Confectionery educational program: how to melt chocolate for cake, fondue and other desserts?

At first glance, it seems that melting chocolate is a simple matter. However, those who have to do this for the first time quickly change their opinion to the opposite, because there are many tricks in the confectionery business and it is easy to spoil the product without knowing them. How the chocolate mass will behave after re-hardening, what its taste will be - all this depends on the ability to choose good chocolate and correctly transfer it from solid to liquid.

Which chocolate is best to melt?

A person who decides to make a chocolate cake or candies has two options: buy a regular bar at the supermarket or go to a specialized confectionery store that sells chocolate drops.

The first option is not the best. The fact is that when making tiles, ingredients are used that are designed to improve taste, keeping quality and consistency. They provide a number of benefits to the finished product, but when trying to turn a chocolate bar into lace decorations or icing, they can cause an unsuccessful result. And in general, production technology is developed with the expectation that the chocolate bar will be eaten in its finished form.

However, chocolate bars are quite suitable as an ingredient for homemade confectionery.

To choose a tile that will definitely not spoil the taste and appearance of the dessert, you need to make sure that it meets three criteria:

contains cocoa butter in sufficient quantities (optimally - from 30%, acceptable minimum - 20%);
without filling – including without nuts, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, coconut flakes, raisins, orange and lemon zest, cookies, waffles and other fillers;
solid, not porous (airy chocolate is highly likely to form lumps when melted).

It is important to buy only real chocolate, and not so-called “confectionery bars”. They are distinguished by their very low price and the presence of cheap vegetable oils (including palm oil) in their composition.

The second option is suitable for those who want to get a perfect chocolate mass. Drops - chocolate in the form of small drops - are designed specifically for melting and further use in confectionery. There is nothing superfluous in their composition.

Chocolate melting technology

However, choosing the right chocolate is not everything. The next step is learning how to melt it properly. The final result depends on the temperature and under what conditions the melting will occur.

There are several ways to melt chocolate at home, and each of them has its own characteristics. But the following rules will be fair for everyone:

Not a drop of moisture. When water gets into chocolate, it loses its shine and elasticity, so it is important to dry all kitchen utensils used in the process. Also, do not cover the container with chocolate with a lid or film - condensation will form under them.
Regular stirring. Chocolate melts unevenly, so there is a risk that one part will burn while the other remains solid.
Maintaining temperature conditions. Dark and milk chocolate are melted at 40°C, and for white and pink chocolate, 35°C is sufficient. If you exceed these indicators, you will have to face a defect - the so-called fat bloom. It appears as a whitish coating on the surface. Since this coating is formed from cocoa butter, the product remains edible, but irreversibly loses its taste and decorative qualities.
Timely termination of heating. If chocolate is left exposed to high temperatures for long periods of time, it will lose its texture and become unsuitable for making decorations or making frostings.

Not only beginners, but also experienced confectioners make mistakes when working with chocolate. In this case, you should not throw away the rejected mass - it can be added to the dough when baking muffins and gingerbread cookies.

How to melt chocolate in the microwave?

This is the fastest way - in the microwave the tile melts in a matter of minutes.

The melting process can be described step by step as follows:

First you need to break the chocolate into small pieces of the same size. When using drops, this step is skipped.
Then the pieces are placed in a container that can withstand microwave heating. It should be deep and preferably transparent.
Place in the oven, adjusting the following parameters: power - 350 W for dark and milk chocolate, and if you need to melt white or pink, 250 W is enough; time - 15–20 seconds. If there is a “Defrost” mode, you should use it.
When the oven is turned off, remove the dishes, mix the chocolate and repeat the steps described in the previous paragraph.If the mass does not melt very actively, it is worth increasing the time to 30 seconds.
When all the pieces turn into liquid, stop heating immediately.

You must not leave the microwave for the entire time. Also, do not cover the dishes with a special plastic lid for plates, even if it has a hole for steam to escape.

It is very easy to overheat the mixture in the microwave. To prevent it from becoming grainy, you should not set the power higher than specified.

How to melt chocolate in a water bath?

Melting in a water bath takes longer, but allows you to fully control the process. To get excellent results, you need to follow the instructions:

First of all, place a saucepan of water on the stove and bring it to a boil.
While the water is heating up, break the tile into pieces or measure out the required number of drops.
Place the chocolate in a suitable container and place it on a pan of water. The bottom of the container should not touch the boiling liquid. It is also desirable that steam does not penetrate the sides.
Stir the mass periodically for faster and more uniform melting. There is no need to be afraid that it will burn: with this method this is impossible. But you need to be wary of overheating, so at the slightest suspicion that the temperature is becoming critically high, you will have to put the container aside and return it after a short cooling.
When all the pieces are melted, turn off the stove.

It is important to be careful not to allow water or steam to enter the container containing the chocolate.

How to melt chocolate for a cake?

To prepare the glaze, the tiles or drops can be melted either in the microwave or in a water bath. However, the recipe will differ from that described above.The fact is that the top coating for the cake is made from a softer and more plastic mass than decorations or, for example, candy shells. If you fill the cake with pure chocolate, the icing will crack when cutting and will look unattractive.

The solution to this problem is simple to the point of genius:

Place a piece of butter in a container intended for chocolate - approximately 25–30% of the weight of the bar or drops.
When the butter melts, add 30% fat cream to it - 2 tablespoons for every 100 g of chocolate.
After this, add chocolate - it should not just melt, but mix with butter and cream, forming a smooth, evenly rich mass. We must not forget about regular stirring.

It is better for novice confectioners to melt the chocolate for the cake in a water bath, since in case of overheating, which is difficult to avoid in the microwave, the glaze will begin to crack almost immediately after hardening. This will affect the appearance of the dessert.

How to melt chocolate for fondue?

Melting chocolate for fondue is easier than for other desserts, since you don’t have to worry about how the mass will behave when it hardens. Moreover, it should not harden at all - instead, you will have to monitor the chocolate so that it is liquid all the time while the people gathered around the fondue pot want to feast on the fruit.

As with the icing, additional ingredients should be added to the melting container:

condensed milk or heavy cream (about 100 g per 250 g of chocolate);
liqueur (a teaspoon - only for flavor);
spices to taste (vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, red pepper for those who like contrast).

Dairy products are added at the beginning of the melting process, and liquor and spices are added at the end.

If the cream has curdled, the situation can be saved using a blender by whipping the mixture until smooth.

As a rule, chocolate for fondue is melted in a special saucepan, under which there is a candle. If you don’t have such a vessel, you can replace it with a water bath.

If in production a special machine is used to melt chocolate, then at home this can be done without any complex devices. To speed up the process, it is enough not to break the tile into pieces, but to grind it (for example, on a grater). The quality of chocolate is of great importance - it should be made on the basis of cocoa butter, and not foreign vegetable fats.