Does chocolate ganache harden?

Yes, this is ganache. Ganache kind of hardens, but is still soft. I believe it is exactly what you are looking for.

Truffles (the ones rolled in cocoa powder) are made from ganache. I hope that knowing that helps. They are soft enough to melt against your skin or on your tongue, but hard enough to keep shape.

awesome… thanks :D

Ganache will remain sticky, though; you wouldn’t be able to stack goods frosted with ganache, as it doesn’t actually crust. It makes a nice icing, but if stuff touches it it will get messed up. It’s also very temperature sensitive, and will soften dramatically if it gets at all warm.

What you’re thinking of is chocolate fondant, which is essentially a sugar paste with unsweetened chocolate added. Fondant forms a crust on top, so that it feels dry to the touch, but remains creamy underneath the crust. It is much more tolerant of heat than ganache. Bakeries buy fondant in huge buckets. It’s not something you want to attempt to make at home.

You can purchase fondant in smaller quantities yourself at stores that carry cake decorating supplies. I’ve even seen it at shudder Walmart. Be prepared to ut a little elbow grease into it though – fondant’s hard to work with.

If you do manage to find fondant, it will be in the form of a very stiff paste. You’ll have to warm it sightly in the microwave (this only takes a couple of seconds; don’t let it get hot), then stir in just enough water to thin it out to a slightly runny consistency. Stir in melted unsweetened chocolate to taste. The dipping should happen when the fondant is warm (about 110º), then just let it crust as it cools.

Here is a recipe for making your own fondant at home. We did this when we were kids (with my mom’s supervision), and it tastes so much better than store-bought fondant. It is also a whole bunch cheaper.

There is a difference, though, between fondant meant for rolling and fondant meant for dipped icing. Fondant for rolling has gelatin added (Darwin’s recipe gets it from the marshmallows) so that you can roll it out without tearing.

Fondant that’s intended for dipped icings is made from a sugar cooked to soft-ball stage, then worked to trigger a fine crystallization (very similar to fudge). No gelatin. Here’s how it’s made.

Why not try an easy icing sugar recipe? Then you can easily stack them, and the icing won’t overpower a lightweight donut.