Blending chocolate for molded shells

[WhiteTruffleGirl]

I have been using Callebaut semi-sweet chocolate to make my shells for molded chocolates. I believe the cocoa butter percentage is about 32%. The viscosity is perfect for making nice thin shells. I've just about run out of it and still have quite a few chocolates left to make. I have a whack of Callebaut bittersweet on hand, but know it is not good for shells as it is too thick. (I don't know the cocoa butter percentage.) I've got quite a bit of cocoa butter on hand and thought I might simply try thinning the bittersweet down to make it more viscous, and hence a little more appropriate for shells. Is this a recipe for disaster? Or will it work just fine? If it will work just fine, what is the proportion of cocoa butter I should add (by weight) to my chocolate? Any guidance anyone could provide would be helpful.

[Sebastian]

You'll be just fine with adding more cocoa butter WTG - of course you'll still have to temper the whole shebang after you've added it. How much to add? Good question - a bit hard to answer tho w/o knowing what it is you're adding it to 8-) I'd add a little bit at a time until the consistency 'feels' and 'looks' right...you can also add a little bit (and i do stress little) of soy lecithin to the product (fluid - i'm talking like 0.1%) which will help thin it out a great deal. if you add too much, however, it'll actually begin to thicken the product.

[WhiteTruffleGirl]

Sebastian,

I'm using a Rev2 to temper my chocolate (wish I had a bigger model, but alas I'm making due with the baby model at home) so I'm limited to tempering 1.5# at a time. I went to ChocoateSource.com since they always seem to provide the percentages for cocoa mass/cocoa butter, etc. and they indicated that the cocoa butter percentage for bittersweet is 26%. Tell me if you think the following makes sense...

The overall amount of cocoa butter in 1.5# of semi-sweet (at 32% cocoa butter) is 7.7 ounces. The overall amount of cocoa butter in 1.5# of bittersweet (at 26% cocoa butter) is 6.2 ounces. If I therefore substitute 1.5 ounces of chocolate with cocoa butter (the difference between the two) I am basically ending up with a product that contains the same amount of cocoa butter and hence about the same viscosity. Sound like that will work?

[K8memphis]

...add a little bit (and i do stress little) of soy lecithin to the product (fluid - i'm talking like 0.1%) which will help thin it out a great deal. if you add too much, however, it'll actually begin to thicken the product.

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Sebastian, so lecithin will thicken it if too much is added?? Wow, good to know. We are still trying to fine tune a good formula for our chocolate fountains. I was thinking about adding some lecithin so this little nugget of information is very valuable. I only thought to add it because it is on the ingredient list of chocolate fountain stuff you buy.

Thanks!

[Genny]

...add a little bit (and i do stress little) of soy lecithin to the product (fluid - i'm talking like 0.1%) which will help thin it out a great deal. if you add too much, however, it'll actually begin to thicken the product.

←

Sebastian, so lecithin will thicken it if too much is added?? Wow, good to know. We are still trying to fine tune a good formula for our chocolate fountains. I was thinking about adding some lecithin so this little nugget of information is very valuable. I only thought to add it because it is on the ingredient list of chocolate fountain stuff you buy.

Thanks!

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Kate, I use canola oil to thin my chocolate and it doesn't seem to affect the chocolaty-ness of the fountain at all. Hope this helps!

Genny

[Sebastian]

WTG - yes, at first glance that seems to make sense (but i only got 2 hours of sleep in the last 2 days, and i may not be thinking straight 8-) ). It appears you're essentially increasing your fat by 1/3, which should take it from what is essentially a chocolate made for cookies (low fat, very high viscosity at 26%) to a coating chocolate. You may need to adjust slightly to compensate for difference in emsulifier, but you'll get the hang of it quickly i'm sure. The chocolate you have at 26% fat is really meant to be used for baking, but you can easily adjust it to something else, as you've already done the math for it!

K8 - yes, over lecithinating will lead to something called 'bridging' where the lecithin begins to bind to itself. Lecithin is ampiphillic, meaning it's got an end that loves water, and and end that loves fat. Chocolate is essentially a suspension of water loving materials (sugar, milk) in fat - lecithin helps to reduce the surface tension created between them. However, if too much is present, it begins to bind to itself and tension (and hence viscosity) increases.

For fountains, you can add pretty much any type of oiil that's liquid at room temperature to thin it out. It should also be noted that some chocolate suppliers (peters, wilbur) are producing chocolates meant especially for fountains, and do not require additional fats to thin them out.