Pouring chocolate ganache

Recently I've become fixated with chocolate ganache. I don't know what it is about covering a cake with melted chocolate that is so much fun but I think it's got something to do with covering a cake with melted chocolate.

Here is the recipe - note that the quantity of chocolate varies on whether you're using dark, milk or white:


Dark chocolate (min 54% cocoa solids)
125g double cream, 30g liquid glucose, 175g chocolate


Milk chocolate (min 33% cocoa solids)
125g double cream, 30g liquid glucose, 250g chocolate


White chocolate (min 26% cocoa solids)
125g double cream, 30g liquid glucose, 300g chocolate


These quantities should be enough for an 8 inch round cake.


You can buy liquid glucose in the supermarket in the homebaking section, it looks like this

To make the ganache, break the chocolate into small pieces. Heat the cream and glucose to boiling point and pour it over the chocolate. Leave it for a minute to melt the chocolate, then stir well until you have a smooth, glossy mix. Allow it to cool for a couple of minutes and while it is still runny, pour it over the cake. It might need a helping hand with a palette knife to cover the sides completely.

I like to cover the cake first with marzipan but if you're one of those people who think marzipan is the food of the devil, you can use chocolate paste or just pour it straight onto the sponge.

I used honey flavoured chocolate on my dad's birthday cake.
The mix of honey, chocolate and almond tasted like a massive Toblerone bar.

I was so pleased with the honey-flavoured chocolate that I used it again on my cake for Clandestine Cake Club last week, which had the theme "a novel idea - inspired by a myth, fairytale, poem or story".

Lunchbox in John Lewis. I was not allowed to buy it as a) I don't eat packed lunches and b) I'm 39.

I took The Owl and the Pussycat as my inspiration because it mentions honey and it's a poem my dad used to recite to me a long time ago. It was the first single I ever bought on Blyth market, so cheap it didn't have a record sleeve. I made one myself and crayonned a picture. For a darker take on the same story, I'd recommend Stewart Lee's Pea Green Boat, available for purchase or download from the brilliant Go Faster Stripe. 

Honey cake from Marian Keyes' Saved by Cake; five pound note is printed on sugar by Eat Your Photo

If you'd like to try a dairy-free vegan chocolate ganache, use the dark chocolate recipe (make sure you have good quality milk-free chocolate) and substitute coconut milk for cream in the recipe above. The result is delicious - there is a slight taste of coconut under the blast of dark chocolate that I really like.

Vegan chocolate ganache

The chocolate ganache sets but remains tacky enough to hold decorations and not to crack when you move or cut the cake. It has a beautiful gloss and is useful for covering tricky shapes like numbers.  

If you have any ganache left over, you can make chocolate truffles: once the ganache has set, roll it into balls, chill them for half an hour in the fridge and roll them in something tasty like chopped nuts or cocoa powder. I hope this gives you as much pleasure as it gives me.