Chocolate Namelaka

Chocolate Namelaka is one of the most delicious creams that is a must in your baking repertoire to fill, frost, or beautifully decorate your desserts! This silky, delicious cream is very well balanced in sweetness, has the most perfect pipeable texture, and comes together really easily and quickly with basic everyday ingredients such as milk, chocolate (either white, milk, or dark), heavy cream, and gelatin.

Jump to:

• 💡 What is namelaka
• 🍫 Difference between namelaka and chocolate ganache
• 🌟 Why this is the best recipe
• 📝 Ingredient notes
• 👩‍🍳 How to make this recipe
• 🎓 Expert tips
• ❓ Recipe FAQs
• 🍰 More frosting and filling recipes
• Chocolate Namelaka

💡 What is namelaka

Namelaka was invented by the world-famous Chocolate company, Valrhona, and has become more and more popular in recent years even outside of the pastry chefs' world.

The term namelaka comes from Japan literally meaning smooth and creamy and this dark chocolate namelaka recipe perfectly delivers on the promise of being smooth and creamy! The texture of the cream is the perfect cross between ganache, pastry cream, and mousse. It is rich just like chocolate ganache, silky that might remind you of pastry cream, yet more delicate and lighter, so kind of similar to mousse.

What does namelaka taste like? It depends on what chocolate you use! This cream can be made using all kinds of chocolate eg. you can make milk chocolate namelaka, white chocolate namelaka, or dark chocolate namelaka like this recipe. Either way, make sure to use high-quality chocolate as the flavor will be as delicious as the chocolate. Please note that the milk component can also be flavored eg. infused with orange zest or cinnamon, which will bring additional flavors to your namelaka.

🍫 Difference between namelaka and chocolate ganache

Both namelaka and chocolate ganache can be used to fill, frost, or decorate desserts. They both contain chocolate and cream, however, namelaka also contains milk and gelatin making its texture lighter compared to ganache.

The preparation process is also slightly different. Ganache is made by hot cream poured over chocolate, while in the namelaka preparation process we use hot milk (+gelatin) to pour over the chocolate, then mix in cold cream.

Overall, both creams are silky and super delicious and with different milk-cream-chocolate-gelatin ratios, we can control the thickness of the final cream.

🌟 Why this is the best recipe

1. It is rather easy – As fancy as it sounds, making Namelaka is extremely easy and quick! It comes together in 10 minutes using 4 ingredients simple ingredients
2. It is super delicious – I never compromise on taste! The melt in your mouth texture with just the right sweetness make this cream absolutely irresistible! Having said that, your dessert will turn out as delicious as the chocolate you are using, so aim for high-quality ingredients eg. Valrhona or Callebaut.
3. It is an honest, detailed tutorial – While this recipe might look long, all the information I have written here, every tip and trick will help you achieve the perfect results without any issues on the way. Remember, baking is science, and every little detail written here is to help YOU!
4. It is super versatile - You can easily flavor the cream by infusing the milk the night before using it, eg. with cinnamon, orange zest, etc.
5. No special equipment is needed – All you need is a saucepan and you are good to make this cream

📝 Ingredient notes

1. Milk: I recommend high fat (3%) whole milk, please note that vegetable-based milk might not provide the same texture and thickness
2. Chocolate: Just like making chocolate ganache, chocolate is the heart of making namelaka and your cream will be as delicious as the chocolate you are using. In this recipe, I am using Callebaut Dark Chocolate (callets) that has 54.5% cocoa butter content. Please see recipe FAQs below on how to adjust the recipe into milk or white chocolate namelaka (those have lower cocoa butter content therefore the recipe will need to be adjusted)
3. Heavy whipping cream: Also known as heavy cream or whipped cream, has a fat content of 36%-40%, the one I use contains 36% fat. Avoid using lower fat content cream as the namelaka might not set the same way. Use it very cold and do not substitute with vegetable-based “whipped cream”
4. Gelatin: It´s an odorless, tasteless, and colorless thickening agent, very often used in mousse cakes, and a must in namelaka. Powder or sheet versions are available, in my recipes I always use gold gelatin sheet (1,7 g gelatin/sheet), which I found easier to handle. Powder gelatin can be used 1:1 so when I state 1 gelatin sheet that means 1,7 g gelatin powder. Check my ultimate gelatin article for details on how to bloom gelatin and substitute options. If you prefer to use agar agar, check my agar agar article for further details.

