Chocolate making at home can be great fun and a fab way to spend an afternoon creating something deliciously yumi. But it can a little bit frustrating, when the outcome is not exactly what you’ve expected. That’s why it’s best to start with the right type of chocolate, equipment, chocolate moulds and follow the recipe carefully. I wanted to share with you my favourite chocolate making tips, equipment and chocolate I use to make Cocoa & Heart artisan chocolates. I’ve personally tried and tested all of these and we also use them in our chocolate courses.
Just click on any picture to get to the product and supliers page.
Happy Chocolate Making!
Magdalena
CHOCOLATE COUVERTURE
Start with a good quality chocolate. The actual type of chocolate or brand depends on your personal taste and there is no right or wrong with what type of chocolate you like. No matter what type of chocolate couverture you buy, you’ll be pleasantly surprised how different the taste is to a standard supermarket chocolate brand.
EVERY DAY USE COUVERTURE
This type of chocolate is perfect for every day work – enrobing, dipping, moulding, ganache making and baking. Callebaut coverture comes in easy melt callets form and it’s easy to work with and reliable – great for beginers!
SINGLE ORIGINS COUVERTURE
Single origin chocolates have usually names of the countries where they come from and their flavour, texture and fragrance comes from the surroundings where the cacao tree has grown, the soil and the type of cocoa type tree. Origins chocolates are full of natural flavour and they are perfect for creating ganache fillings for your chocolate truffles or making artisan chocolate bars.
SPECIALITY CHOCOLATE
ruby
A brand new type of chocolate, which has a natural fruity flavour. It has a lovely pink colour and it’s pleasantly sweet. Ruby chocolate is suitable for enrobing, dipping, moulding, ganache making. This Callebaut coverture comes in easy melt callets form and it’s easy to work with.
White gold
Caramelised white chocolate with smooth finish.
CHOCOLATE MAKING EQUIPMENT
CHOCOLATE COLOURING
Make sure you use powdered food colouring not water based (this will split the chocolate). The colours below are originally for sugarcraft, but they are the best value and perfectly suitable for chocolate making. The powder colours are suitable for use with white chocolate or cocoa butter. Either buy colours that you want to use or buy the 3 main colours, that you can mix to get the colours you need. And just remember that ‘white’ chocolate is not exactly white – it’s yellow, so all colours will behave slightly differently.
CHOCOLATE MOULDS
Chocolate moulds made from strong plastic are a good value and if you look after them, they will last for years and years. Just make sure you don’t scratch them inside, wash carefully and always polish with a cotton wool or soft kitchen paper towel before you use them.
CHOCOLATE DECORATIVE TRANSFERS
These are made with coloured cocoa butter, which melts into your chocolate. When the chocolate sets in the fridge, the cocoa pattern transfers to your chocolate. Store as chocolate (between 18-21 C).
CHOCOLATE TRUFFLE SHELLS
Chocolate truffle shells are great for soft fillings, such as salted caramel or alcoholic chocolate truffles.
RAW CHOCOLATE MAKING
Few basic, but essential ingredients to start making raw chocolate.