Recipe Development for Chocolatiers - Ganache
The Chocolatier Recipe Development Masterclass is an online, two week program of intense interactive training. It includes live demonstrations of best practices/techniques, live group discussions, and supervised recipe development in your own kitchen. You'll learn to develop and perfect your recipes for ganache fillings in bonbons, including nondairy, vegan ganache. You will also undertand all of the factors that impact chocolate ganache shelf life and how to improve shelf stability.
Next Session: Spring 2027
Those of you who know us know that since 2003, Ecole Chocolat has been committed to providing online professional chocolate learning experiences that are not just a chef doing a demonstration, but focused on engaging, interactive and ongoing dialogue between the instructor and student.
To that end, this Chocolate Masterclass program includes:
4 live interactive instructional sessions, scheduled on Tuesday and Friday over two weeks. Each live session will be 2 hours long.
Live session dates: Dates TBD 2027.
All sessions will begin at 12:00 PM PDT. Please adjust for your local time zone in your calendar
Approximately 6 hours of guided kitchen homework activities and assignments.
Students should be ready to commit approximately 14 hours of work to complete the program.
Registration fee: $975.00 US
The minimum number of students for the program to run is 6, to a maximum of 12 - we are restricting the number of students in order to make sure each students leaves the program with the tools and advice they need to succeed in making great chocolate ganache recipes in the future.
When you're ready to pay your registration fee of $975.00 please click here: REGISTER NOW
What Will I Learn?
Two week online program
This intensive program is not just about making ganache. It’s about understanding ganache at a scientific level, and collaborating LIVE with your instructor, Rich Tango-Lowy and your fellow students to find the best solutions to your ganache challenges.
Please see Your Learning Experience below for a full description of what you will learn.
And WHAT OUR GRADUATES HAVE TO SAY below to see what our students think!
By the end of the program you will have developed a ganache recipe that meets all of your specific flavor, production and shelf life requirements.
Pre-requisites: Good understanding of chocolate flavor, chocolate work, and basic ganache making.
Your Learning Experience
Our Instructor, Richard Tango-Lowy, has been working with chocolate since 1996. He opened Dancing Lion Chocolate in 2007 and was known for the quality of his bonbons and confections. He was also known for never having the same bonbon recipe in his case twice, so when it comes to recipe development, he is an expert! He retired in October 2025. Learn more about him from a colleague in A Curious Mind.
Rich will use a number of learning activities to help you identify your challenges including: live demonstrations of best practices and techniques, live group discussions and supervised recipe development time in your own kitchen. And each live online session will end with some "homework" for you to do over the next two days between live online sessions.
Students will participate in formal chocolate tastings to develop a better understanding of chocolate flavor in order to choose the right chocolate for their ganache recipes.
Yes, all live sessions will be recorded so if you have to miss one, you can catch up afterwards.
Live Session 1 - Understanding Chocolate and Ganache
How your choice of chocolate impacts a ganache recipe; the scientific basis for ganache; ganache ingredients, including non-dairy and vegan alternatives; alcohol and liqueur-based flavor techniques.
2 hr Kitchen Homework Assignment: Ganache for truffles
Live Session 2 - Ganache Shelf Life; Introduction to Flavor Perception
Techniques for understanding and improving shelf stability; ingredient substitutions; hot and cold steeping aromatics; flavor-based approaches to recipe development.
2 hr Kitchen Homework Assignment: Ganache for cutting & dipping
Live Session 3 - Ganache Flavor and Complexity
Techniques for fresh and pureed fruit; flavor release and development; learning to experiment. Collaborative exercise to design your own ganache.
2 hr Kitchen Homework Assignment: Ganache for molding
Live Session 4 Ganache in Context
Balancing flavor and texture complexity in bonbons.
Supervised bonbon development exercise
IMPORTANT NOTES:
This program is delivered in English.
Again, please note that this program is focused on recipe development for fillings - not chocolate work. So there will be no instruction on tempering, enrobing, molding or decorating bonbons. We expect you to already be experienced in those skills.
Prerequisite:
An understanding of basic chocolate work including tempering, molding, enrobing as well as having made ganache.
Master Chocolatier Program certificate:
Students completing the Masterclass with a 70% or more on assignments will receive a digital Ecole Chocolat Master Chocolatier Certificate of Achievement.
What our graduates have to say
"I didn't quite know what to expect especially given it's my first time with the virtual format, but the course ended up being engaging, practical, and didactical at the same time. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone looking to up their ganache game! Having thorough reading that introduced topics and deep-dived into both science and practical formulation was really helpful so that the live sessions could be used for more interactive critiques, discussions, and demos. Rich is clearly very knowledgeable with a wealth of hands-on experience with chocolate ganaches, and I felt like I was learning from true masters!"
Caiqian, '26 Program
“I would give it a 5 (out of 5)! I had been looking forward to this program for months, and it was definitely worth the wait. I have been making ganache for many years, but I learned so many things that I will use going forward to improve my current recipes and to create new ones. This program delivered value in spades! I would highly recommend this program even to experienced chocolatiers. So many strengths - the instructors, for a start. They provided so much valuable information and were so willing to answer questions. I took pages and pages of notes! I really appreciated how the each unit of the curriculum got progressively more complex, as we gained knowledge and confidence. The live sessions were fantastic - a great opportunity to absorb new information and see how to actually do the techniques being discussed.”
Marni, '26 Program
"I wanted to learn more about flavour in ganache. I followed Rich on Instagram and marvelled at his techniques and flavour choices, so he was the reason I took this particular class. I didn't realize that there would be a component of the class that changed the way I made ganache completely and I'm looking forward to testing the shelf life of my new formulations. I thought it was extremely interesting that shear force would positively affect the shelf life of ganache. The improvement in texture is remarkable. The joy that Rich finds in chocolate, flavours and creativity is inspiring."
Kathryn, '26 Program
Not quite ready to register?
If you would like to receive periodic program updates, and reminders to register for future sessions, please click on the following button.
Cancellation policy
You can cancel from the Recipe Development Program up to five days before the registration deadline. A refund of your registration fee, minus a 10% administration fee, may take approximately 10 working days to process. Because our programs are usually full, and in order to make sure all students are committed, on the start date of your program your registration fee becomes non-refundable and non-transferable to another session (except in extraordinary circumstances).
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Photography by Jessica Washburn, Bliss Chocolatier and Ecole Chocolat
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Contact Us
Email: info@ecolechocolat.com
Visits by appointment only:
505 Montgomery
San Francisco, CA U.S.
1-213-291-8309
Canadian or International
1666 West 2nd Ave
Vancouver, B.C. Canada
1-604-484-1872
Ecole Chocolat is a woman-owned and operated chocolate education organization. Founded by chocolatier, Pam Williams, we are the professional school of chocolate arts for both chocolatiers and chocolate makers. We also donate our time, leadership, expertise and funds to preserve the fine chocolate industry and save fine cacao.
