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This morning I put 60g dark chocolate (pieces) into a glass jug and heated it in the microwave for bursts of 10 seconds, while stirring, to soften it.

I then added a table spoon of cold, extra thick cream and gave it a couple more bursts/stirs to melt and mix them together.

Obviously, the mixture was fairly warm but as there was not much cream involved I thought it would be ok to mix and whip.

I added ~300ml of cold, extra thick cream, mixed it until smooth and evenly chocolate coloured and then whisked with a hand mixer.

The result was 10-20 seconds of smooth, but not "whipped" chocolate cream and a sudden change to lumpy, mud-like chocolate cream.

I tasted it and found it to be palatable, but not aesthetically pleasing as it was clearly not "whipped". If I wanted an edible scene which included a muddy garden I'd be winning. (I don't.)

Do I need to re-chill the chocolate+cream mix before attempting to whip it?

Did I curdle (and thus should avoid eating) the cream?

EDIT: I finally got it to work by melting chocolate into a small amount of cream with the most minimal microwave heating. This was the refrigerated and when I returned (after work) it had completely solidified, so I heated for 10 seconds and whipped into the rest of the cream. This worked perfectly.

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    Curdling is just a change in the physical structure. There's no reason you should avoid eating curdled food per se: you should look at why it curdled. Milk curdles when it goes off, and you should certainly avoid eating gone-off milk (unless you're calling it "yoghurt" or "cheese" ;-) ) but milk curdles when you put it in an acidic environment, too, and there's no health reason to avoid eating that.
    – David Richerby
    Jul 18, 2019 at 17:27
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    I assume by "gone-off milk" you mean soured milk? That is nothing to be avoided. I remember my mom making it on purpose when i was a child, because it gave her pancakes (the german variant) a nice tartness. It's just a different diary product. I wouldn't use it in coffee, sure, but it certainly has its uses and you definitely shouldn't have to "avoid eating gone-off milk". ;) When some of my milk has gone sour by accident, I generally use it wherever i'd use butter milk.
    – Gretel_f
    Jul 19, 2019 at 9:15
  • If it helps (it probably doesn't) I was attempting to make the ganache featured at the end of this video: youtube.com/watch?v=Exsvibw3mfA
    – Matt W
    Jul 19, 2019 at 10:19

3 Answers 3

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If you are trying to make chocolate frosting using whipped cream, you need to: chocolate whipped cream frosting

  • Whip the cream first.
  • Melt the chocolate and add some amount of whipped cream to the melted chocolate (mix it by cut and fold method)
  • Add this mixture to the remaining whipped cream and fold it. Don't over-mix it, it would knock out the air from the whipped cream.

To make chocolate ganache frosting, you just need to follow simple steps: chocolate ganache frosting

The ratio to make chocolate ganache frosting I use is 2 parts of chocolate to one part cream (by volume).

  • Heat the cream and bring it to the boil.
  • Once cream comes to boil, add the hot cream to chocolate. Let it sit for2-3 minutes. Now stir till it is well combined.
  • Let it cool completely. It would thicken up. Use it as your requirement.

If you feel that the ganache is too thick, you can add hot milk and mix it and then cool.

The images have been taken from internet.

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    "is 2 parts of chocolate to one part cream" are those parts by weight or volume?
    – Vality
    Jul 18, 2019 at 17:47
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    You can expect any reasonable recipe to refer to weight, especially when it comes to solids like chocolate or butter.
    – FvD
    Jul 19, 2019 at 1:13
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    @Vality It is by volume...I use measuring cups
    – aashii
    Jul 19, 2019 at 4:59
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    @FvD You can expect any non-N. American recipe to refer to weight, but in N. America, most recipes use volume measures rather than weight. So 'reasonable' is relative...
    – Alan Munn
    Jul 19, 2019 at 14:50
  • I was a bit edgy on purpose, because I think volume measurements for baking (and the N. American tradition of using them) are unreasonable. But it's true that you need to be on your guard with N. American recipes :)
    – FvD
    Jul 21, 2019 at 6:59
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It's difficult to say what exactly happened to your cream so it got lumpy, but it's quite possible that it's overbeaten.

When making chocolate whipped cream you should make sure to chill the mixture thoroughly. I always let mine stay in the fridge over night. This of course only works if you mix enough cream with the chocolate, otherwise it gets too hard to whip it properly. I always heat the cream and then just dissolve the chocolate in it, let it chill over night in the fridge and whip it the next day.

Also: If you in fact over beat your cream, you can still use it. It's just not suitable for a cake anymore. When the whipped cream gets flaky you basically made yourself some butter. I once made vanilla butter by accident but it was quite nice on toast with some jam. ;)

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Whenever I've made chocolate whipped cream I start with a cold bowl, cold mixer, and cold heavy cream and beat it until it starts to hold small peaks. Then I add 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder and 3 tablespoons of powdered(confectioner's) sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla and mix it again until evenly distributed. The sugar is necessary to balance the bitterness of the cocoa.

You might be able to get away with using chocolate syrup and mixing into plain whipped cream. I wouldn't try mixing melted chocolate with the cream. In this case, I think you probably needed more cream and less chocolate.

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  • I considered that, but the recipe calls for melted chocolate and I'm trying to make a ganache (but screwed up!)
    – Matt W
    Jul 19, 2019 at 8:36
  • maybe you could add to your question, that you wanted to make ganache (i already added the tag). This makes it easier for people with a similar problem to find this question :)
    – Gretel_f
    Jul 19, 2019 at 9:19

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