This smooth, rich white chocolate sauce is perfect for glazing a cake, whipping up a white chocolate mocha, or topping your favorite ice cream sundae. It's a super easy ganache - all you need is 2 ingredients, a microwave, and 10 minutes, and you'll have a sauce that's sooo delicious, you'll want to put it on everything!
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What is white chocolate sauce made of?
Recipes really don't get simpler than this, so I'll keep this post short and sweet!
This white chocolate sauce is designed to be thick enough once chilled to use as a glaze on your favorite bundt cake or loaf, but thin enough to still mix beautifully into your favorite coffee drink.
It's made with only 2 ingredients - white chocolate and heavy cream - for a super simple prep, using a microwave, and ready in 10 minutes! (My Easy Peanut Butter Topping is another delicious homemade ganache recipe too that can be a sauce or frosting!)
Now, I've seen a lot of other white chocolate sauces made without cream, using half & half, or even milk and some butter in place of cream. But I found that keeping things simple and classic by just using the chocolate and heavy cream, produced the smoothest and most stable product. This is because the fat has already been commercially homogenized with the liquid in the cream (which isn't the case if we were to make the sauce using milk and butter).
So grab your chocolate, a little cream, and get ready to have a delicious sauce ready to satisfy all your white chocolate needs in no time!
Ingredient Tips for Better Baking
(Pssst…if you're ready to just get baking, get all the details in the recipe card below!)
- White Chocolate: I found that cheaper white chocolates, which are made with more stabilizers like Nestle's, produced a slightly less smooth sauce, as the waxy ingredients didn't want to fully melt. So I recommend using the highest quality chocolate chips or bars available to you, or at least a higher quality chocolate chip like a Ghiradelli, or Guittard (my favorite!) if possible.
- Heavy Cream: because fat content varies between all the creams, you want to make sure you get "heavy" cream, not "light," "whipping," or "half-and-half." While those other creams will probably still produce a sauce, they all have a different amount of fat which will change the texture of the final sauce which I took a lot of time perfecting. Using the heavy cream, you'll find it's thick, but still pourable so you can use it for all your saucing needs right from the fridge!
(p.s. for all the basic tips that no one ever taught you, that are super important to help you bake your best, check out my Baking 101 series!)
Special Tools You'll Need
No special tools are needed other than a microwave and a medium-sized microwave-safe bowl or glass Pyrex pitcher.
How to Make White Chocolate Sauce
(Pssst…if you're ready to just get baking, get all the details in the recipe card below!)
- Add both ingredients to a microwave safe bowl.
- Microwave for 1 minute on 50% power, then stir.
- Microwave for 30 seconds on 50% power, then stir to fully blend chocolate and cream.
- Only if needed, microwave in additional 15-second intervals on 50% power, stirring well after each round until all chocolate has full melted.
- Transfer to a storage container. Feel free to use your sauce right away, or to let it thicken up in the fridge once fully cooled (about 1 - 1 ½ hours to fully set up).
- Use directly from the fridge and enjoy!
Ways to Use This Delicious Ganache
- Cake Glaze: I actually originally desiged this sauce as a beautiful and tasty cake glaze for my White Chocolate Raspberry Bundt Cake; it's great for glazing any bundt or loaf cake for a bright white finish and a rich chocolate flavor.
- White Chocolate Mocha: right out of the fridge this sauce mixes into both cold and hot coffee drinks with ease.
- Waffles or Pancakes: dress up your morning lemon pancake stack or fluffy Belgian waffles with this delicious sauce.
- Ice Cream Topping: finish off your favorite ice cream sundae with a drizzle of this delicious sauce on top.
- White Hot Chocolate: add this sauce to warm milk for a delicious white hot chocolate (that you can even add a little food coloring to also!) to cozy up with a festive drink on those chilly winter nights.
Check out the full RECIPE WEB STORY for a click-through tutorial!
Test Kitchen Tips for Sweet Success
- Don't overcook: I know it's tempting to just add all the times together for the few microwave rounds, but you must resist! If you blast your chocolate for too long in one round, the white chocolate will burn and then you'll have to trash that batch and start over.
- Use a high quality chocolate: because cheaper chocolates have waxy stablizers (this is what helps chocolate chips keep their shape when baked), they don't blend in as smoothly with the cream. So do yourself a favor and use a nice quality white chocolate for the best flavor and texture in your final sauce.
