Ever since I shared this recipe and tutorial for semi-sweet chocolate ganache drip cakes, I’ve gotten so many questions about making white chocolate ganache drip cakes. I’m so excited to share these tips with you because I know how finicky white chocolate ganache can be if you don’t get the ratio and timing just right. In fact, the first time I made it (using a super popular recipe that won’t be named) the ganache was so thin and runny that the drips just ran down the side of the cake and pooled at the bottom, even after cooling it to below room temperature! I have since experimented with white chocolate ganache to find the perfect ratio of chocolate to heavy whipping cream, and have found some handy tips for making it extra white and beautiful.
The first thing you need to know about white chocolate is that it’s not a true chocolate, meaning there’s a lack of chocolate solids and therefore doesn’t behave the same as semi-sweet, milk, or dark chocolate. Instead, it’s made from a mixture of sugar, cocoa butter, milk products, vanilla, and some sort of fatty substance called lecithin. Although I’ve never tried making white chocolate ganache with anything fancier than Hershey’s white chocolate chips, you can feel free to go as branded or non-branded as you want. Generic white chocolate chips or a white chocolate bar chopped into small pieces will work just fine.
With the absence of chocolate solids, the ratio of heavy whipping cream to white chocolate chips is going to be different than other ganache recipes. I’ve found a 3:1 ratio to be absolutely perfect (exact recipe below), meaning three parts chocolate to one part heavy whipping cream. Just bring the cream to an almost-boil, pour it over the white chocolate chips, whisk it together until it’s uniform, and you’re good.
Here’s a detailed video of the recipe, and you can continue reading below for all of my tips on working with white chocolate ganache:
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White Chocolate Ganache For Drip Cakes
Ingredients
- 1 Cup (190g) white chocolate chips or bar, chopped into bits
- 1/3 Cup (80ml) heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 tsp food color gel or whitening gel (optional)
Instructions
- Chop the white chocolate chips or bar as finely as you can and place it into a heat resistant bowl (glass or metal).
- In a saucepan over medium-high heat, warm heavy whipping cream until it just starts to simmer, whisking constantly. I always look for small bubbles forming around the edge and a soft boil starting in the middle. When it reaches this stage, pour the cream over the white chocolate.
- Whisk together until the ganache is uniform in consistency and there are no bits of chocolate left on your whisk. It can help to hold the bowl over the residual heat from the burner (once it's turned off) if you're having a hard time whisking everything together.
- Whiten or color the ganache (optional), then cool ganache at room temperature for anywhere from 5-20 minutes (depending on your kitchen environment), or until the ganache itself is slightly above room temperature. See the instructions for dripping a cake with white chocolate ganache + troubleshooting tips in the rest of this blog post below.
Notes
Tip 1: Whiten Your Ganache If It’s Too Yellow
The thing about white chocolate chips is that they aren’t exactly as white in color as they seem to be. To whiten the ganache, I swear by Americolor Bright White food color gel. It works like a dream every time, and you only need about half a teaspoon per batch of white chocolate ganache to get a perfectly bright white.
Some bakers like to use white candy melts in place of white chocolate chips to make white ganache, but I don’t like the taste of candy melts. So the whitening method is my favorite option.
Tip 2: 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, about 20-30 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 3: Chill Your Buttercream
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 white 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 4: Start With 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 5: Drip The Sides Before Filling In The Top
Whether you’re using a spoon to create drips (like I am!) or you’re into the squeeze bottle method, it’s best to drip the sides of the cake before filling in the top. Although it might be tempting to just dump all of the ganache on the top of the cake and let the drips fall where they may, you’ll have more control over the length of each drip by starting with the sides (after a successful test drip of course).
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.
And there you have it – everything I know about dripping cakes with white chocolate ganache. It’s a really good skill to have in your cake decorating repertoire, especially with how versatile white chocolate ganache can be color-wise. Adding a little food color gel can turn it any vibrant color of the rainbow! And whether you keep it white or color it up, I promise it’ll taste a million times better than candy melts.
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, I’m thinking of trying to cover a car shaped cake in this ganache recipe as when I’ve used fondant before it’s lost the sharpness of the car shape and made it look soft and rounded! I think a ganache recipe will work better as it will just drip all over and keep the perfect shape! Do u think this will work and will I be able to add further detail once it’s set ?
Hi Sarah! I think a drip-consistency ganache might be too soft underneath fondant, but I’m not entirely sure (never tried it before!). Any time I’ve made a fondant cake I’ve used buttercream underneath, then smoothed and chilled it until firm before adding the fondant. I would look for a tutorial online and see what’s recommended for carved cakes like what you’re working with.
Hello
What would be the perfect ratio to coat a cake with white chocolate ganache under fondant?
Thank you
Hi Tee! I’ve never covered a cake in whipped white chocolate ganache before, but everything I’ve researched on the internet tells me to use a 3:1 ratio of white chocolate to cream (same as the recipe in this post), then store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours. It should be about peanut butter consistency at that point, and you just add it to a stand mixer and whip it for a few minutes. Here’s where I got those directions from: https://sugargeekshow.com/recipe/white-chocolate-ganache-recipe/
Hi Whitney, first of all, thanks for such detailed recipe and tips 🙂 I have a question – what do you think, can I apply chocolate ganache over the whipped cream? I am from Serbia, and here is not so popular to use buttercream like in America, and frankly, I still can’t find recipe for buttercream that will work good… Thanks!
