How to Melt Chocolate for Frosting and Cake Decorating

Melted chocolate, loved by adults and children, is used for making frostings, molding figures for cake decorations, chocolate fountains, hot drinks and even sauces for meat. The delicacy with a tart aftertaste is melted to liquid in the oven, microwave oven, multicooker, on the stove and even in the sun. Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages. The main thing is to observe the temperature regime, not to overheat the product to prevent clotting.

Which chocolate is best for frosting?

For the preparation of baked goods, desserts choose confectionery chocolate with different fluidity, which is determined by the number of "drops" specified by the manufacturer. The more pourable the product, the more dense the mass it forms when solidifying.

The choice of confectionery chocolate depending on the use:

1. One "drop". The product is very soft, suitable for adding to creams, dough for baking chocolate biscuits.
2. Two "drops". Used to create three-dimensional figures. Pour into batter, ganache, buttercream.
3. Three Drops. Chocolate with such a fluidity is considered versatile. It is used to make glazes, candy shells, various desserts, decorations, creams.
4. Four "drops". The product makes the best icing, drippings on cakes, candy, and decorations.
5. Five "drops." The most pourable treat makes a thin, crisp, glossy frosting to cover candies, cookies, cakes.

Before purchasing a regular chocolate melt bar from the store, study the composition. Make sure that the treat contains at least 50% cocoa products, no vegetable and confectionary fats, fillers, flavorings, and dyes. It is worth giving up the dessert and spongy product.

For pouring and decorating the cake

The higher the cocoa bean content, the easier it is to melt the bar. To create frosting, drippings and decorations, take bitter or dark chocolate without nuts, dried fruit, liqueur and other fillers. The best, used in confectionery production - with a fluidity of 4 "drops".

For hot drinks

Hot chocolate, which contains three times as many antioxidants as green tea, is made from regular or culinary chocolate with a cocoa butter content of 60-80%.

The higher the cocoa butter content, the more exquisite the taste. The percentage of cocoa content is not the only criterion. What matters is the quality of the cocoa bean and its lack of coloring agents, preservatives, and other additives.

Dark and dark chocolate are more often used to make the beverage. For those who like it sweeter, you can melt the white and not add sugar.

For a chocolate fountain.

A chocolate fountain product with a good flow, low melting point and a glossy appearance. It has a high cocoa butter content and a fine grinding of cocoa powder, which does not disturb the device.

For every 100g of confectionery chocolate, it is recommended that 10g of fine cocoa butter be added.

Ordinary chocolate in bars for the fountain is not suitable because of the lack of fluidity, the risk of breakage of the device.

Peculiarities of melting different kinds of chocolate

Bitter, dark, milk and white chocolate differ in taste, cocoa butter content, powder, sweetener. Each of these products has different properties and melting point.

Bitter

Uniformly without lumps melts the most useful bitter chocolate with a content of the dry residue of cocoa products from 50 to 99 percent, cocoa butter not less than 33%, sugar up to 15%. The product is made flowable in a microwave oven, in a steam bath, or in an oven at 50-55°C.

Black (dark)

Dark chocolate differs from bitter chocolate in taste, appearance, and price. Due to a lesser quantity of cocoa products (40-55%) and a bigger content of sugar, which is not regulated by the state standards, the consistency of dark chocolate changes from hard to liquid at 45 degrees.

Milk chocolate

The light brown milk product with a creamy taste has only 25-35%, less often up to 45% of cocoa beans due to a large amount of sugar and milk powder (up to 20%).

The most commonly bought delicacy melts faster than bitter and dark chocolate. The temperature of 40 degrees is enough for it to become liquid.

White

This ivory-colored product with a pleasant flavor, caramel aftertaste and delicate texture does not contain cocoa powder. It contains milk (cream), sugar and cocoa butter.

Chocolate with an excess of fast carbohydrates melts at t -35-40 ° C. Of all melting methods, the water bath with continuous stirring and pulse cooking in the microwave at low power is the method of choice. The solid product should preferably be ground on a grater.

Porous Chocolate.

A bar of bitter milk or white chocolate becomes porous after foaming at the factory. It takes longer for the product to melt than an ordinary bar. It is prone to sticking and requires constant stirring when melting.

Melted chocolate mass is poured over baked goods, pancakes. For coating cakes, it is not suitable.

Chocolate Eggs (Kinder Surprise Eggs)

This treat consists of two different layers, which makes it difficult to melt. The top layer is milk chocolate, the second layer contains vegetable fats, emulsifiers, and milk powder. If the egg is heated in the microwave, it will partially burn, spreading an unpleasant odor. Melt the confectionery in a water bath, diluting the thick mass with a small amount of milk or cream.

How to melt chocolate at home

The sweet product is melted in the oven, microwave, multicooker, on the stove, under a hair dryer or simply in the sun. Regardless of the method of changing the structure, you must follow the rules that apply to all types of chocolate.

1. Choose a quality product.
2. Take it out of the fridge at least an hour before cooking, so that it has time to warm up to room temperature.
3. For the fastest transition to the liquid state, break the bar into small pieces or grate it.
4. Use a suitable pan - a heat-resistant pot with a thick bottom or a saucepan.
5. Before heating, grease the bottom of the container with a thin layer of refined oil.
6. For melting at one time take a delicacy of not more than 250 grams.
7. Do not cover the container with a lid, otherwise condensation drops will get inside.
8. If the pastry mass comes out thick, dilute it with milk or cream.
9. For a glossy appearance, add butter.
10. Heat the chocolate, gradually increasing the temperature.
11. Use a kitchen thermometer to make sure it does not overheat or curdle.
12. Stir constantly, checking the process.
13. Do not mix bars from different manufacturers in a saucepan.

