I made my first chocolate covered creams as a Christmas test run, but I put them to dry on a cake cooling rack. This morning the chocolate was so stuck that when I took them off the chocolate was tearing off. Not worried about rescuing this test batch, but what can I dry them in to prevent it? Or should I dip one side then the other?
Chocolate – How to prevent chocolate covered items from sticking to the cooling rack
candychocolateequipment
Related Solutions
Very simple: don't store your chocolate in the fridge. The ideal temperature for setting chocolate is 20°C. You can store it at less or more than that, but not too much. Setting in the fridge results in bad chocolate. Remember, when you work with chocolate, exact temperatures are extremely important.
Here a loose translation from a good article on chocolate/couverture coating:
This is the usual case. You only want a temperature difference of 12° to 13° between the chocolate and its environment as well as between the chocolate and the confect interior.
If the interior is colder than the room, the setting will happen "inside out". The cocoa butter film which gives a confect its shine will build on the inside, leaving the outside looking dull.
This is a really good case for some types of confect, but you can't do it with most types of filling (definitely not with strawberries). Cooling from the outside gives you a beautiful shine.
If you want to achieve a good shine, it is possible to put the confects in the fridge for a short time, but only after they have cooled to 20°C at room temperature. Don't let them fall to fridge temperature, take them out at 15°C. The continued cooling from the outside is beneficial.
This shouldn't happen. The temperature difference is too small, and the confect doesn't set quick enough. In this case, cocoa butter pools on the surface and creates a yellowish layer after it hardens.
When you make your confect, you should time the first piece. The setting should need 10 minutes. If it is less, you don't get all the possible shine. If it needs more, it will get grey or whitish yellow.
I store mine in the freezer. It keeps it hard and thaws without an issue.
Related Topic
- Chocolate – Why did the chocolate tempering fail
- Sugar – How to successfully make candied ginger
- Sugar syrup with orange juice foams excessively
- Chocolate – Flavourless Chocolate/Chocolate Alternative in Fudge
- Cake – Sugar Free Chocolate Cake Too Dense
- Chocolate covered cookies stuck to cooling rack
- Baking – Chocolate layer cake tears easily
- Chocolate – Brownie with chocolate mousse on top
Best Answer
The simple approach is to skip the wire rack and place the dipped confections on parchment paper, waxed paper or a silicone mat. (Some use plastic wrap or aluminum foil, but this may stick as well. Oiling helps.) After cooling, they should come off easily. However, there’s a chance of them developing “feet” when the runoff pools on the parchment, especially if the coating is on the runnier side.
If you use a rack (which reduces the “feet” by letting the excess chocolate drip down), you should lift the creams up once they have mostly, but not fully, solidified and transfer them either to the above mentioned parchment or a clean spot on the rack. You can also oil the rack very lightly, but the effect is not too much.
In any case, make sure you let all excess chocolate drip off well before actually placing the creams on whatever you choose for the cooling phase.