Hey bakers I was confused on what I'm doing wrong but I've been at this chocolate for over an hour on a steaming pot and it's not melting basically at all. What am I doing wrong??
It's 220g of milk chocolate and 40g of white chocolate nothing else
Any help is appreciated!! Ty 🙂
by Blu_Eclipse
22 Comments
O and for context I’m trying to make this chocolate Mousse
https://www.matthewryle.com/recipes/chocolate-mousse-port-figs
Not all chocolate can be melted!
There may be other issues as well, but for me, a glass bowl never ever works well for a Bain Marie. Have you checked the temperature of the chocolate? Glass doesn’t transmit the heat as well and is likely retaining it. I used to use glass bowls to make lemon curd and it would take 30+ minutes to heat up to temp when all the recipes said 5-10. Now I use metal bowls that transmit heat and it’s so much better. 🙂 give metal a try!
Hate to break this to you but that chocolate is absolutely burnt. Cannot be saved. Even if you managed to smooth out the consistency with water milk etc it will taste yucky. Sorry!
White chocolate is tricky to melt in my opinion.
Even if the heat is super low the chocolate can sometimes burn. Often nowadays I do it off the heat.
Good luck fellow baker!
Hey pastry chef here, could be a couple issues. First thought is the temperature of the bowls, so if you’re using glass vs a metal bowl, and if the water is boiling too high, it can actually overheat the chocolate causing it to seize due to protein denaturation. So milk chocolate melts at 40-45°C or I guess that’s about 105°F,
White chocolate melts at body temp! So even lower.
You really don’t need the water to boil.
When you have a boiling pot of water under your bowl it can be far too hot 100°C, and can actually cook your chocolate and turn it grain-ey. I’d keep the water at a really low simmer and switch to a metal bowl which is a better conductor of heat.
Second issue might be due to accidentally getting a bit of water inside the bowl? If this happens it causes the chocolate to sieze. So chocolate and water don’t like to mix. If the chocolate is starting to melt and a drop of water goes in, it will sieze like this. You can save it by heating some heavy cream, or butter, and using a hand blender/immersion blender to combine it all carefully, but this will turn it into a ganache and it won’t set hard. But will at least melt nicely and you can use it as a sauce or drizzle on a cake for example. Or you can actually add more hot water, when it’s melted, use an electric whisk over an ice bath Bain Marie and it will turn into a mousse!
Hope this helps
Last but most unlike issue would be that you’re using what’s called bake stable chocolate. It CAN be melted but you need to add more liquid fat to it like hot cream or melted butter. This is sometimes called cooking chocolate or baking chocolate. The kind that tends to hold its shape when used in cookies as chips etc.
I always melt mine low heat in microwave 30sec batches with little coconut oil
I wouldn’t melt together. Melt them
Separately then combine
First question would be, is it real chocolate? A lot of “chocolate” is not real chocolate and that can give you a lot of issues trying to melt it.
Based on the photo, I think there was water in the bowl. Always make sure to dry your utensils.
I know someone already gave you a full answer of what went wrong and what the causes may have been. I just want to add that recipes usually mention melting chocolate with a bain marie, but that’s an inconvenient method for most home cooks. Using a microwave is easier and there’s less chance of getting water into your mix.
You only have to be careful to set short microwave times (15-20 seconds if you want to be extra safe) and mix well in between. As long as you’re mixing there’s no danger of a hotspot forming that may seize your chocolate. Overall it’s faster, more convenient and doesn’t require you to wash an extra pot.
Check your brand / type of chocolate. Some chocolate already has other ingredients which make it hard to melt.
Sometimes, when the bowl doesn’t fit properly over the pot, I end up getting a bit of steam in the chocolate, and then it seizes.
Mix into heavy cream and make a ganache! Or use in cookie dough!
Your chocolate looks like sand.
Is this Cadbury dairy milk in the UK? Because they changed the recipe a couple of years ago and it no longer melts! Discovered this after 2x failed chocolate fondue and started looking it up and the new recipe doesn’t melt!
One time I did this to white chocolate is was supposed to dip cookies in. Absolutely turned to sand. But it still tastes great FYI. Seized semi burnt white chocolate is like toasted marshmellows. I crumbled it onto a cupcakes. It can still be saved in its own way.
I would not recommend using any sort of
hot active open flame at all, especially not a glass-metal bain marie. You should be able to stop the heating in intervals to avoud overcooking/clumps.
I adore using chocolate melts, for a while I did the 10sec microwave method but found it worked nicely to use a (designated) heating pad under a bowl to keep the chocolate perfect temperature for dipping or mixing.
I did recently get my hands on a vintage(?) wilton chocolate pro but you can easily order a chocolate melter if you think you’d like to try more recipes like this!!!
The fig recipe you linked looks beautiful, no harm done to try again. 🙂
Add in some melted coconut oil. May help smooth it out some. It’ll set, but now it’ll melt just sitting in a warm room.
are you using real white chocolate or white chocolate chips for baking ? those sometimes have stabilizers in them that prevent them from melting smoothly.
I never use the bain Marie method for 2 reasons, can’t control the heat and too much risk of moisture. You can add cream and make a ganache/chocolate spread
If your chocolate is tempered use the microwave, heat in v short bursts, taking the chocolate out and mash and stir using the heat of the melted chocolate to melt the solid. Stop when there are some solid bits, mix and mash until melted
If you’d like more advice please feel free to ask (I’m a chocolatier)
Looks like it’s seized.. either too hot or you got some water into it.
My guess is you’re using chocolate that is not meant for baking. Cadbury for example doesn’t melt like baking chocolate.