The Best Molding Chocolate for Your Favorite Treats
- Dec 29, 2021
Chocolate, being the universally loved ingredient that it is, is also extremely versatile. People’s love for chocolate has transcended into more than just a sweet treat that is occasionally eaten for dessert. Chocolate has become a multifaceted, multi-use ingredient that can be found in several different applications.
Coming from a chocoholic, chocolate has completely transformed the confectionery world, allowing for a whole different category of flavor combinations, desserts, and techniques using chocolate to be created and brought into the mainstream. There is an entire industry based around the love for chocolate and careers centered around perfecting the use of chocolate.
Needless to say that chocolate is very influential culturally and culinarily. You have your traditional chocolate confections like chocolate cake, chocolate bars, or chocolate chip cookies, but the possibilities are truly endless with what you can do with chocolate.
Let’s take a closer look at the overall ingredients of chocolate and what makes it so delicious. Chocolate is primarily made up of cacao, sugar, cocoa butter, milk, emulsifies, and occasionally some other added flavors. The ratios and percentages of each ingredient can be varied depending on what type of chocolate is being made. Things like dark chocolate have a higher percentage of cacao, giving the chocolate a deeper flavor with rich bitterness.
Things like couverture chocolate contain a higher amount of cacao butter, giving the chocolate a creamier texture and making it easier to melt and temper. Depending on what type of chocolate treat you are making, you will need different types of chocolate to get the job done.
Not only is chocolate very tasty, but it holds some beneficial health properties, as well. High-quality chocolate with a low amount of additives or sugar can be considered a superfood. Cacao, the ingredient that makes chocolate what it is, contains high amounts of antioxidants, healthy fats, and minerals.
Some other health benefits that come from chocolate with a high cocoa content include anti-inflammatory properties, can lower blood pressure, could improve cardiovascular health, and boosts your immune system. It may not even be too far-fetched to say that some chocolate a day keeps the doctor away.
However, in most applications where chocolate is being used, it’s not being utilized for its health benefits. Some chocolate creations are all about the rich, sweet, and decadent flavor of the chocolate, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Desserts are made to be enjoyed and savored.
If you’ve ever stepped foot inside a bakery, candy store, or chocolate shop, you have definitely noticed some confections that are either covered, smothered, drizzled, or enrobed in chocolate. These types of treats are a favorite amongst most people. How can you go wrong with covering something like a cake pop, a strawberry, or a truffle with more chocolate?
Covering treats in chocolate just adds a whole other depth of flavor. Plus, you can achieve a multitude of different flavor combinations and texture combinations, as well. If you’ve ever enjoyed a cake pop covered in a brightly colored coating, you have probably eaten something called molding chocolate.
What is Molding Chocolate?
Molding chocolate, or otherwise known as candy melts or chocolate wafers, is used to dip treats, mold candy, drizzle fun decorations, or even make chocolate ganache. You can find molding chocolate in virtually all colors of the rainbow, which makes them great for fun and decorative desserts for parties or events.
Although molding chocolate can seem quite similar to regular chocolate, they actually are quite different in their overall makeup. While melting regular chocolate requires the tedious process of tempering, molding chocolate does not require any special method to melt them.
They are extremely easy to work with and can melt as easily as popping them into the microwave. Once hardened, molding chocolate can easily hold its shape, so there’s no worry about it melting everywhere and making a mess.
Chocolate wafers, like the ones from Merckens that are sold on Stover & Company’s website, are made with very different ingredients than the normal chocolate bar. To allow the molding chocolate to work properly, it is made with sugar, hydrogenated palm oil, dry milk, and emulsifies. All of these ingredients work together to allow the best molding chocolate to operate the way it is intended.
Most chocolate wafers, or molding chocolate, is no cacao butter but rather oils present in the wafers so they are easier to melt and mold, with no need for tempering. The best molding chocolate can be used to make candies, dip treats into, and drizzle decorations onto. At Stover & Company, we supply the highest quality products from top confectionery brands.
You can trust that you can find all the necessary ingredients and products you need for your next bakery or culinary creation.