Comments on: How do you melt chocolate and set it to create chocolate pieces?

By: Ann

Ann — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 19:04:59 +0000

you can use chocolate almond bark or the white chocolate almond bark. You can find the molds in all shapes and sizes, alphabetic letters, etc. at any bakery supply or even Walmart.
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personal experience

By: Julia S

Julia S — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 18:45:59 +0000

Chocolate molds these days are usually made of plastic. You can find them at some quality kitchen stores (like Sur la Table). You can also find some at larger craft stores. They’ll be in the same general area as the cake decorating supplies.

Please note: you generally don’t want to add sugar, coffee, or milk to melted chocolate. If you want to flavor plain chocolate, it’s better to use food-grade oils.

Adding sugar and milk is usually done to the processed cocoa beans to make chocolate in the first place. You might also be thinking of ganache, which is the filling inside of truffles. It is made of cream, chocolate, and flavorings. Molded chocolates are sometimes filled with ganache (it’s made slightly differently from the ganache that goes in truffles).

I really suggest getting a book about this… there are tons out there.

If you really just want to make prettily-shaped solid chocolate pieces (it’s enough of a production as it is), I suggest getting some molds from a shop. You should also grab an offset spatula, which will help you smooth the tops of your chocolate if you need to.

If you want to make the chocolate pieces look really nice (with that great shine), you’ll need to do what is called tempering the chocolate. This is basically melting it to a certain temperature, then bringing the temperature down in a controlled manner (by adding very finely chopped solid chocolate), and finally bringing the chocolate back up to a slightly higher temperature again. The temperatures vary depending on what kind of chocolate (white/milk vs dark) and some brands even have small variations in specific temperature. To temper, I strongly suggest getting an instant thermometer with a digital display. Keep it in a glass of warm water, but always dry it off before you put it in the melted chocolate. Water is kryptonite for melted chocolate!
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PS- Use the microwave to melt the chocolate. As I said, water is not good for chocolate. Steam is water… careful with it. Just put the chopped chocolate into a microwave-friendly bowl and nuke it, stirring after 30-second intervals. (Stir even if it doesn’t look like it’s melted or it will burn… it keeps its shape even when it’s at temperature in the nuker.)

By: Gemini man

Gemini man — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 18:34:59 +0000

Although there are specialty machines/devices, one of the simplest method is by use of a double boiler. While searching for a photo, I found this e-how link that explains it.

http://www.ehow.com/how_13501_melt-chocolate-double.html?ref=fuel&utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=ssp&utm_campaign=yssp_art

Here’s another link that sell them and has photos. You really need not spend for the most expensive as the lower pot simply hold water that boils, while the upper one hold the chocolate that melts as you stir them from the indirect heat. Never use just a single pot as it will burn.
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http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodli.asp?DeptNo=1000&ClassNo=0105

http://www.ehow.com/how_13501_melt-chocolate-double.html?ref=fuel&utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=ssp&utm_campaign=yssp_art

By: Asche

Asche — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 18:05:59 +0000

okay you want to take a pot and fill it 1/3 full of water. find a smaller pot to put inside it with the chocolate. this creates a home double boiler so you don’t burn the chocolate. take some chocolate bars you like and when you get the pot with water boiling add the chocolate to the floating pot turn the heat down half and keep it heated, and stirring till it all melts.

now find a tin or something like a chocolate mold press, you can find them at cooking stores or craft stores. or some times places like meijer, or k mart. and spoon the chocolate into the mold and let it harden in room temp. or in the fridge.

you can also use like little containers, I had heart shaped containers, I never used so I washed the lids and used them to make some large heart shaped chocolates. around holidays if you go to the dollar store, you can find little containers shaped like hearts in like 8 packs or carrots, or other things. I have a bunch of those.

if you use white chocolate you can divide it into bowls while still hot and add food coloring to make the colour match like red for hearts, or orange and green for carrots. ( its kinda hard to get it to work out right, took a few trys) have fun..
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