Ganache ratio calculator

What ganache is

Ganache is chocolate melted into hot cream and stirred until smooth and glossy. Food scientists usually describe it as an emulsion: fat from the cocoa butter and cream held in fine droplets through the water in the cream (a 2024 review in the journal Foods notes that the exact structure is still debated). When that emulsion fails, the ganache splits. The proportions, chocolate composition and serving temperature all affect whether it is pourable or firm.

How the ratio sets firmness

Ratios are parts by weight, chocolate first: 3 : 2 means 3 g of chocolate for every 2 g of cream. More chocolate gives a firmer set. With dark chocolate, King Arthur Baking finds equal weights pourable and very soft once set, and 2 : 1 thick enough for solid truffles. Food Network Kitchen agrees on 2 : 1 for truffles but uses 1 : 1 for soft frosting or filling and a thinner 1 : 2 for glaze. Higher-cacao chocolate needs more liquid and is harder to emulsify (Alice Medrich), so the dark ratios here assume semisweet or bittersweet chocolate of around 60% cacao.

Chocolate (g) = total (g) × chocolate parts ÷ (chocolate parts + cream parts)
Cream (g) = chocolate (g) × cream parts ÷ chocolate parts

For 300 g of dark filling at 3 : 2, chocolate = 300 × 3 ÷ 5 = 180 g and cream = 180 × 2 ÷ 3 = 120 g.

Starting ratios by chocolate and use

The dark ratios follow King Arthur Baking and Food Network Kitchen. King Arthur’s 3 : 1 milk-chocolate ratio is an all-purpose ganache that changes texture as it cools, rather than a promise of one fixed firmness. Its white example uses white baking chips, so we do not treat it as a universal ratio for white couverture. Callebaut and Valrhona use specific chocolates and full formulations, sometimes with other ingredients. Their quantities cannot establish every two-ingredient ratio in this table. For unfilled combinations, use a recipe matched to your chocolate and enter its ratio in the calculator.

Why milk and white chocolate need more chocolate

Cocoa particles firm a ganache: the Foods review notes that more of them make a harder, less spreadable ganache. In the US, semisweet and bittersweet chocolate must contain at least 35% chocolate liquor, milk chocolate only 10%. White chocolate contains none: it is made from cacao fat (at least 20%), milk solids (at least 14%) and up to 55% sweetener. Melted sugar behaves like a liquid and softens the ganache (Foods review; King Arthur Baking), so you need more milk or white chocolate to reach the same firmness.

Cream fat content

The ratios assume cream of about 35% fat: UK whipping cream and Australian cream must have at least 35%, US heavy cream at least 36%, and Valrhona’s quick guide uses 36%. UK double cream (at least 48%) and lighter creams will set differently, so cool a spoonful on a cold plate to check the set before committing the batch.

Method and temperatures

1. Chop the chocolate finely and put it in a heatproof bowl.
2. Heat the cream until it steams, just short of boiling (King Arthur Baking). Callebaut and Valrhona recipes add it at about 75–80 °C (167–176 °F).
3. Pour the cream over the chocolate, leave it for about 5 minutes, then stir until smooth. For firm ganache, an immersion blender held below the surface gives the best emulsion without air bubbles (Alice Medrich; Debic).
4. Pour a glaze while fluid; Callebaut uses its ganache at 30–35 °C (86–95 °F). Refrigerate fresh-cream fillings and truffle ganache promptly in shallow containers to set. Do not copy long room-temperature setting schedules from professional confectionery formulas without their formulation and validated storage conditions.
5. For whipped ganache, chill a soft-filling ganache, then beat it until it lightens; King Arthur Baking found this adds about 40% to the volume. Valrhona and Debic chill whipped ganache for about 12 hours first.

Fixing split or grainy ganache

A broken ganache turns grainy or oily instead of smooth. King Arthur Baking names three common causes: too little liquid (less than one part cream to two parts chocolate, or chocolate above 70% cacao, which has too little sugar to turn liquid), overheating, and cold cream stirred into warm ganache. Its fix is warm water at 32–35 °C (90–95 °F), whisked in a teaspoon at a time until the ganache comes back together; water adds no extra fat. If it is only too thick, beat it or warm it gently; if too thin, let it cool and set.

Storage and food safety

Ganache made with fresh cream should be treated as perishable unless its specific formulation and storage conditions have been validated. FoodSafety.gov advises refrigerating perishable food within 2 hours (1 hour above 32 °C or 90 °F), in a fridge at 4 °C (40 °F) or below. Cool it promptly in shallow containers and keep cream-filled cakes refrigerated too.

Follow the storage time in the recipe matched to your ingredients. Published ganache keeping times vary with formulation, water content and handling, so this ratio calculator does not establish a safe shelf life. Professional confectionery schedules are not a general room-temperature storage allowance for homemade fresh-cream ganache.

Sources

• King Arthur Baking: How to make ganache
• King Arthur Baking: Chocolate Ganache recipe
• King Arthur Baking: How to fix broken ganache
• Food Network Kitchen: What Is Ganache?
• Food52 (Alice Medrich): 3 Tips for Chocolate Ganache Success
• Callebaut: 5 Colours of Ganache
• Valrhona: Dark chocolate ganaches (The Essentials)
• Valrhona: The Essentials quick guide (PDF)
• Debic: Whipped ganache
• Foods (MDPI, 2024): Chocolate Ganaches: Formulation, Processing and Stability in View of the New Production Trends
• eCFR: 21 CFR 163.123 Sweet chocolate
• eCFR: 21 CFR 163.130 Milk chocolate
• eCFR: 21 CFR 163.124 White chocolate
• eCFR: 21 CFR 131.150 Heavy cream
• legislation.gov.uk: The Food Labelling Regulations 1996, Schedule 8
• Federal Register of Legislation (Australia): Food Standards Code Standard 2.5.2 Cream (P1025 variation)
• FoodSafety.gov: 4 Steps to Food Safety