If you’ve melted solid chocolate, you know that even a tiny bit of water inadvertently splashed into the bowl can make that beautifully smooth, glossy chocolate “seize,” turning it into a dry, dull, grainy mess. Melted chocolate and water just don’t mix!

Or do they?

Meet water ganache, regular ganache’s simplified sibling. While a standard ganache combines heavy cream and chopped chocolate, water ganache substitutes water for cream, resulting in a glaze, sauce, or filling that brings its own special attributes to the table.

Photography by Rick Holbrook; food styling by Kaitlin Wayne

These Churro Cupcakes cradle a tempting well of ganache on top.

Water ganache: Why use it?

Using water instead of heavy cream sharpens the ganache’s chocolate flavor: The milk solids, sugars, and fat in heavy cream tend to mute the subtly fruity notes of a deeply bittersweet chocolate, or the mild tang of milk chocolate. Water, meanwhile, lets these flavors shine.…