White Chocolate Ganache
Rich and silky smooth, White Chocolate Ganache is a great recipe to have on hand. Whip it to create an airy cake filling or frosting, roll it in crystal sugar to make Snowball Truffles, or drizzle it on a cheesecake. The possibilities are endless.
Can I use White Chocolate to make Ganache?
Yes! You can make ganache from white chocolate. Because white chocolate is softer than dark chocolate you must use less cream to make white chocolate ganache.
I absolutely adore my Chocolate Ganache recipe. I think it’s an essential recipe to have on hand for making desserts and pastries. But, much as I love dark chocolate, it is a very assertive flavor that pretty much takes over any dish.
White chocolate has a fairly neutral flavor. Thanks to that neutral flavor, White Chocolate Ganache will take on other flavors very nicely.
Is White Chocolate chocolate?
White chocolate is made from cocoa butter, milk solids and vanilla. It doesn’t have the “chocolate liquor”, or cocoa particles, that gives dark chocolate it’s chocolatiness.
Technically white chocolate isn’t chocolate because it doesn’t have cocoa solids. But a good white chocolate should contain plenty of luscious cocoa butter. Cocoa butter is what gives real chocolate the “melt in your mouth” characteristic.
So lets go ahead and call white chocolate a type of chocolate.
How to make White Chocolate Ganache
Step 1: Chop the white chocolate into small bits that will melt easily in the hot cream.
Step 2: Pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate and let it sit for a couple of minutes.
Step 3: Gently stir until all the bits of chocolate are melted. If you don’t chop the chocolate very fine you might find a few bits that don’t want to melt. Remove a small amount (1/2 cup) of ganache from the bowl. Heat that in the microwave for 30 seconds and stir it into the ganache to melt the remaining chocolate.
Step 4: Allow the ganache to cool completely at room temperature before chilling.
Pastry Chef Tips for Making Perfect White Chocolate Ganache:
- White chocolate is softer than dark chocolate and can’t take as much cream. Dark Chocolate Ganache can be made with as much as 2x the weight of cream to chocolate.
- Use high quality white chocolate, not white chocolate chips or “coating chocolate”. The quality of the ganache is only as good as the quality of the chocolate.
- After lots of testing, I found that the proportion of 8-10 oz of white chocolate to 4 oz of cream yields a white chocolate ganache that will set up firm, but is still soft enough to whip into an airy frosting.
- For truffles use 10 oz of white chocolate and 4 oz of cream. For a slightly softer ganache suitable for glazing a cake or whipping into a frosting, use 8 oz of chocolate and 4 oz of cream.
- If you want to whip the ganache let it cool to room temperature, but don’t let it firm up completely. Use whipped ganache immediately because it will set very quickly once the air is whipped into it.
- White Chocolate Ganache can be stored at room temperature for 2-3 days and then should be refrigerated or frozen for longer term storage.
Check out these recipes that use White Chocolate Ganache in all sorts of creative ways: White Chocolate Raspberry Brownies, Ginger Sandwich Cookies with Pumpkin Ganache, White Chocolate Cranberry Cheesecake, Guinness Fudge Cake with Guinness Ganache, Spice Cake with Spiced Ganache.
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White Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients
- 10 oz white chocolate (finely chopped)
- 4 oz heavy cream (½ cup)
- 1 tablespoon white rum (optional, see note)
Instructions
- Place the chopped white chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream in the microwave until it's scalding hot. Immediately pour the cream over the chopped chocolate and let it sit for 2-3 minutes. Gently stir the ganache until it comes together and all the bits of white chocolate are melted. Add the optional rum or other flavoring.10 oz white chocolate, 4 oz heavy cream, 1 tablespoon white rum
- If some of the chocolate doesn't melt, remove 1/2 cup of the ganache and heat for 30 seconds in the microwave. Stir the heated ganache back into the bowl. Repeat until all the bits of chocolate are melted. Let the ganache cool at room temperature until completely set. After the ganache is set at room temperature you can chill it until firm to make truffles (see note)
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Can this be used to coat a cake underneath fondant?
Sure.
Hey Eileen.
I just found this recipe tonight and I am excited to try it. Just wondering though if this recipe would work with dairy free items, and if it would be suitable for filling chocolates. Thank you kindly in advance.
This can definitely be used as a filling for chocolates. I don’t see any reason you shouldn’t be able to use dairy-free milk like coconut or almond milk. The texture might be slightly different, but I’m sure it would work.
Hi Eileen, do you have any other suggestions for rolling/dipping besides crystal sugar? Great recipe and easy to follow instructions. Thank you. Rhonda
Hi Rhonda, I think white nonpareils would also be nice and in keeping with the “snowball” theme. You could use any other color or shape sprinkles, depending on the effect you want. You could roll them in melted white chocolate and let them set. Unfortunately, powdered sugar would just melt away so that’s not an option. There is a product called “snow sugar” that is a non-melting powdered sugar, but, personally, I don’t think it tastes very good.
Eileen, you may be able to help me. Using a recipe partly similar to this, I have been trying to develop a Cremeux using white chocolate. My imagination tells me I should be able to get a consistency like thick dollop cream, that will stand up when plated, rather than run, and give a silky mouthfeel, with a delicious white chocolate kick..I am trying to avoid the slightly floury mouth feel that’s often present when a more thickened custard approach is used.
Hi Malcolm. Hmmm, I get what you’re asking. I’m not sure this white chocolate ganache would get the exact texture you’re after. When I whip the room temperature ganache (as I did for the pumpkin ganache in my ginger cookies) it becomes the texture of loose whipped cream. But it is still flowy. After chilling a bit it becomes firmer. I think you’d have to maybe play with making a white chocolate whipped cream, rather than a ganache. I haven’t done it specifically with white chocolate, but I have made chocolate whipped cream by liasoning (is that a verb??) melted chocolate into whipped cream.
Intrigued… I wonder if making a mousse but reducing how much whipped cream is incorporated would yield the texture you’re looking for…
(“Liase” by the way 😀 )
Ha, ha, Liase! Thanks. But I agree that getting the cremeux texture might work better starting from a mousse or whipped cream than a ganache.
I did a white chocolate chip (one 11oz bag)with (1can) sweetened condensed milk wirh a teaspoon of vanilla . Melted over boiling water. A little thicker than I wanted but formed nicely.
@Melinda, you made fudge!!