[seaflour]

I am looking for a white chocolate molding choc. recipe- and also a good resource for powdered food coloring to add to it to make it colored-

thanks-

[chefpeon]

There's a lot of recipes around for modeling chocolate, but here's mine:
A NOTE: all brands of white chocolate are DIFFERENT. You may need to adjust the amount of corn syrup you add depending on what chocolate you use and your personal preference. My recipe works perfectly with Guittard White Satin Ribbon, which unfortunately, isn't that easy to find. Do NOT use white chocolate chips!!! Pistoles or disks are fine. Or chop up a bar.

Modeling Chocolate:
3 lbs white chocolate (broken into small pieces, if not already)
1 1/3 cup light corn syrup

Put chocolate into large round plastic microwave safe bowl.
Melt in short time increments of about 2 minutes and stir very well between each increment. White chocolate burns VERY EASILY. If your microwave has adjustable power levels and you have a high wattage microwave, you might want to use 50% power. I do, because I have one of those microwaves. You want to just melt the chocolate with no graininess or lumps. Make sure you stir it well to let any residual heat melt the chocolate, rather than keep sticking it back in the micro. That's a sure way to burn it. If you notice that your white chocolate starts feel thicker, then you've already burned it. I cannot stress how careful you need to be when melting white chocolate. Microwave a little at a time and stir stir stir.

When it's all perfectly melted, stick your corn syrup in the micro for about 1 minute to warm it.

Now, using a rubber spatula so you can scrape the sides of the bowl, pour the warm corn syrup all at once into your melted white chocolate, Stir quickly, using a folding motion, scrape the sides of the bowl. Your goal is to incorporate the corn syrup COMPLETELY into the white chocolate without it becoming too oily and separated. You will notice that as you stir, the chocolate will seize into a thick gooey mass and will clean the sides of the bowl. Look closely to make sure you don't have any streaks of unincorporated chocolate.....this unincorporated chocolate will become lumpy grains later, and you don't want that.
The mass will seem a little oily, that's OK. But the more you stir, the oilier it gets, and you don't want oil dripping off it either. It's a delicate balance.

Line a cookie sheet with at least 1 inch sides, or a rectangular pyrex dish with plastic wrap, so the wrap hangs over the sides. Pour your white chocolate mass into the dish or cookie sheet and press it down with a spatula to flatten it out all the way to the sides of the sheet or dish. Bring up the sides of the plastic wrap to completely cover your brick of modeling chocolate. Place the whole thing in the fridge for a couple hours.

After it's set, bring it out to come to room temp. When it's room temperature, break up the modeling chocolate in easy to handle pieces. The pieces will look very rough. Now you have to knead it smooth. Depending on the ambient temperature of the room and the strength in your hands, you may have to stick the pieces in the microwave to warm up for a few seconds so they are kneadable. Be careful not to overwarm the pieces, because the warmth of your hands will do the rest of that work for you. This is the moment of truth when you'll know how well you stirred it. If you have a lot of lumps and grains, then you know you didn't stir well enough, or perhaps burned the chocolate a little. Most of the time you can knead or roll them out, or if they're really big you can pick them out. But, if you did it right, this shouldn't be a problem. Once kneaded, the chocolate is ready for use. You can color it with any type of coloring....I prefer concentrated gels or powders. Liquid is not recommended, just because it makes the chocolate too slack without coloring it completely enough. However if you desire a light pastel, liquid is ok.

When working with modeling chocolate and especially when you are doing ribbons and such, I highly recommend using a manual pasta machine. The evenness and thinness of rolling is invaluable. At about 40 bucks a pop, it's a reasonable investment. I have one that I use JUST for modeling chocolate and nothing else.

When working with modeling chocolate, dust with cornstarch....not flour or powdered sugar. Always take care to brush off excess cornstarch with a soft brush when your pieces are done.

There are lots of places on the web that sell powdered color. You can google it, or go to Sugarcraft.com or Country Kitchens.

[guppyman]

Thank you for the nice recipe

[chrissi_e]

Thank you sooo very much for this recipe and your clear instructions on handling. It worked perfectly! I am an amateur baker and I am preparing a wedding cake for my friend's wedding this summer. I need to make calla lilies and have had little luck with gum paste, so I just made one out of this modelling chocolate. Can you recommend a good medium to stick the pieces together (stem, blossom and stamen)? Or if you have any advice on working with gum paste I would appreciate it as well.

[chefpeon]

Originally Posted by chrissi_e

Thank you sooo very much for this recipe and your clear instructions on handling. It worked perfectly! I am an amateur baker and I am preparing a wedding cake for my friend's wedding this summer. I need to make calla lilies and have had little luck with gum paste, so I just made one out of this modelling chocolate. Can you recommend a good medium to stick the pieces together (stem, blossom and stamen)? Or if you have any advice on working with gum paste I would appreciate it as well.

Making calla lillies with gumpaste shouldn't be hard....what difficulty have you had?

When I use modeling chocolate, water is a great way to stick the pieces together......that's all I ever use. Sometimes if your hands are warm (like mine) the chocolate gets heated up enough that the pieces stick together on their own without the water. But water really does the trick.

When using gum paste, egg white is the best way to stick pieces together.

[chrissi_e]

My first attemp with gum paste, I found the medium to be very grainy and maybe because it was a store bought kind. I also believe I didn't knead it long enough the first time. I tried again today after my last post and it came out much better, but I still prefer the look and handling of the modelling chocolate. Will the modelling chocolate ever harden like the gum paste or will it remain malleable? And how long will the unrolled modelling chocolate keep and is a ziploc-type bag appropriate for storing it?

