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Learn to make a Chocolate Drip Cake with this easy method! All you need is chocolate ganache, a frosted cake and a few simple tools. You’ll be on your way to an impressive yet easily decorated cake in no time!
How to Make a Chocolate Drip Cake
Chocolate drip cakes create such a fun and impressive look, it’s no wonder they’ve become so popular. With a little time and not too much effort, you can turn any cake into a statement piece. I’ve made quite a number of chocolate drip cakes including, but not limited to, my Reese’s Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake, Red Wine Chocolate Cake, Nutella Chocolate Cake and my Best Chocolate Cake. All are some of my favorites.
Tools Needed to Decorate a Drip Cake
So to get started, you’ll need a few simple things.
Turntable
Squeeze bottle OR spoon
Frosted cake
Offset Spatula
Chocolate ganache
DRIP CAKE DECORATING METHODS
There are two methods you could use for making a chocolate drip cake. I prefer the look and ease of the squeeze bottle method, but if you don’t have one the spoon method will work as well.
No matter which method you use, you’ll need to start by making the chocolate ganache. Feel free to check out my blog post on how to make it and learn more about adjustments you can make. Once your ganache is made, let it sit for about 10 minutes to cool a bit.
SQUEEZE BOTTLE METHOD
To use the squeeze bottle method, add the chocolate ganache to your bottle. Place the tip of the bottle just a couple centimeters above the top edge of the cake and gently squeeze the bottle to release the ganache. Release the pressure on the bottle when you’ve added enough of a drip, leaving just a little pressure to fill in the gap as you move to the next drip, turning the turntable as you go. Keep in mind that the more chocolate you add, the longer the drip will be. Test out a drip or two to get a feel for the amount of chocolate to use per drip, if needed.
After adding drips around the top edge of the cake, fill in the center. You want to work quickly so that the ganache doesn’t firm up too much. I usually just use my squeeze bottle, but you could also just pour the chocolate into the center of the cake. You can heat it up for 10-15 seconds before adding it, if needed. Use your offset spatula to spread the chocolate ganache evenly.
THE SPOON METHOD
If you decide you’d rather not work with a squeeze bottle, you can use a spoon. Use your spoon to add the chocolate to the edges of the cake and gently push it over the edge so that it falls, creating a drip. Continue adding drips around the outer edge until you’ll gone all the way around.
To fill in the center, pour the remaining chocolate ganache onto the top of the cake and use your offset spatula to spread it evenly.
TIPS FOR THE PERFECT CHOCOLATE DRIP CAKE
As with anything, perfecting the chocolate drip look takes a little practice and few good tips. To make the perfect chocolate drip cake, there are a few things you want to keep in mind:
1. Chocolate temperature matters. The temperature of your chocolate ganache determines how thick or thin it is. After I make my chocolate ganache, I let it sit for about 10-15 minutes to thicken up just a bit before I use it for a drip cake. I don’t want the chocolate to drip too far down the sides of the cake, but I also don’t want it to sit in a blob at the top of the cake.
To test the temperature and thickness of my ganache, I often use a spoon to drip some down the side of a bowl to get an idea of just how quickly it drips. If it drips too quickly, I’ll let it sit a little longer. If it’s too slow, you could heat it back up. When it seems just about right, go for it.
2. Cake temperature matters. When thinking about the temperature of your chocolate, you also want to keep in mind the temperature of your cake. I usually work with a room temperature cake, so testing the chocolate on the side of a room temperature bowl works. But if your cake has been in the fridge, the chocolate is going to start cooling even more quickly as soon as it touches the cold cake. In that case, you’ll want your chocolate a little warmer when you use it so that it will still drip nicely.
3. Amount of heavy cream. I tend to use a little less cream in my chocolate ganache. I prefer to work with it a little thicker, but you could add an extra tablespoon or two of cream if you wanted. With the thicker ganache, you have slightly thicker drips and with thinner ganache, they’ll naturally be thinner drips.
WHITE CHOCOLATE DRIP CAKE
You can also use white chocolate to make a drip cake, like on my Hot Chocolate Cake. The amount of heavy cream in your white chocolate ganache can be reduced significantly, since the white chocolate is naturally thinner when melted. Rather than half a cup of heavy whipping cream for 6 ounces of chocolate chips, you’ll use 3 tablespoons of heavy whipping cream for the same amount of white chocolate.
Print
Chocolate Drip Cake
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Microwave
- Cuisine: American
Description
Learn to make a Chocolate Drip Cake with this easy method! All you need is chocolate ganache, a frosted cake and a few simple tools. You’ll be on your way to an impressive yet easily decorated cake in no time!
