I'M A CHOCOHOLIC. I love , love the taste of chocolate and can devour more than 4 any given day. This doesn't bode well for my weight but arghh, that's another story for another day.
In this entry , I don't promise to tell you all that there is to chocolate or what exactly is chocolate. I'm not a chocolate maker and only make them for fun and to place on top of my cakes. But that's it !! If you are looking for a crash course on chocolate, google it but if you are in India and looking to make chocolate for fun, read ahead!!
Chocolate - that super yummy, change the taste of your mouth aphrodisiac. Its a mood uplifter and can be an addiction. Ask anyone around me , they'll tell you about my "Chocoholism". If you are like me, you must try your hand at making some.
Amateur Crash Course 1 : TYPES OF CHOCOLATE : From what I've learnt there are two main types of chocolate - Compound and Couverture.
Amateur Crash Course 2 : Types of Compound Chocolate (Given in order of increasing Cocoa Butter content) :
In this entry , I don't promise to tell you all that there is to chocolate or what exactly is chocolate. I'm not a chocolate maker and only make them for fun and to place on top of my cakes. But that's it !! If you are looking for a crash course on chocolate, google it but if you are in India and looking to make chocolate for fun, read ahead!!
Chocolate - that super yummy, change the taste of your mouth aphrodisiac. Its a mood uplifter and can be an addiction. Ask anyone around me , they'll tell you about my "Chocoholism". If you are like me, you must try your hand at making some.
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| The Heel, the Boot and the Lipstick are all made out of chocolate. |
Amateur Crash Course 1 : TYPES OF CHOCOLATE : From what I've learnt there are two main types of chocolate - Compound and Couverture.
- Couverture is the superior chocolate which we rarely ever get in India and is expensive as hell.
- Compound, its cheaper version is quite good and is what you find in most home-made chocolates so our discussion from here on will always refer to Compound Chocolate.
Amateur Crash Course 2 : Types of Compound Chocolate (Given in order of increasing Cocoa Butter content) :
- Dark Chocolate : Its not the pure dark chocolate but good enough
- Semi-sweet Chocolate : It's what most home-made chocolates are made of and is mostly dark but with a slight sweetness to it.
- Milk Chocolate : Its MILKY. I never ever use it while making home-made chocolate as how many ever brands I've tried, it always leaves a slight after-taste in my mouth which I do not like.
- White Chocolate : Do I need to describe this ? However one thing I will say , its the fastest melting one out of all the others due to the high Cocoa Butter content.
Amateur Crash Course 3 : Brands of chocolate found in the market :
- Selbourne - Decently superior taste wise, it is also expensive.
- Morde - Not as great but one of the most popular
- 2 MA - Low quality and not great for making chocolates but its all right for usage in other forms of baking.
There are many others brands that you will find there. Experiment and use the one you feel is the best. Don't just go by word of mouth.
Amateur Crash Course 4 : Making Chocolate (Simple and easy):
- Buy yourself some Chocolate Moulds ( Found at most departmental stores or specialty baking stores , you can purchase some from the suppliers listed on my other post, Pigmento there specially keeps the cheap ones which are for amateur bakers, http://floc-fortheloveofcake.blogspot.com/2012/01/sharing-and-caring.html )
- IN THE KITCHEN :
- Keep your moulds ready .
- Melt your chocolate - There are two ways of doing this .
- In a double boiler - Break your chocolate compound , make a double boiler, put the chocolate in the double boiler and melt it while constantly stirring so that there are no lumps. Once melted take off heat.
- In the Microwave - Now though told by most Chocolate Makers, this is not a very good way , I've found it very useful for small amounts of chocolate. Again break the compound into small pieces, put in a microwave safe bowl, which does not mean glass bowls ( Remember if the bowl is to hot for you to touch after a minute in the microwave , its too hot for the chocolate too) and heat it at 30 second intervals while stirring the chocolate inside after each 30 seconds for about 5-10 seconds. Once the chocolate is mostly melted, take it out and stir it till fully melted ( The heat in the already melted chocolate will melt the rest ).
3. MOLDING THE CHOCOLATE : Now put the melted chocolate into the moulds with a spoon so that
you don't over fill and once done with all the cavities, tap the mould lightly by raising it and dropping it
on your work surface. Do not leave it , drop it while holding it so that it levels out and no chocolate is
outside the cavities.
4. COOLING THE CHOCOLATE : Put it in the fridge (not freezer) and after 10 mins take it out and
de-mould it by inverting the chocolate mould and lightly tapping on the top of each chocolate. They
should fall out easily. If not , do not force them . Put them back in the freezer for 5 mins and take them
out again.
These are your Basic Chocolates. If you've any questions , message on this and I will reply back.
Enjoy !!
Avani Malhotra
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