If, like me, you find American buttercream a little too sweet and don’t want to faff around making complicated meringue-style frostings, then whipped chocolate caramel ganache might just be the icing for you. It’s essentially a simple butter caramel that’s combined with melted chocolate and then, once cool, is whisked until light and fluffy. It’s more stable than buttercream and much less sickly sweet. You can adapt it by switching up the sugar and the type of chocolate used for a lighter finish or richer flavour.
What type of sugar should you use?
A soft brown sugar will give you a rich, caramel flavour. For a less intense flavour and lighter colour, use a light soft brown sugar. For something deeper in colour and taste, use a dark soft brown sugar.
Which type of chocolate is best?
Either milk or white chocolate work well. Make sure you use a good-quality chocolate; we like Lindt.
How to make it:
(this amount is enough to cover a large 20.5cm round cake)
- 375g salted butter
- 375g dark or light brown soft sugar
- 600ml double cream
- 300g milk or white chocolate
Method:
- In a large pan over low heat, melt butter and sugar. Stir in double cream, using a wooden spoon or spatula. Increase the heat to medium and bubble for 3-5min, stirring regularly, until the mixture has thickened slightly. Remove from heat and scrape into the bowl of a freestanding mixer or a large heatproof bowl. Stir in chocolate, to melt.
- Cover the surface with clingfilm or baking parchment, leave to cool (this will take several hours), then chill for at least 1 hour, and up to 1 day, to firm up slightly (if chilling a full day ahead, you may need to leave it to soften slightly at room temperature).
- Using a freestanding mixer with the whisk attachment, or a handheld electric whisk, beat the chilled caramel mixture until very light and fluffy, about 4-5min.
To decorate your cake
Spread a thin layer of the whipped caramel over the top and the sides of the cake (this is your crumb coat) and chill for 20min. Re-cover and chill the remaining whipped caramel. Once the crumb coat is firm, spread the remaining whipped caramel over the top and sides of the cake.
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Alice Shields is Senior Cookery Writer for Good Housekeeping. A trained pastry chef, you’ll find her food styling on photo shoots, developing delicious recipes and writing about all things food. She loves to bake and her favourite pudding will always be a chocolate fondant. Originally hailing from Lancashire, she finally achieved her goal of getting a butter pie recipe into the magazine.