More Tips + FAQs
Can you make this sauce ahead of time?
Yes! This sauce keeps great in the refrigerator for up to 1 month or the freezer for up to 2 months.
How do you store white chocolate sauce?
Keep your sauce in an airtight container in the fridge and it'll be ready to use whenever you need it (I find lidded mason jars to be a great option here!).
Can I make this sauce with milk or dark chocolate?
While I would guess you probably could, I haven't tested this recipe with those other chocolates. They have significantly different compositions when compared to white chocolate, so while you're welcome to experiment, you'll have better luck working with a recipe designed for those chocolates specifically. For a bittersweet dark chocolate sauce, be sure to check out my Homemade Dark Chocolate Hot Fudge!
Can I use milk instead of cream?
I don't recommend this, as the fat and liquid ratios between milk and cream are very different and will lead to a less than ideal texture in your final sauce. Check out the ingredient tips above for more on this topic!
Other Recipes You'll Love
If you love chocolate sauce, be sure you don't miss out on my Homemade Dark Chocolate Hot Fudge! This ganache is also the perfect finish for my White Chocolate Raspberry Bundt Cake and could be added to my Red Velvet Bundt Cake and Fluffy Lemon Pancakes for a delicious chocolatey twist!
⭐ If you gave this recipe a try please give it a ⭐ rating and tag me on Instagram @mint.and.mallow.kitchen so I can see what you're baking up! ⭐
📖 Full Recipe
Easy White Chocolate Sauce (2-ingredient ganache!)
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup high-quality white chocolate chips or chopped bars
- ⅓ cup heavy cream
Instructions
- Add ingredients to a microwave-safe bowl: add chocolate and cream to a microwave-safe glass pitcher or bowl with plenty of room to stir.
- Microwave Round 1: microwave bowl for 1 minute on 50% power. Stir briefly to blend with a fork (chocolate will only be a little melted).
- Microwave Round 2: microwave for 30 seconds at 50% power. Stir vigorously for at least 30 seconds with a fork until liquid and chocolate come together into a smooth, shiny, uniform glaze. It works best to stir in the center of the bowl, and then as you see the ingredients combining, start widening your stirs out to the edge of the bowl.
- Microwave Round 3 (optional): if any chocolate chunks still remain after a really good mixing, continue microwaving in 15-second intervals at 50% power, stirring well after each round until all chocolate has fully melted.
- Transfer and store: once your mixture is fully blended, smooth, and uniform, transfer to a storage container. Feel free to use your sauce right away, or to let it thicken up in the fridge once fully cooled (about 1 - 1 ½ hours to fully set up). Sauce will last for up to 1 month in the fridge.
- Enjoy: this sauce is designed to be used directly from the fridge and will be thin enough to mix into your coffee, but thick enough to be used as a topping or glaze as well. Avoid microwaving in an attempt to thin, as it can quickly break the ganache and make it unusable.
Test Kitchen Tips
- Microwave strength: the times listed in this recipe were what worked for my microwave, which is 1150 watts. If your microwave has a higher wattage, your sauce may be fully melted faster, and if it has lower wattage, you may need a few of those extra 15 second intervals to finish up your sauce.
- Don’t combine cook times! I know it's tempting to just add all the times together for the few microwave rounds, but you must resist! If you blast your chocolate for too long in one round, or use it at full power, the white chocolate will burn, and then you'll have to throw away that batch and start over.
Chelsea says
Can you freeze this
Jocelyn at M+M says
Hi Chelsea! The simple answer is yes, but while you can freeze this cake, I find its moist and rich crumb doesn't fully return after thawing, so I wouldn't recommend freezing for the best results. If you do have a time crunch and need to freeze the cake ahead of time, definitely don't add the glaze until you thaw it out and are ready to serve. Hope that helps!
Meghan Dumas says
How long will this stay good in the fridge?
Jocelyn at M+M says
Great question, Meghan! It should be good for about 1 month in the fridge if you keep it sealed up, air-tight!
Debbie says
Super easy! Tastes great in my coffee and amazing on my vanilla bean cheesecake!
Jocelyn at M+M says
Oooo Debbie - I think you might be on to something with that cheesecake idea - I'll have to give it a try! So happy you enjoyed the recipe and it's making your morning coffee a little bit sweeter. And thanks for coming back to let me know!