During the melting process, do not allow even a minimal amount of water to get into the container with the chocolate, so that no lumps form in the smooth mass.

Using a water bath

Prepare two pots of different volumes to construct a water bath structure. Pour water into a large enamel or stainless steel bowl, put chopped chocolate into a smaller (glass, ceramic, stainless steel) bowl.

Once the water is boiling, turn the heat down to low, set the small pan, securing the handles to the edges. Using a wooden or silicone spatula, stir the chocolate mixture continuously until the contents are completely melted.

If you make a steam bath, with the bottom of the small pan not touching the surface of the boiling water, the chocolate will melt longer, but more evenly.

The time to melt a 100-gram bar in a water bath is 8-10 minutes.

In the microwave.

To melt chocolate in the microwave, you will need a quality treat without fillers and preservatives, microwaveable glassware, ceramic.

How to melt:

1. Chop the bars with your hands, a knife, or on a grater.
2. Put the chocolate chips in a suitable container. Place in a microwave oven.
3. Turn the microwave on low power to prevent splashing.
4. Every 20-30 seconds remove the container with the contents. Stir until the product reaches the desired consistency.

It is possible to activate the defrosting mode. In this case one stirring after 2 minutes is enough.

This method is the fastest, but not controlled enough.

In a multicooker.

1. With a change in the consistency of chocolate from solid to liquid is perfectly coped with the kitchen helper multicooker:
2. Pour 500 ml of water into the bowl of the electric appliance.
3. Grind the bar in any convenient way. Put the pieces in a container with a diameter corresponding to the size of the bowl.
4. Turn on the mode for steam cooking.
5. After boiling, place the container with the product.
6. Heat for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring constantly.

To prevent condensation from getting into the bowl with chocolate, do not close the lid.

In the fondue pot

A cauldron or pot on stable legs with a burner (candle) underneath is called a fondue pot. The device is designed to melt cheese, but it is successfully used to produce liquid chocolate.

It is enough to put a crushed bar in a cauldron, heated slowly, stirring continuously. A fondue pot is especially convenient if you need to maintain a liquid consistency of the product for a while.

In the oven or on the stove

If there is a non-stick pan in the house, you can do without a water bath:

1. Place the container with the chopped chocolate bars on the stove.
2. Heat over low heat, stirring continuously.
3. Remove the pan from the stove when you obtain a homogeneous mass without lumps.

To make the process go faster, add some milk or cream. In this case, the confectionery mixture will take longer to solidify.

How to melt the pastry in the oven:

1. Preheat the oven to 60°C.
2. Put the chocolate chips in a heatproof dish. Stir every 2 minutes.
3. Remove the container from the oven when the consistency is homogeneous.

You can make a steam bath in the oven. Pour water into a pan and heat to 60 degrees. Place a heatproof bowl with chopped or grated chocolate on top. Place in the oven for a quarter of an hour.

In the sun.

You can only melt chocolate in an energy-saving way in hot summer weather on a loggia with tightly closed windows.

Grate the bar on a grater. The chips spread in a wide low container, take it to the loggia or a glazed balcony. If the temperature is at least 40 degrees, the goodies will melt.

Using a hair dryer.

The procedure takes 20 minutes:

1. Break the tiles into small pieces or grate them on a grater. Put it in a wide, dry bowl.
2. Point a hair dryer turned on with no nozzle on low power in hot blast mode at the product.
3. Hold the device at a distance of 20-25 cm. Stir the contents of the bowl occasionally.

This option is used to melt small weight bars or in the absence of a stove, microwave.

How to properly melt white chocolate

The product, which contains only 20% cocoa butter, has little fluidity. It is better to choose confectionery chocolate with 3-4 "drops" for the preparation of the decor.

White delicacy, whose melting point does not exceed 45 degrees, is melted in a water bath over medium heat. At the same time, it is inadmissible that the boiling water touches the bottom of the bowl with the sweet pieces.

Another method of melting is in the microwave. In a microwave oven, change the texture of white chocolate in pulses at a medium power of 500 watts. Every 15 seconds, the heat-resistant container is removed, and the mass is stirred to prevent sticking.

Q&A

Beginning confectioners wonder if it is possible to correct a mistake if the product curdles during melting and how to melt a porous treat.

Can I melt porous chocolate?

The porous structure of the product makes the melting process more difficult and the procedure takes longer. To destroy the air bubbles, grate the product before heating.

Because porous chocolate has a low melting point (35-40°C) it is more often melted in a water bath. Bring the water to the boil in a large pan and reduce the heat to a minimum. Place the bowl with the chocolate shavings in the bath when the signs of boiling have disappeared.

Pastry chefs find it impractical to melt porous bars when it is not difficult to replace them with regular ones.

What to do if the chocolate curdles?

If the chocolate curdles when overheated, it will show up as grains. To correct the mistake, remove the container from the fire. Add the butter in small portions at the rate of one tablespoon per 170g of chocolate. You can dilute the liquid mass with cream, milk, vegetable oil and mix thoroughly.

In any case, the prepared mixture is not suitable for making icing, coating, and smudges on cakes. It can be used to add to batter, sauces.

Recipe for Chocolate Frosting for Cake Filling

Classic recipe for dark chocolate frosting

Ingredients:

• 100-gram chocolate bar;
• 100g powdered sugar;
• 45 g sour cream;
• 25g butter;
• salt.

How to prepare:

1. In a water bath, melt the chocolate. Stir in soft butter until smooth.
2. Add sour cream and salt.
3. Slowly pour in powdered sugar, stirring continuously.
4. Cover the bowl with clingfilm and leave it in the fridge for 30 minutes.

The most exquisite confectionery, desserts are obtained with the addition of chocolate. If you learn how to choose and melt the delicacy correctly, you can create your own culinary masterpieces at home with a tangy, tart aftertaste.