Level: Novice
Read Time: 5 minutes
I am new to chocolate compound coatings and I have been learning a lot from your website. I am making a chocolate compound coating, though it’s mainly geared towards chocolate. The recipe is as follows: Sugar – 50.7%, Cocoa Powder – 15%, Full Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oil– 33%, Cinnamon – 0.8%, Emulsifier – 0.5%. I have a few questions and would appreciate your insight.
The cocoa powder in my formulation has already been processed into a powder that is ≤74µm (as opposed to nibs). Would the Spectra melanger still be a valuable equipment to wet mix the above ingredients for a chocolate compound?
Your website states not to use powdered sugar because it contains corn starch. I am assuming you are stating the warning because of starch contributing to thickness. If not, I would love to understand your reasoning. I use confectioner’s sugar in my chocolate compound and I want to make my compound using the Spectra melanger (if possible). But the usage rate of my ingredients does not pose a thickness concern. Interested in understanding the powdered sugar warning…
A definition is in order for compound chocolate so we are all on the same page.
Compound chocolate, also known as confectionery or compound coating, is a combination of sugar, vegetable fat, cocoa powder and optional lecithin, and flavors. Compound chocolate can also refer to a chocolate to which ingredients not included in the CFR have been added. Chocolate and compound coatings are manufactured in a similar way.
I need to be honest with you. I struggled with not just dismissing this question as not quite in line with bean to bar philosophy. My main issue is the cocoa powder. Most of the time it is simply not made with bean to bar, single origin, quality craft chocolate in mind. When it is made it is pretty harshly treated and much of the nuance of the bean is lost and the resulting chocolate is pretty one dimensional at best and pretty bad at worst.
But you know what? You are still wanting to make something and I wholeheartedly support that.
I’ll say too that I’m generally not a fan of compound chocolate….mostly for its one dimensional quality. It is very generic chocolate so in some ways it is not surprising that it is made with cocoa powder.
That being the case, let’s jump into your questions.
74 um is still going to be gritty. You mouth notes texture down to around 25 um and some chocolate is as fine as 10-15 um. For that reason alone you are going to need a melanger. And that isn’t even considering your sugar which even powdered is around 100 um. So again, yes you need a melanger.
As for the corn starch, the main reason not to use it (corn allergies aside) is that it will bind with atmospheric water and lend a gumminess to the mouthfeel of your chocolate. The lecithin will help with that but really, if you are going to be using a melanger anyway there is just no reason at all to use powdered sugar. Just go with granulated.
And I guess while I’m picking on compound chocolate a little bit, it has become abundantly clear that trans-fats (i.e. the fats produced from hydrogenating oils) are not good for us. Palm Kernel Oil is 82% saturated so that means it only has 18% to hydrogenate so that is a lot better than many hydrogenated oils but it isn’t fantastic. Why do they hydrogenate it? In short it increases the temperature at which it melts. Palm Kernel oil melts at 82-86 F (28-30 C ). Although this will work for most climates, the industry determined they preferred a higher temperature and instead of just using actual cocoa butter (price over quality again) they instead use hydrogenated Palm Kernel oil that melts around 114 F (44.5 C)
Personally, and in line with the artisan craft movement it seems a good time to take what is useful from the bulk chocolate industry and raise the bar. Use freshly roasted nibs instead of heavily processed cocoa powder of dubious origin and treatment. Use unadulterated sugar. Refine it properly and instead of an oil that contains trans-fatty acids, use instead the natural product. And instead of using all alternative oils, use just what you need to inhibit tempering (it and price are why it was used in the first place). Or, and I know it is a totally wild idea, just use cocoa butter and temper the chocolate before using it. Rarely do lazy people get into these kinds of hobbies and professions. In short, don’t be lazy. Just temper your chocolate.
Lest I criticize and not give solutions, I would suggest trying this artisan bean to compound chocolate recipe.
50% Granulate sugar
30% Roasted cocoa nibs
20% Cocoa butter
If you want your recipe in the question above, then just reduce the nibs a little
·50% Granulate sugar
· 28.3% Roasted cocoa nibs
· 20% Cocoa butter
· 0.8% Cinnamon
· 0.5% Lecithin
And if you really don’t want to temper then by all means add some Palm Kernel oil or unflavored coconut oil which is well known to inhibit tempering. That would look like this:
·50% Granulate sugar
28.3% Roasted cocoa nibs
15% Cocoa butter
5% Palm Kernel or Coconut oil
0.8% Cinnamon
0.5% Lecithin
In all cases you will have to refine your chocolate in a melanger as sugar and cocoa will not dissolve in oil
—————————————————————————-
One last thing. Some of you may have noticed that I’ve not been producing an Ask the Alchemist every week recently. Part of that is very bluntly COVID and all the energy that takes. The other is that my question queue is empty. The question I answer are from you folks. I’d love nothing more to have answered every question you have but somehow I suspect there are more out there. So if you have them, please send them in.
Send in your Ask the Alchemist questions to questions@chocolatealchemy.com