1. Put heatproof bowl over pan of gently simmering water. Put chocolate and butter into bowl and allow to gently melt.
2. Once nearly melted, stir to combine. Stir in cream until smooth, stirring continually.
3. Remove from heat. If you’re icing a cake, allow to cool for a few minutes so ganache thickens slightly.
4. Put cake to be iced on a rack over a tray. Pour ganache over centre of cake and let it run evenly down sides. Spread with a palette knife to smooth and even ganache. Leave to set before serving.
Use your skills to make these triple-tested recipes:
Decadent chocolate cake recipe
Sticky chocolate krispies recipe
19 of the best chocolate cake recipes
Cooling rack, Lakeland. Montreux saucepan (2 litres, 18cm), Kuhn Rikon UK Ltd. Classic glass bowl (1 litre), Classic glass measure jug (1 litre), Classic non-stick metal rectangular roaster, Pyrex. Wooden spoon, palette knife, chef's own.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
