As I have recently got into chocolate making, I thought I should try and make some handmade chocolate Easter Eggs for my family as gifts this year.
I bought some low cost plastic moulds from Lakeland for my first try. The moulds although designed for home use, proved to produce very professional results.
For this project I decided to use dark chocolate for the shells with white chocolate swirls laid into the cases. The first step was to temper a small batch of organic white chocolate and gently swirl it into the shell cases until they set.
The next step was to temper some dark chocolate and coat the shells and leave for 15 mins until they set. After this I refrigerated the shells for 15 minutes so that the shells would release easily from the cases.
I wanted to have a classic old fashioned feel to the eggs, so I decided to fill each finished egg with four white chocolate covered milk chocolate ganache truffles. Each egg would also have tissue paper padding inside harking back to yesteryear before plastic became ubiquitious.
The last step was to gently warm a small quantity of dark chocolate to 31 deg C to use to join the half egg shells together.
The finished result was a batch of nostalgic Easter Eggs, adding cellophane and ribbons gave them a classic look with a professional finish….. Yum!
Here is my Youtube video version of “Tempering Chocolate at Home”
Its intended to go with my recent Tempering blog and will be added to it soon.
The process of tempering chocolate can look a little daunting, however it’s very rewarding but can take a little time and patience to master. Its a really precise and basically a chemistry process. The chocolate tempering process allows for hardening crystallisation to occur. Tempering chocolate gives it its distinctive snap and shine. The Tempering blog gives full details and you may find the video useful.
The process of tempering chocolate can look a little daunting, however it’s very rewarding but can take a little time and patience to master. Its a really precise and basically a chemistry process. The chocolate tempering process allows for hardening crystallisation to occur. Tempering chocolate gives it its distinctive snap and shine. The blog gives full details and you may find the video useful.
Before you start tempering chocolate make sure that the kitchen is free of any moisture / steam. Check your bowl is dry before you start, if water makes contact with the hot melted chocolate it will make it seize and go very gritty. A top tip is to wipe dry the underside of the glass mixing bowl with a towel when removing from the saucepan (bain marie).
The method described is for dark chocolate but notes are included below for tempering milk chocolate and also white chocolate.
1 Place the finely chopped dark chocolate into a heat proof glass bowl and place over a barely simmering saucepan of water (bain marie). Ensuring that the water does not touch the bottom of the glass bowl.
2 Gently heat / melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally and checking the temperature regularly with a thermometer and when it reaches 55deg C (131deg F) remove the bowl from the saucepan being careful to dry the underside of the bowl. Now carefully pour two thirds of the melted chocolate onto a granite or marble tempering slab, keeping the remainder of the chocolate warm, in the bowl but off the heat.
3 Using a chocolate scraper work the chocolate from the centre to the sides of the slab and back to the centre again at least 3 or 4 times. Check the temperature as you work the chocolate, it needs to be lowered in temperature to 27deg C (80deg F). This is the temperature dark chocolate crystallises Now pour/scrape the chocolate back into the bowl (which is off the saucepan / stove) with the remaining chocolate and stir together. Check the temperature it needs to now drop to 30deg C to 31deg C (86deg F to 88deg F) as the optimum working temperature for dark chocolate. Dip the end of the palette knife into the bowl of chocolate and its should set smoothly with a slight shine.
Notes on Tempering Milk Chocolate and White Chocolate
Due to the different amounts of cocao solids the temperature at stages 2 and 3 will need to be adjusted as follows:-
At Stage2
The temperature should reach between 45deg C to 50deg C (113deg F to 122deg F)
At Stage 3
The temperature chocolate crystallises is 26deg C (79deg F)
The optimum working temperature is 28deg C to 29deg C (82deg F to 84deg F)
Now you are ready to work with the chocolate and create something wonderful!
