Lavender Chocolate Ganache – For French Macarons, Cakes or Cupcakes

This Lavender Chocolate Ganache has such a delicate but rich and creamy taste at the same time. It is great for filling French macarons or for filling or frosting cakes or cupcakes. 

You can make it with 3 simple ingredients: white chocolate, whipping cream, and a touch of lavender syrup.

You can make Unwhipped Lavender Chocolate Ganache to fill macarons or to spread it on cake layers in a thin layer. Or, you can mix this  lavender ganache with whipped cream and use this for filling or frosting cakes or cupcakes.

If you’re using the lavender ganache for French macarons or for frosting cupcakes, I recommend using less lavender syrup – 35 ml (2.5 Tbsp). If you use more, the flavour will be too strong.

Or, if you’re using the lavender ganache for filling cakes, then you can use more lavender syrup – 70 ml (5 Tbsp). For example, a vanilla cake filled with lavender ganache & another filling like a vanilla buttercream or vanilla pastry cream with butter. If your only cake filling is the whipped lavender ganache, I’d still go for a lower amount of lavender syrup, maybe around 45 ml ( 3 Tbsp).  

Ingredients

• 200 g (1 1/4 cups) white chocolate* callets/chips + 100 ml (1 cup + 1 Tbsp) whipping cream
• 200 ml (1 cup + 2 Tbsp) whipping cream
• 35 ml (2.5 Tbsp) – 70 ml (5 Tbsp) lavender syrup**
• purple oil-based food colouring or one part blue and one part red (optional)

The quantities in this recipe will make enough ganache to fill an 18 cm (7’’) cake with two layers of filling.

Notes: 

*All chocolate should be a good-quality baking or couverture chocolate.

** I used Lavender Syrup (Monin but there are other brands too) which is usually used for flavouring shakes, cocktails, lemonade etc.. If you use another type of syrup, the quantities might have to be adjusted depending on how concentrated the syrup is. 

Directions

Unwhipped Lavender Chocolate Ganache

Heat 100 ml (1 cup + 1 Tbsp) of whipping cream in a heavy-bottomed saucepan (or in a bowl over a pot of boiling water) until it almost comes to a boil. Add the chocolate and let it sit for 5 minutes before stirring it slowly with a spoon or spatula.

Stir slowly until all the chocolate is melted.

Pour the lavender syrup over and mix well to combine. 

Add a bit of purple food colouring if you want your ganache to have a beautiful purple colour. You can also use blue and red food colouring to achieve the same purple look – mix in one part blue and one part red. 

Then, mix everything using an immersion blender for a few seconds in order to achieve a perfectly emulsified ganache. 

Place plastic foil directly on the ganache so that there is no air trapped inside which will cause a skin to form on top. 

Chill it in the fridge until cold, at least 2 hours or overnight.

Whipped Lavender Chocolate Ganache

Beat 200 ml (1 cup + 2 Tbsp) of whipping cream with a mixer on high speed until soft peaks form. 

Add over the chilled & unwhipped chocolate ganache from above. 

Then, beat it with a mixer on medium-high speed until medium-firm peaks form when beaters are lifted.

Video – Lavender Chocolate Ganache – For French Macarons, Cakes or Cupcakes

This frosting is great with these perfectly moist vanilla cupcakes.