Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

I have to make a drippy cake, which I have done before and never had a problem using 1/1 ganache (Plain) The girl I’m making it for wants a crispy chocolate shell and drip (“like the tesco caterpillar cake!”) but she wants milk chocolate.
My first query is will melted chocolate ‘drip’ ok and what would the finish be on the top (don’t want it to look a mess, even though it’s being covered with bars of chocolate etc)
My second query is , if I can’t use melted chocolate, which ratio of cream to milk chocolate would I use. Pauls drippy cake tutorial is great, but he doesn’t actually give the ratio just 600mls to 2lb and it’s for white chocolate , not milk.
I do hope that this all makes sense and that somebody is able to help.
Many thanks

Hi Sally

Let’s just do Paul’s amounts first. 2lb of chocolate is almost 900g in metric ( to be precise 908g).
600ml or gms of cream to 900g chocolate is a ratio of 3 parts of chocolate to 2 parts cream.
White and milk chocolate are about the same when it comes to making ganache or when setting. Dark chocolate sets the firmest.
I’m not familiar with Tesco caterpillar cake but had a quick look at it online. It does appear that it is covered in poured melted chocolated. Melted chocolate can be used for making drips in the same way as ganache is used. The same principles apply to chill the cake first before making the drips. I use a piping bag or a small ladle and work quickly but carefully round the whole cake. Candy melts are an alternative to using melted chocolate for a very firm set. Hope this helps.

Thank you so very much! Hadn’t even thought about candy melts! Have written down the ganache measurements in my useful book for future reference too! You’re a star! 🙂

Sally, I have a couple of blogs on ganache quantities here:

Front Page

The original blog is at the bottom and the other is the updated one. Hope they help.

Thank you so much have had a read. 🙂 Really appreciate all the help and advice.