Have you tried melting real chocolate to use in baking and found when it sets that it looks grey, streaky and/or speckley? This is because the molecules in the chocolate once melted have been disrupted and as the chocolate resets the molecules remain topsy turvy. Let’s see if we can help.
Pour some Hot Chocolates chocolate buttons  into a plastic or glass bowl. Put the bowl into the microwave and melt the chocolate at 800-1000 W. Take the bowl out of the microwave every 15 to 20 seconds and stir well to ensure that the temperature of the chocolate is evenly distributed and that it does not burn. Repeat this process until the chocolate has almost all melted. Some small pieces of unmelted chocolate should still be visible in the bowl, this is important because it is the unmelted chocolate which encourages the melted chocolate to stablise and be ready for use.
Remove from the heat and stir the chocolate well, until all the buttons have disappeared and a slightly thickened even consistency has been obtained, the chocolate is tempered and ready to work with. You can test the chocolate by dipping a clean knife into the chocolate, put it in the fridge for about 1 minute. If the chocolate comes out hard and snaps when you break into it the chocolate should set perfectly.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 3rd, 2009 at 7:52 pm and is filed under How To's, News and Information. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.