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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.
Hi, I would like this ganache to have nutella flavour. How much of nutella would you recommend I add and which point would I have to add it?
I’m not sure. I haven’t done that for a drip cake and it’s hard to say without testing it.
This recipe was amazing! I’ve been looking for a good ganache for drip cakes and the constistancy is perfect. The tips and instructions were so helpful too!
So glad it was helpful!
Hi! Can I use compound white chocolate?
I’m not familiar with compound white chocolate.
Love all your recipes Good day… may I use milk chocolate chips instead of semi sweet? If so can I use the Ghirardelli brand?
That brand is fine. I don’t typically use milk chocolate though. You might need to reduce the amount of cream a bit but I’m not sure.
Thanks so much for all the amazing recipes. I would like to know if I use white chocolate for ganache could I use a good coloring. For instant red coloring on a red velvet cheesecake or use different favors of chips for ganache. Thank you for taking time to read my question.
Different types of chips need different amounts of cream because of the different ingredients and consistencies of the melted chips. You can use gel icing color though. Here are a few examples of different flavors and colors:
Peanut butter ganache drip
White chocolate ganache drip
Pink white chocolate drip using gel icing color
Red drip using candy melts
I hope that helps!
hey there, this recipe is awesome but the last time I attempted to make a drip cake, the drip sat on the cake perfectly until it started to separate from the cake and fall onto the cake board. Do you know why this would’ve happened?
I’ve made SO many drip cakes and not once had that happen, so it’s hard for me to say. I wonder if maybe the brand of chocolate or something could have been an issue? Was your cake frosted with buttercream?
I could imagine that it was too little cream? If the chocolate hardens too much in the cooling process, it can break off the cake easily. With more cream it stays softer and therefor the risk of that happening is smaller.
Can I heat up the heavy cream on a stove? And if so for how long? Thank you!
You can, heat it until it just starts to boil.
This recipe is incredibly easy to make and so so good!!! I followed the directions exactly and the consistency of the ganache was perfect! The tip to drip some from the top of a bowl to check for thickness was really helpful! I decorated my cake with it and reheated the extra later for anyone that wanted some extra chocolate ganache on their cake. I think the most important thing to get right with this recipe is to not overheat the milk and not over whisk the chocolate/milk. I used a spoon and stirred it slowly until it was mixed well. Thank you for this great recipe!!!
Awesome! I’m so glad to hear it was helpful!
Hi. My stepdaughter wants black and pink frosting for her birthday cake (for her fave kpop group, blackpink). I’m thinking pink/strawberry frosting all over with a black drip. Would adding black food coloring to a chocolate ganache work? Or would using the coloring with white chocolate work better?
Hi lindsay,
I dripped my caramel sauce on my cake but after sometime I found that the dripped sauce has got faded. Iam so sad and I want to know the reason and make it more better next time… plz help me
What caramel sauce did you use? That can definitely happen with caramel sauce so it’ll depend a little bit on which you use. It’s a little bit different than chocolate ganache.
I unwilling use this method for my mom birthday tomorrow I am sure it’ll be good
I will be making my first birthday cake for my daughters friend and your dripping tips will make this process a little easier thank you so much
Hello, I followed your ganache recipe to the T and it turned out perfectly! I especially liked your tip about allowing the heated heavy cream to sit in the bowl of chocolate chips for 3-5 minutes covered with plastic wrap before mixing. Unfortunately, that’s where my good luck ended. My daughter really wanted a chocolate drip ICE CREAM cake. Even an extremely well frozen ice cream cake couldn’t handle mildly warm ganache. It looked like a mess made for a Pinterest fail thread. Thankfully I bought a “test” ice cream cake before her actual birthday. Any ideas or suggestions on making drips for an ice cream cake or is that an impossible dream? Thanks!
It’s definitely tricky with ice cream, since it melts. But I did use a chocolate drip successfully on this ice cream cake. I just did the drip on the sides though, I didn’t add the chocolate on top. Maybe try changing the cold setting on your freezer to get your cake extra cold first.
oh my, I did not. lol definitely will next time. No wonder it was too thick. Thank you for replying. Very nice of you!
My drip sauce turned out very well. I used it on a chocolate cake for my mom’s 70th birthday cake. I received many compliments. Recipe is definitely a keeper!
So glad you were happy with it!
Hi Lindsay..Is it possible to do the ganache w/out heavy whipping cream? i only got non dairy whipping cream, full cream milk, evaporated milk and condensed milk..Cam i just melt them with any of this and whats the measurement? or should i just melt with oil or butter? Thanks