Trouble with Chocolate Topping: Need Help

[george szubinski]

hi all

newbie here... i followed a recipe for millionaire shortbread... so all is good except chocolate is tricky... i use Lidl choc bars ... i mixed white dark and milk broke them up in a bowl... had some water on the boil and had the glass bowl not in the water just positioned over the pan.... melted the chocolate and let cool a minute then poured over my layers...
i let this cool then finished off in the fridge.

when i come to cut it up into pieces the chocolate is rock solid an difficult to cut easily through...

any help would be welcome

thanks

george

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Welcome George. Unfortunately there’s not much you can do with hardened chocolate.

You can try heating up the entire piece to just barely melt the chocolate. Let it firm up on the countertop for very short period of time. Then slice all the bars while the chocolate is still slightly soft. But when the chocolate cools completely and recrystallizes it’s going to be hard. So depending on how thick the layer of chocolate, it could be very difficult to bite through.

Also, since the chocolates were melted, it is taken out of temper. So the untempered chocolate may develop a white cast. The white cast isn’t a sign of bad or damaged chocolate. It’s just a sign that the chocolate is out of temper. It’s perfectly safe to eat.

 

[george szubinski]

Welcome George. Unfortunately there’s not much you can do with hardened chocolate.

You can try heating up the entire piece to just barely melt the chocolate. Let it firm up on the countertop for very short period of time. Then slice all the bars while the chocolate is still slightly soft. But when the chocolate cools completely and recrystallizes it’s going to be hard. So depending on how thick the layer of chocolate, it could be very difficult to bite through.

Also, since the chocolates were melted, it is taken out of temper. So the untempered chocolate may develop a white cast. The white cast isn’t a sign of bad or damaged chocolate. It’s just a sign that the chocolate is out of temper. It’s perfectly safe to eat.

thanks for your comments... i didnt quite explain myself...

millionaire shortbread doesnt last long even if the chocolate needs a little more effort to cut and allowed to melt in your mouth!!!

no ... i was describing how i prepared the topping and im guessing that there is a better way to prevent the chocolat hardening... maybe dont put it in the fridge??

george

 

[Norcalbaker59]

thanks for your comments... i didnt quite explain myself...

millionaire shortbread doesnt last long even if the chocolate needs a little more effort to cut and allowed to melt in your mouth!!!

no ... i was describing how i prepared the topping and im guessing that there is a better way to prevent the chocolat hardening... maybe dont put it in the fridge??

george

There’s three ways to approach a chocolate layer.


Ganache: ganache is a better choice when the applying a solid layer of chocolate. For a stiffer ganache use 3:1 or a 2:1 ratio of chocolate to heavy cream by weight.


Drizzle: another option would be to lightly drizzle melted the chocolate over the caramel instead of using a solid layer of chocolate.


Temper chocolate: if you want a solid layer of pure chocolate then the chocolate should be tempered. And it’s important to apply a very thin layer of chocolate. Think of the thickness of a cookie that was quickly dipped in chocolate. Any thicker and it becomes very difficult to slice and eat the bar cookies.


It is never advisable to mix different types of chocolate when melting. Mixing different types of chocolate makes it impossible to temper.

The amount of sugar, cocoa solids, and cocoa butter varies significantly in each type of chocolate. In addition, milk chocolate contains milk solids. These differences in the ingredients affects melting temperature and crystallization.

That’s the reason each type of chocolate requires a different temperature range for melting and tempering.


Aside for differences in required temperature, each chocolate has a different flavor profile. Mixing them together doesn’t enhance the flavors, rather it muddles the distinct qualities and flavors of each chocolate.


Refrigeration of chocolate is never advisable. Refrigeration causes condensation. Even the slightest bit of condensation will adversely alter the texture and appearance of chocolate.


Properly tempered chocolate will harden in about five minutes. So refrigeration is really unnecessary.

 

[george szubinski]

thank you so very much for such a brilliant and hugely informative reply...

excellent !!!

george

 

[-Daniel-]

I've always used a ganache on top of millionaire's shortbread, because I like a thicker chocolate layer. I've only used melted chocolate once, and in that case I did a very thin layer and it was hard like you mentioned in your post.

 

[george szubinski]

that looks excellent.... thanks very much, i will try that for my nect batch.

george