🛒 You’ll find detailed measurements for all Ingredients in the printable version of the Recipe Card at the bottom of this post

👩‍🍳 How to make this recipe

1. Preparation process

Preparing the nemaleka could not be simpler, however, please respect the steps and the temperatures explained below, as well as the overnight resting time, and do not try to cut corners.

1. Place finely chopped high-quality semi-sweet chocolate into a bowl, or use Callebaut Dark Chocolate (callets)
2. Soak gelatin sheets in cold water while heating milk just until simmering. If it’s boiling, the milk is too hot and could burn the chocolate. If it is not warm enough, it won´t melt the chocolate properly
3. Squeeze excess water from the gelatin sheets and stir them into the hot milk
4. Pour warm milk over the chocolate. Let the two sit for a minute then stir and/or blend together
5. Pour in cold cream and stir and/or blend together
6. Place the cream into a shallow bowl or container and cover the entire surface with plastic wrap to avoid skin forming on top
7. Refrigerate overnight (8 hours)

💡 Top Tip: 1 ¾ sheets of gelatin sheets equal to 3g of gelatin. You can easily substitute the gelatin sheets by using the same amount of gelatin powder. For agar-agar, follow conversions according to the package instructions. Check my ultimate gelatin article for more info on gelatin and substitute options

2. Flavor variations

Besides its amazing texture, one great benefit of namelaka is its versatility, by swapping the chocolate or flavoring the milk, you can literally make endless flavor variations.

If you want to use different chocolate, you will want to take into consideration the cocoa butter % and adjust this base recipe accordingly. I recommend using about 180g-200g of milk or white chocolate (instead of 140g of dark chocolate) depending on the cocoa butter % of your chocolate.

For flavoring namelaka, boil milk the night before and infuse the desired flavor into the milk overnight. Then, the next day run the milk through a sieve and start using it according to the recipe. With white chocolate, I recommend experimenting with and infusing the following flavors; cinnamon, coffee beans, ginger, star anise, citrus zest, tonka bean, lavender, vanilla bean, rose petals, earl grey tea leaf, etc. With dark chocolate, the options are slightly more limited due to its stronger base taste, but orange zest, coffee beans, ginger, cinnamon, and black pepper can be a good idea.

Please note that you will lose some volume of the milk during the overnight infusion, so the next day, when starting to make the namelaka, make sure you measure the milk again and fill it up to achieve the volume stated in the recipe. So eg. you heat up and infuse 100g of milk with coffee beans. The next day, after running it through a sieve, you measure the milk again and it might be only 85g. Then, fill it up with 15g of milk to achieve the initial 100g.

💡 Top Tip: Namelaka can be also flavored after the cooking process (before chilling) eg. with matcha or freeze dried raspberry powder. Make sure to blend these into the cream throughout

3. How to use

After namelaka sets in the fridge (for a minimum of 8 hours), give it a few whisk, move it into a piping bag fitted with your favorite nozzle tip and use the cream according to the recipe. It can be a wonderful cream to fill, frost, or decorate desserts eg. cakes or cupcakes.

Alternatively, with the help of an electric hand mixer, whip the cream for 1-2 minutes. Since the heavy cream is not boiled in this recipe (as opposed to ganache), it can actually be whipped up at later stage providing the most amazing fluffy texture.

💡 Top Tip: Namelaka can be also used as an individual layer in desserts, eg. you could make tiramisu with one layer of coffee-flavored namelaka between the mascarpone cream and ladyfingers

🎓 Expert tips

1. Use high-quality chocolate as that will define the taste of your namelaka
2. Heat milk until just simmering. If it’s boiling, the milk is too hot and could burn the chocolate. If it is not warm enough, it won´t melt the chocolate properly
3. When incorporating the cold heavy cream, make sure that the milk-chocolate mixture is not warm, but around room temperature
4. Chilling time is needed for the gelatin and chocolate to set. It cannot be skipped

❓ Recipe FAQs

🍰 More frosting and filling recipes