Using a lemon/other fruit curd as a chocolate filling

[LucyInAust]

I really like the combination of lemon and chocolate, so have been thinking about making a lemon curd (or lemon butter) filled chocolate ... but the concept seems to have a couple of potential issues. One of which is that the curd is quite soft - and I've had issues before when putting the bottoms on moulds with a soft filling, that the filling mixes into the botton - creating holes that leak.

I was thinking of making the lemon curd firmer - but not quite sure how to achieve this ... could I mix it with chocolate to create a sort of ganache? (would mixing the lemon curd with chocolate = lump of disaster?! ) or would ie be better to up the egg component?

Given lemon curd is usually refridgerated - would I also need to keep the chocolates refridgerated (and therefore have problems with moisture?).

Would be interested in any comments or experiences?!

Thanks!

[Ylee]

How about lemon flavoured white chocolate ganache? I've filled chocolates with lemon curd before, but served them cold because I was worried about them being too soft as well. Didn't have any problems with moisture on the chocolates though.

[gfron1]

HERE'S a discussion about orange curd in wedding cake that might be helpful.

And, HERE'S one on quenellable curd - essentially the same question.

[LucyInAust]

Thanks for the links Rob.

Ylee - I was trying to avoid white chocolate because of the sweetness it would add ... but I might try a batch and see if a small proportion of white chocolate can add stability without too much flavour.

Some of the suggestions on the links contained gelatin which is not an option for me (best friend is vegetarian!) ... but I may try some of the other suggestions! Hoping to get a chance to experiment next week!

My absolute favourite filled chocolate is a lemon creme from Harrods - it is a fondant like centre, but interestingly the ingredients list apricots - but I can't work out how they fit in as there is no apricot flavour.

[gap]

LuctInAust, I have made a dark chocolate ganache with a lemon curd. It works really well and stores well in a dark spot at a cool temperature (not a problem in Victoria at the moment).

[reenicake]

I have done this and they were fabulous. To make the lemon curd firmer you can increase the amount of butter in the curd and incorporate it with an immersion blender -- this also helps with separation. If you find that this still does not firm up enough for a good cap (I usually let these sit overnight, which makes them develop a slight skin that really helps) try subbing some cocoa butter for the dairy butter.

Storage should not be a problem -- as long as the bottoms are well sealed. Lemon curd usually lasts a very long time. I have kept mine (the chocolates) frozen for 3-4 months without loss of quality.

[pringle007]

I did a lemon curd bon bon, also a lemon curd-basil bon bon last spring. I used a small amount of cocoa butter in the curd to firm it up a bit. It set enough to cap without any troubles, and I dont remember having any leaking issues. They still are on of my favorite creations.

[Kerry Beal]

Alternately you could just use your regular lemon curd and spray the backs with a light spray of cocoa butter with a airbrush before backing off. I've seen it done with liquid layers with great success.

[LucyInAust]

Thank you for all your ideas!!

I tried creating the curd last night - I doubled the butter in the recipe ... after sitting in the fridge last night, I don't think it will be firm enough!! Thinking tonight I might re-heat it and add cornflour (but worried that I'd need to heat it too hot to activate the cornflour now it has cooled) or cocoa butter.

Kerry ... the suggestion of a layer of cocoa butter sounds like a great idea to keep the texture nice and soft!

The chocolate I'm going to use is Callebaut Sao Thomé, so I'm hoping for a lovely contrast between the dark chocolate and centre.

And a picture to show the gorgeous golden lemon curd - made with eggs from my own chickens!

gap: the lemon curd ganache you did - can I ask how you created this? (and yes, certainly cold enough at the moment to keep well - especially in my cold house!)

[Kerry Beal]

Thank you for all your ideas!!

I tried creating the curd last night - I doubled the butter in the recipe ... after sitting in the fridge last night, I don't think it will be firm enough!!  Thinking tonight I might re-heat it and add cornflour (but worried that I'd need to heat it too hot to activate the cornflour now it has cooled) or cocoa butter.

Kerry ... the suggestion of a layer of cocoa butter sounds like a great idea to keep the texture nice and soft!

The chocolate I'm going to use is Callebaut Sao Thomé, so I'm hoping for a lovely contrast between the dark chocolate and centre.

And a picture to show the gorgeous golden lemon curd - made with eggs from my own chickens!

gap: the lemon curd ganache you did  - can I ask how you created this? (and yes, certainly cold enough at the moment to keep well - especially in my cold house!)

←

That is beautiful looking curd. Can't wait to see how the chocolates turn out.

[gap]

gap: the lemon curd ganache you did  - can I ask how you created this? (and yes, certainly cold enough at the moment to keep well - especially in my cold house!)

←

Hi LucyInAust,

I made a "thin curd" - no cornstarch. It still tickens up a bit because of the eggs. I heat the cream, butter, sugar and zest. Temper into 2 whole eggs, reheat to thicken and just as its coming to the boil, strain over the dark chocolate. Then emulsify to form the ganache.

Its one of my favourites (although I think I have about 100 favourites when it comes to chocolates)

[LucyInAust]

I had an attempt on the weekend ... I'm really going to have to buy something to temper chocolate with ... there was much swearing with chocolate and cats flying around the kitchen ... during the process I swore I would never make chocolates EVER again ... then I tasted the result ....

