Macaron filled with Dark Chocolate Ganache
My dark chocolate ganache is one of my favorite fillings, it is simple to make yet it is absolutely delicious. These macarons filled with dark chocolate ganache will literally tickle your tastebuds with delight. A light and chewy texture macaron that is filled with swirls of rich dark chocolate ganache piped in the center.
Heavy cream, quality dark chocolate, and a few more ingredients are used for making the most incredible silky-smooth ganache.
This Dark Chocolate Ganache Recipe Is…
- Silky, smooth & shiny
- Made with 64% Valrhona Manjari chocolate
- Suitable for many other desserts and pastries
Read this post for the science of making ganache.
Table of Contents
Ingredients
- Egg whites
- Granulated sugar
- Powdered egg whites
- Powdered sugar
- Almond flour
- Heavy cream
- Dark chocolate
- Inverted sugar
- Butter
- Salt
How to Make
Mise-en-place
- Preheat the oven as directed.
- Clean the silicone baking mats with white vinegar.
- Measure and weigh the ingredients.
Dry Ingredients
- Prep all your dry ingredients as listed in the recipe card.
- Next, run the almond flour in the food processor to make it super fine if it isn’t already.
- Then sift the flour and sugar two times with a sifter or fine mesh sieve.
Prepare the French Macarons
- Whip the egg whites until foamy/frothy.
- Add in the sugar and powdered egg mixture.
- Mix until stiff glossy peaks on medium speed.
Macaronage
- Start adding half the meringue to the flour mixture.
- Add food coloring and fold in the dry ingredients.
- Next, add in the remaining meringue.
- Fold the batter until it becomes glossy and falls off the spatula like a ribbon. Many people will describe that you should stop macaronaging when the batter looks like lava or honey consistency, but for me it is more of an uninterrupted flow of batter from the spatula back to the bowl.
Resting and Baking
- Place the batter in a piping bag fitted with a piping tip, Wilton 12. Pipe the batter on the silicone baking mat.
- Allow a thin skin to form on top of the piped macaron shell.
- Bake as directed, then allow the macaron shells to cool.
Dark Chocolate Ganache
- In a saucepan bring your cream, inverted sugar and salt to a boil.
- Pour the chocolate in and let it sit 30-60 seconds. Don’t disturb.
- Stir with a spatula in circular motions, to emulsify.
- Add butter to the mixture and extract.
- Allow the ganache to set up as listed in the recipe card.
Assemble the Macaron
- Take your macaron shell and pipe your chocolate ganache inside.
- Sandwich it together.
- Serve and enjoy.
Storing Macarons
Store your filled macarons in an airtight container for up to 48 hours in the refrigerator.
Now if you want you can freeze these chocolate macarons for up to 8 weeks. Just thaw in the fridge for 24 hours before serving.
Common Questions
You will find the best ratio to use for heavy cream to dark chocolate when it comes to macaron ganache is 1:2. Now if you use a white chocolate or a milk chocolate the ratio will vary.
Yes, you can replace the cream in the ganache. Simply reach for a fruit juice. Just know the percentage of fat in the preparation should be maintained by adding the butter. Cream contains about 40% fat while butter has double the amount of fat, 80%. Therefore, if you replace 50g of cream by 50h of juice, just add 25g of butter at the end of the process to make sure you have the same percentage of fat, which will provide structure to the ganache.
Using an inverted sugar is going to help prevent re-crystallization of the sugars and will create a shiny ganache. You can use light corn syrup, honey or glucose syrup as substitutes of inverted sugar.
Craving More Desserts
Recipe Card
Macaron filled with Dark Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients
Macaron
- 100 g egg whites
- 90 g granulated sugar
- 4 g powdered egg whites
- 130 g powdered sugar
- 130 g almond flour
- 3 oz heavy cream 36-40% fat
Dark chocolate ganache Recipe:
- 3 oz chocolate dark, Valrhona Manjari 64%
- 3 oz heavy cream 36-40% fat
- 0.25 oz inverted sugar
- 0.5 oz butter very soft
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
Mise-en-place:
- Pre-heat oven to 300F
- Wipe with vinegar the silicon mats, bowls and baking trays. Print templates if using.
- Weight all the ingredients in separate bowls
- The egg whites can be directly taken from the fridge and do not require aging.
Prepare dry ingredients:
- Add egg white powder to the bowl containing the granulated sugar and mix well.
- If the almond flour is not super fine, I recommend doing 2-3 pulses in a food processor. Only do this for short amounts of time.
- Sift the almond flour and powdered sugar. Do this two times.
- Note: keep all the containers covered with lids.
Prepare the French Meringue:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk, whip egg whites on medium speed until foamy/frothy.
- Gradually add the granulated sugar/ powdered egg white mixture, continue whipping on medium speed until glossy stiff peaks
Macaronage:
- Add half of the meringue to the almond flour / powdered sugar mixture.
- Add gel food coloring
- Fold gently with a spatula until the dry ingredients are incorporated
- Add the remaining meringue
- Fold gently until the batter becomes glossy and falls off the spatula like ribbons.
Piping:
- Fit a round tip (e.g., Wilton 12) in a pastry bag, place the bag inside a tall measuring cup or a deli container, wrap the bag in the edges of the cup to keep it open
- Pour the macaron batter into the pastry, remove from the cup
- Pipe circles onto the tray with silicon mat or pre-printed template under a piece of parchment
Resting and baking:
- Let the piped macarons rest on the kitchen counter until a skin is developed, you will be able to gently touch them without batter sticking to the fingers.
- Once the skin is formed, place inside the oven, bake at 275-300F (this will depend on your location and other factors like humidity) for 15-18min.
- Use an oven thermometer to make sure the oven is not too hot.
- Let the macarons cool before removing from the baking surface
Filling macarons:
- Fit a small tip, I recommend tips like 4B, 1M for nice piping designs, inside a pastry bag. Place inside a tall measuring cup or deli container.
- Pour the ganache inside the bag
- Take 1 macaron shell, pipe the ganache in the center
- Take another macaron shell and sandwich the filling. The best ratio of macaron to filling is 2:1
Dark chocolate ganache Recipe:
- In a small saucepan, bring heavy cream, inverted sugar, and salt to a boil
- Pour over chocolate, let sit 30-60s, do not disturb
- Stir with a spatula doing circular motions in the center of the bowl, until emulsified
- Add soft butter and mix to combine
- Add up to 1 tsp or any desired extract and up to 1tbsp or desired liquor.