[chefpeon]

Originally Posted by chrissi_e

My first attemp with gum paste, I found the medium to be very grainy and maybe because it was a store bought kind. I also believe I didn't knead it long enough the first time. I tried again today after my last post and it came out much better, but I still prefer the look and handling of the modelling chocolate. Will the modelling chocolate ever harden like the gum paste or will it remain malleable? And how long will the unrolled modelling chocolate keep and is a ziploc-type bag appropriate for storing it?

Modeling chocolate doesn't really "harden".....it sort of dries. If you keep it out at room temp (room temp meaning about 60 degrees avg.) then it will dry and keep it's shape. Even so, at high temps like 80 and above, you risk the chocolate drooping depending on how dry it's gotten. If you wrap the modeling chocolate well in saran wrap and then keep it in a ziploc bag, it will last a very long time. For even longer term storage, you can freeze it.

[chrissi_e]

Thank you for your advice. It is much appreciated. I took a look at your website and your cakes are wonderful!! Maybe someday I will produce work good enough to post here for you to see.

[kdcakes]

Originally Posted by chefpeon

There's a lot of recipes around for modeling chocolate, but here's mine:
A NOTE: all brands of white chocolate are DIFFERENT. You may need to adjust the amount of corn syrup you add depending on what chocolate you use and your personal preference. My recipe works perfectly with Guittard White Satin Ribbon, which unfortunately, isn't that easy to find. Do NOT use white chocolate chips!!! Pistoles or disks are fine. Or chop up a bar.

Modeling Chocolate:
3 lbs white chocolate (broken into small pieces, if not already)
1 1/3 cup light corn syrup

Put chocolate into large round plastic microwave safe bowl.
Melt in short time increments of about 2 minutes and stir very well between each increment. White chocolate burns VERY EASILY. If your microwave has adjustable power levels and you have a high wattage microwave, you might want to use 50% power. I do, because I have one of those microwaves. You want to just melt the chocolate with no graininess or lumps. Make sure you stir it well to let any residual heat melt the chocolate, rather than keep sticking it back in the micro. That's a sure way to burn it. If you notice that your white chocolate starts feel thicker, then you've already burned it. I cannot stress how careful you need to be when melting white chocolate. Microwave a little at a time and stir stir stir.

When it's all perfectly melted, stick your corn syrup in the micro for about 1 minute to warm it.

Now, using a rubber spatula so you can scrape the sides of the bowl, pour the warm corn syrup all at once into your melted white chocolate, Stir quickly, using a folding motion, scrape the sides of the bowl. Your goal is to incorporate the corn syrup COMPLETELY into the white chocolate without it becoming too oily and separated. You will notice that as you stir, the chocolate will seize into a thick gooey mass and will clean the sides of the bowl. Look closely to make sure you don't have any streaks of unincorporated chocolate.....this unincorporated chocolate will become lumpy grains later, and you don't want that.
The mass will seem a little oily, that's OK. But the more you stir, the oilier it gets, and you don't want oil dripping off it either. It's a delicate balance.

Line a cookie sheet with at least 1 inch sides, or a rectangular pyrex dish with plastic wrap, so the wrap hangs over the sides. Pour your white chocolate mass into the dish or cookie sheet and press it down with a spatula to flatten it out all the way to the sides of the sheet or dish. Bring up the sides of the plastic wrap to completely cover your brick of modeling chocolate. Place the whole thing in the fridge for a couple hours.

After it's set, bring it out to come to room temp. When it's room temperature, break up the modeling chocolate in easy to handle pieces. The pieces will look very rough. Now you have to knead it smooth. Depending on the ambient temperature of the room and the strength in your hands, you may have to stick the pieces in the microwave to warm up for a few seconds so they are kneadable. Be careful not to overwarm the pieces, because the warmth of your hands will do the rest of that work for you. This is the moment of truth when you'll know how well you stirred it. If you have a lot of lumps and grains, then you know you didn't stir well enough, or perhaps burned the chocolate a little. Most of the time you can knead or roll them out, or if they're really big you can pick them out. But, if you did it right, this shouldn't be a problem. Once kneaded, the chocolate is ready for use. You can color it with any type of coloring....I prefer concentrated gels or powders. Liquid is not recommended, just because it makes the chocolate too slack without coloring it completely enough. However if you desire a light pastel, liquid is ok.

When working with modeling chocolate and especially when you are doing ribbons and such, I highly recommend using a manual pasta machine. The evenness and thinness of rolling is invaluable. At about 40 bucks a pop, it's a reasonable investment. I have one that I use JUST for modeling chocolate and nothing else.

When working with modeling chocolate, dust with cornstarch....not flour or powdered sugar. Always take care to brush off excess cornstarch with a soft brush when your pieces are done.

There are lots of places on the web that sell powdered color. You can google it, or go to Sugarcraft.com or Country Kitchens.

I tried your recipe but it doesn't seem to be working for me. I stirred it as much and as fast as I could and then kneaded the ball of chocolate to make sure it was fully mixed. Now that it's out of the fridge and to room temp. I can knead it but if I tried to separate the ball of chocolate it crumbles into small pieces... is there a way I can fix that?

[chefpeon]

Are you kneading it til its smooth and sort of elastic? When the chocolate comes to room temp, you knead it til it's workable. Don't knead it before you put it in the fridge, otherwise you can overmix it. You know it's overmixed when you see oil kind of leaking out of it. You don't want the fat to separate out. That's what causes the crumbling.

At least, this is my best guess to your problem.