My first time making ganach and I messed it up!

I guess I'll make chocolate buttercream since it did'nt turn out.

I used the recipe that just called for semi-sweet chocolate and heavy cream. I don't know what I did that was wrong...it's runny....it's been in the fridge for a few hours now and it's still runny.

Maybe it's because I din't use a double bolier but a covered glass bowl over boiling water?

Could you have put too much cream in the mix? If water had gotten into the chocolate it would have made it sieze.
I make this ganache all the time - 12 oz of choc chips, 8 oz of cream, TBSP of butter... I actually make it so often that I don't even measure anymore, just eyeball it. I found that it usually seems to thicken up if I stir the crud out of it. I zap mine in the microwave... Try melting some more chocolate and stirring that into the ganache. If you have too much cream it will be runny but salvageable.

HTH

** try this with a small portion to see if it will work.... its a pretty forgiving recipe.

How much cream to chocolate did you use? Melting the chocolate in a glass bowl over boiling water wouldn't cause it to turn out runny. I've melted my chocolate that way and not had a problem. Ganache is runny at first but it thickens up. You want to be able to pour it over your cake.

Putting your chocolate in the fridge should make it get thick. If nothing else you can always roll the chocolate into balls and make truffles out of them! I've dipped them in cocoa,cinnamon even powdered sugar. Yum!

Everything you ever wanted to know about ganache:
(Overview, master and other recipes including white chocolate. Also how to glaze, smooth, stack and more.)

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-497433-.html

Chocolate 101:

http://tinyurl.com/ytby97

HTH

I've never melted my chocolate before adding the cream. I always scald the cream and poor it over finely chopped chocolate. I never measure either. Just eyeball it and add in what would be what i think is the minimal amount of cream required at first. If I need more I add more, but it usually works out to be 1 part cream and 1 1/2 parts chocolate.

If it doesnt thicken up, take the mixer to it and make chocolate mousse...

Thanks everyone for the tips, recipes, & links......I'm going to try again sometime!