Ingredients
Semi-Sweet Chocolate
- 6 oz (1 cup | 169g) semi sweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
White Chocolate
- 6 oz (1 cup | 169g) white chocolate chips
- 3 tbsp heavy whipping cream
Instructions
1. Add the chocolate chips to a medium sized bowl and set aside.
2. Add the heavy whipping cream to a microwave safe bowl or measuring cup and heat for about 1 minute, keeping an eye on it. If it heats up too much, it’ll end up everywhere. Remove from the microwave just before it bubbles up.
3. Pour the warm cream over the chocolate chips and allow to sit for 3-5 minutes. You can cover the bowl with some clear wrap to trap in the heat, if you like.
4. Gently stir the cream and chocolate together until they come together to a smooth consistency. Try not to whisk too vigorously, which can add air bubbles to the ganache.
5. If making white chocolate ganache and you have some lumps remaining, heat in 10 second increments, stirring between, until ganache is smooth.
6. Allow ganache to cool for about 10 minutes, give or take, prior to using.
Hello and thank you for the great tips. Was just wondering if i may use half and half for my ganache instead of heavy cream .If not off to the store i go.
Half and half will thin it out more. You could try it, just use less of it.
Hi! Could it work on donuts?
I haven’t tried it, but it should. Depending on the consistency you want on your donuts, you could add a little more cream to thin it out.
Would this ‘drip’ ganache be good to use for a chocolate Bundt cake? Or should I a thicker ganache? Mine always seems to pool on to the plate the cake sites on 🙁
I would think it’d be great for a bundt cake, although you may not need all of it. My advice would be to pay attention to the temperature of the ganache before you add it to your cake. You could read through the part where I talk about dripping it down the side of a bowl (or something similar) to make sure it’s cooled and thickened enough, then it shouldn’t become a pool on the plate.
Thanks so much for your quick reply! Girls weekend at a family beach house this weekend 🙂
Can I use this whipping cream ready to mix?
I’m not sure what you mean. Are you referring to regular whipping cream, instead of heavy whipping cream? If so, that should be fine.
Hi Lindsay,
I’m considering using this recipe/technique on a 9″ round 4 layer cake made from rice crispy treats. With the recipe calling for heavy whipping cream, will the cake need to be refrigerated?
Technically, chocolate ganache can be left at room temperature for 24 hours or so. After that you’d want to refrigerate it.
Hi Lindsay,
Looking forward to making this delicious cake for my nephew and his fiancée who are coming to British Columbia, Canada from New York this weekend.
Would like to strain the seeds from the raspberry filling so would I do all this after the filling has been made?
Thank you and God Bless,
Brenda
Hi
What is the best method to wash and clean bottle ? Specialy if there is some ganashe left in bottle
If you have a baby bottle brush, that’s definitely helpful for those.
Can this be used on top of a whipped icing instead of buttercream icing?
Yes, it can.
Great
Perfect! Unqualified cake baker here, I baked a cake for my friends son’s 2nd birthday and used this recipe for the drip. Turned out perfectly!
So glad to hear that!
I love your video tutorial since I’m terrible at decorating cakes! You make it look easy and so gorgeous! Thanks for sharing your skills. =)
Glad it was helpful!
I love all your recipes
Very easy to follow
Thank you! Glad to hear that!
Im going to try this method today. Thank you
I hope it works well for you!
Hello! This is great! And I can’t wait to try this drip method. It do you also have a recipe for the white frosting (under the chocolate drip) or can I just use any frosting recipe for the base layer? Also how do you get the base layer so smooth? I always have knife marks (not pretty)
Here’s my recipe for vanilla buttercream. I would double it or so for covering a full cake, depending on how much frosting you like. https://www.lifeloveandsugar.com/vanilla-buttercream-icing/
And here’s my tutorial for frosting a smooth cake. https://www.lifeloveandsugar.com/how-to-frost-a-smooth-cake-with-buttercream/
Hey! As my first time doing a chocolate drip, this recipe was great! The only problem was that it was super thick and wouldn’t drip so I had to add a few extra teaspoons of cream. Do you know what would have made the difference? Like, did I not heat the cream enough or something?
So if you don’t weight the chocolate, it’s possible that you just used a little more chocolate and therefore it was a touch thicker. I do tend to use a thicker ganache than some though, so you can definitely add more cream. I just prefer the look of the thicker ganache rather than thinner chocolate that drips all the way to the bottom of the cake.