Hi Bambi! Thanks so much for your kind words about my recipes and tips. I’m so happy they’re helping! You can definitely do a chocolate ganache drip over stabilized whip cream frosting. Just follow the exact same steps in this recipe and tutorial (make sure the cake is chilled before dripping, that the ganache is room temp before dripping, etc).
I did this with using color melting chocolate wafers. The drip worked out almost beautifully but then as the cake was condensating, the color from the ganache started to bleed and run down the cake? Any ideas?
Hi Kristin! I’ve never used melting chocolate wafers for a drip before, so I can’t say for sure what happened. Color separation has never happened with the above ganache recipe, but depending on the brand of chocolate wafers or the type of food color gel you used, it seems like something went wrong with the color somehow. I would research to see if other people had the same issue with the particular brand you used.
I’m very happy with the result. the cake look beautiful.
That’s amazing, Laura! I’m so happy to hear that you loved this drip cake tutorial!
Hello
I have fondant accents on the sides of the cake and am going to top the cake with a coloured white chocolate ganache .Could I leave the cake out of the fridge overnight .Otherwise the fondant accents will melt if kept in your fridge .
Hi Shreya! You can leave the cake out of the fridge overnight if you’d like. After the white chocolate ganache drip is set it won’t drip any further.
Hi! you say in your recipe that is a 3:1 ratio… but the measurments don’t add up… if i’m using the 79ml (1/3cup) shouldn’t i use 237gr. of white chocolate instead of the 190gr. that’s on the recipe?? i’m going to make the recipe, but i don’t want the ganache to be too runny!! thank you!
Hi there! By 3:1 ratio I am not going by weight of the ingredients, but rather by amount. So, for every 1 Cup of white chocolate chips, you would add 1/3 Cup of heavy whipping cream. In other words, 3 parts white chocolate to 1 part heavy whipping cream. Does that make sense?
Omg. How did you get that pink buttercream colour? Which colours did you use to get that????? Gorgeous
Thanks, Izzy! I used Americolor Fuschia food color gel to get the pink buttercream color: https://amzn.to/2Z19C03
How long should it be left to cool before I do the dripping?
Hi Claire! It takes 30 minutes to 1 hour (depending on the temp of your kitchen) before the ganache is room temp and ready to drip. A few ways to check if it’s ready to drip: 1) the bottom of the bowl the ganache is in won’t be warmer than your hand, 2) when you dip a spoon in it, it doesn’t run off the spoon for longer than a few seconds, and 3) do a test drip on a cold buttercream cake to see how far the drip travels. If it quickly reaches the bottom of the cake it’s too warm, if it doesn’t travel far enough it’s too set and will need to be warmed up a little more.
I’m planning on making a naked cake and using light pink drip on the bottom cake and light blue drip on the top cake for my daughters gender reveal party in a couple weeks , my question is will it be ok for the cake to be out in upper 80 degree weather? We are having it outside .
Hi Shellie! That sounds like an awesome gender reveal cake! I’m sure the cake will be fine at that temperature for an hour or so. I would keep the cake in the fridge until about an hour before serving/presenting it just to make sure the buttercream doesn’t start to melt.
Hi! Can I put this on the cake if I’m not serving it for 24 hours?
Hi MarLyn! You certainly can! I usually drip the cake the night before and keep it in the refrigerator until about an hour before serving.
Best,
Whitney
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Hi. I used this recipe last night and it ended horribly! I made the ganache and it was all fine and then I left it, like in the recipe to come to room temp and it was just a ball of elastic. I then heated it in the microwave to loosen and nothing. I had managed to do the drip around the cake but when trying to cover the top it was too hot so melted to buttercream but then if I left it the ganache was too hard to spread! I ended up using my fingers to try and push it around the edges of the cake. Not my finest hour!!
Oh no, Rachel! Was it a long time between dripping the sides of the cake and trying to fill in the top? I’m having a hard time understanding why the drips ended up ok but the top didn’t.. It sounds like next time, maybe add 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream to your 1 cup of white chocolate chips (so, more liquid). In my environment, 1/3 cup of cream to 1 cup of white chocolate works well for me, but it’s not always the case for everyone.
I had the same thing happen to me. All thick and elastic even after I rewarmed it. I was just able to do some thick short drips. I’ll try more cream next time.
how long does it take for the ganache to set before I can add decorations on top of it? I plan on adding some gumpaste flowers on top…and the last time I tried to add decorations the ganache was still soft… does it ever dry completely or is it always soft? also do I have to refrigerate or can it sit at room temp?
Thanks
Hi, Melinda! I recommend placing the cake in the refrigerator after dripping the cake with ganache for about ten minutes. After that it should be firm enough to add your gumpaste flowers. It’s always a little bit soft, but not so soft that it will make your decorations slide or keep dripping.
Hi Whitney
Thank you for this foolproof method. I haven’t had great success with ganache in the past and definitely not with the white variety lol but this turned out beautifully!
That’s so wonderful to hear, Rania!! I’m so glad this recipe and method works for you. Thanks for letting me know!