridge for about 5-10 minutes to let it set up before adding more decorations to the top. And for warm weather, I like to keep the cake in the fridge until about an hour before serving just to decrease any chances of buttercream melting, etc. Hope that helps!
Hey! I want to add some chocolates on top of the cake. Could you tell me if I have to let it set in the fridge, or can I just add them as soon as its done. Thanks
Hi Alishba! By “chocolates” do you mean chocolate candies or pieces of chocolates? If so they should be fine to add on top of the cake as a final step in your decorating process. The only reason you would need to refrigerate is if your environment is warm enough to melt the chocolates. Or if by “chocolates” you mean a chocolate ganache drip (as shown in this tutorial) I would advise to follow every step in this tutorial above, including refrigerating the drip at the end for at least 10 min to let it set up before continuing in the decorating process.
Do you know if it’s possible to add a flavoring to the ganache? It seems to me that it might be more workable with an oil-based flavoring than with an alcohol- or water-based one, but I’m curious as to whether you’ve tried any of those. I’d like a touch of nutmeg essential oil in my white ganache, to use over an eggnog cake–but obviously not if it’s going to ruin the ganache.
Hi Sonja! I’ve never tried flavoring ganache with a water or oil-based additive, but after a quick Google search it looks like people flavor ganache with essential oils all the time! I’d say go for it! And let me know how it goes, cause now I’m curious 🙂
Test completed! I made a simple two-layer eggnog cake, filled and crumb-coated with buttercream flavored with rum. I then used your White Chocolate Ganache recipe with one dropperful of nutmeg essential oil. The consistency was lovely–the ganache didn’t separate or break or act “weird” in any way. Your drip technique worked beautifully. Thanks for your recipes, tutorials, and input!
Yay, Sonja!! I bet that ganache (and entire cake) tasted amaaazing! Thanks so much for taking the time to let me know how it went, I am going to have to try using essential oils to flavor ganache some time!
Hi! I’m going to try this for the first time but I can’t find double cream or heavy whipping cream anywhere, can I use whipping cream instead? What would the ratio be for that?
Thanks
Hi Alishba! I’ve never tried making ganache with whipping cream before, so I’m not entirely sure how it will differ from ganache made with heavy whipping cream. After a quick Google search, it looks like the higher the fat content of your liquid in a ganache, the more stable the end result will be. That said, you can certainly try whipping cream but it may not set up properly. The only way to know for sure is to try it, and if you do, let me know how it goes!
If I’m putting sprinkles on the ganache drip should I refrigerate the cake first and then add sprinkles?
Hi Olivia! After dripping the cake, you should refrigerate it for about five minutes just to let it set a little bit before adding the sprinkles. I do have a full tutorial for creating a sprinkle drip cake with all my tips here: https://sugarandsparrow.com/sprinkle-drip-cake/
Can i do a chocolate drip on a cream cheese frosted cake? The cream cheese is very soft
Hi Mily, as long as the frosting gets firm after chilling it in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes, you should totally be able to drip it with this ganache!
Can I use it over boiled icing frosting?
Hi Anne! I’m sure you could, as long as you follow the instructions for chilling the frosted cake before dripping with room temperature ganache. Let me know if you try it!
Hello.. are the ratios by weight? For eg: 180gms choc and 180gms of cream? It’s easy to put to little choc in a cup due to gaps.
Thanks
Amy
Hi Amy! The ratios are not by weight since the weight of chocolate differs from the weight of heavy whipping cream. Instead, the ratios are by mass. I do provide the gram/ml measurements in the recipe though!
Hi, I want to write happy birthday on my cake that has already been frosted. Do I write it after I’ve applied the gnache and it has been chilled or before?
Hi Ify! I would chill the cake after applying the ganache, then write happy birthday on it once the ganache has set (10 min in the refrigerator should do the trick).
Hi Suzanne! Sorry the drips didn’t go as planned. It definitely takes some practice and patience to get the ganache the right consistency. The ganache has to be around room temperature to ensure the drips don’t travel too far. If you find that the ganache is too runny at room temp next time, a good way to troubleshoot is to gently reheat the ganache and add about a Tbsp more chocolate chips to thicken it up a little.