Outsides:

Inside:

Note: came out of fridge so had some condensation on it ... you can see the bit of cocoa butter in the corner that I attempted to seal this lot with. Not sure the sealing helped - more because of my skill than the actual theory of it (I spilt a fair bit of cocoa butter all over the kitchen!)! It meant I had less of a base to fill ... I did two batches with cocoa butter and one without ... they are all leaking a bit (as I said, my skill was lacking ) ... next time *grumble* *tempering* *should never do it again* I would just do it without sealing.

[Kerry Beal]

I had an attempt on the weekend ... I'm really going to have to buy something to temper chocolate with ... there was much swearing with chocolate and cats flying around the kitchen ... during the process I swore I would never make chocolates EVER again ... then I tasted the result  ....       

Outsides:

Inside:

Note: came out of fridge so had some condensation on it ... you can see the bit of cocoa butter in the corner that I attempted to seal this lot with.  Not sure the sealing helped - more because of my skill than the actual theory of it (I spilt a fair bit of cocoa butter all over the kitchen!)!  It meant I had less of a base to fill ... I did two batches with cocoa butter and one without ... they are all leaking a bit (as I said, my skill was lacking ) ... next time *grumble* *tempering* *should never do it again* I would just do it without sealing.

←

They look pretty darn good to me. They tasted great?

[ejw50]

I second YLee's idea, you can make a white chocolate/lemon ganache that is not too sweet.

Could you pipe a thin layer of curd into the mold, let it set a little, then pipe a layer of semisweet dark ganache and let that set before backing? Would that work? If those two layers mixed a little bit, it's not a big deal. It is a different flavor from pure lemon , inspired from Pierre Herme's Mozart cake.

[Katie]

Hello everyone,

I am brand new to eGullet. I started playing around with chocolates about two years ago. Mostly basic truffles, and bark and similar things. I'm excited to learn a lot from everyone here as I can tell just by a quick glance over some of the discussions that there is a lot of great information passed on by great people.

Today I have a question related to my first experiment in making molded chocolates about a year ago. At the time, I just wanted to see what molding was like, so I made the shells (which turned out suprisingly well), but hadn't really planned a filling. On a whim, I filled them with a tasty strawberry jam. They turned out quite nicely.

Since them, I have also made various flavor curds (sugar, egg yolks, butter, and juice) which I have used. They seem to taste pretty good and go down well at parties.

As I'm learning more about chocolate making, I've noticed that these kinds of fillings don't seem to be used by anyone. Is this purely a shelf life issue? All my chocolates have been eaten within a week (often much less) of making, and I've never noticed any issues. Have I just been lucky?

The people I've fed them to seem to enjoy them, especially a double layer one I made for a cinco de mayo party that was lime curd and chile ganache.

Any other ideas why jam and curd type filling aren't used?

Katie

[Chris Hennes]

For professional use, something like a curd has a water activity that is much too high: you have a very short shelf-life, and as far as I know curds need to be refrigerated (or canned). For home use that's much less important since it's being consumed immediately.

[annachan]

I've used jam before, in a peanut butter and jelly molded chocolate. They were consumed within a few days, so there weren't any issues.

[Bentley]

I was going through ideas for bonbons and was thinking a bon bon using a lemon curd as a filling layer.  I am curious if this would present shelf life issues.  The curd would be baked until set then piped.  Does anyone have any experience with this or water activity tests they've done?  

[gap]

I can't help with your specific question, but one of my (favourite) fillings is a dark chocolate ganache made with 65-70% chocolate and lemon curd. I'm guessing that adding chocolate to the curd to make a ganache is only going to help shelf-life of the filling.

[Kerry Beal]

I did Aw testing on some commercial curds for curls a while back - don't recall results but she might.

[curls]

3 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

I did Aw testing on some commercial curds for curls a while back - don't recall results but she might.

Will hunt down that Aw reading and report back... might not have time until this weekend.

[Bentley]

18 hours ago, curls said:

Will hunt down that Aw reading and report back... might not have time until this weekend.

No hurry.  Thanks!

 

23 hours ago, gap said:

I can't help with your specific question, but one of my (favourite) fillings is a dark chocolate ganache made with 65-70% chocolate and lemon curd. I'm guessing that adding chocolate to the curd to make a ganache is only going to help shelf-life of the filling.

How much chocolate do you use?  Would a 1:1 ratio of chocolate to curd set up nicely (I'm using white chocolate for this recipe)?

Edited June 10, 2016 by Bentley (log)

[Jim D.]

Whether eggs should be included in a chocolate has been discussed widely.  Peter Greweling and Ewald Notter exclude all ganaches with egg from their books.  Jean-Pierre Wybauw does not but--in his recipes I have read--uses a very large amount of liquor with the eggs.  The best-seller at the famous Kee's Chocolates in New York has a creme brulee filling, but the owner supposedly tells customers to refrigerate it and consume it within a day.   As much as I would love to use custards in chocolates, I myself would not feel comfortable using eggs in a ganache unless I were preparing it for people who would eat it in front of me.  It is possible to get close to the texture of a custard-type filling with a butter ganache, which has a very long shelf life.

[curls]

On 6/9/2016 at 9:58 PM, curls said:

Will hunt down that Aw reading and report back... might not have time until this weekend.

The Aw reading was .86

 

[Bentley]

Thanks for the info.  Looks like I will avoid the curds - at least until I am much more educated on shelf life issues.