Chocolate Overview
It is essential to maintain the quality of Chocolate when baking chocolatey treats. You can find many recipes that incorporate Divine Chocolate or Divine Cocoa Powder. This allows you to check the “top quality” box while focusing on baking.
Most recipes call for our Bittersweet Baking Bar (70% Dark Chocolate) or Unsweetened Cocoa powder. Some recipes include white or milk chocolate. These fun facts will help you to learn more about Chocolate and baking.
Cocoa powder is the powdered non-fat portion of the cacao bean.
Dark Chocolate is sweeter than white and milk Chocolate and has more cocoa.
Chocolate cakes and desserts are more decadent and indulgent when made with cocoa. The flavor is slightly bitter but balances with sugar or other sweet ingredients.
How to Store Chocolate
Be aware that Chocolate is very sensitive to temperature, so check the ingredients before baking. There are some essential things to remember when storing Chocolate. To keep your Chocolate in top condition and ready to use, follow the instructions below.
Store Chocolate between 65 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Like us, Chocolate prefers to stay at a temperature that is not too hot or cold.
Store Chocolate in an area that is cool and dark. You can store Chocolate in the cabinets of your kitchen or pantry.
Chocolate likes to be protected. If you don’t finish, you can wrap a bar of Chocolate in an airtight bag. Following these suggestions, the Chocolate will stay fresh for several days after opening.
Keep Chocolate away from foods that have strong smells or tastes.
Temper Chocolate
What is tempering Chocolate? The term “tempering” is melting solid blocks of Chocolate into a thick liquid that can be used for many baking recipes. The steps for tempering Chocolate are listed below:
Use a double boiler, or place a metal or glass bowl over a pot filled with hot water about an inch high. Be sure the bowl is not in the water but above it.
Set aside a quarter of the Chocolate you want to temper.
Pour most of the Chocolate into the bowl, and heat the water in the pot until it simmers. Don’t let it boil.
Bring the Chocolate up to 118 degrees Fahrenheit for dark Chocolate and 112 for milk chocolate. Remove the bowl, and use a kitchen towel to remove any moisture.
Add the solid Chocolate set aside in Step 2 to the bowl with the melted Chocolate.
Stir the Chocolate with a rubber spatula until it is smooth. The temperature should be between 89 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit for dark Chocolate or 86 and 88 degrees Fahrenheit for milk chocolate.
To maintain this temperature, use a double boiler or a bowl filled with ice water. Enjoy your Chocolate!
How To: Melt Chocolate
Once you understand how to melt Chocolate, it is easy. However, you must be mindful of its temperature sensitivity. As the Chocolate melts at low temperatures, putting it on a high temperature will cause it to burn and seize.’
Follow these simple steps to melt Chocolate perfectly:
Chop or break Chocolate into pieces of equal size
Place in a heatproof dish over a pan with barely simmering (not boiling) water.
Assure that the water doesn’t touch the bowl. While the Chocolate melts, stir it.
White Chocolate and milk chocolate melt at lower temperatures than dark Chocolate, so be careful when melting these.
Divine Chocolate Baking
Divine Chocolate is the world’s first Fairtrade chocolate brand owned by cocoa farmers. We are proud of our three baking bars and offer 100% pure cocoa for chocolate lovers worldwide. Discover the smooth, rich taste of Divine Chocolate by baking with us.
All of our baking bars are vegan and contain different sugar levels. This allows you to control precisely what you put into your body. Our new 55% baking bar and 100% baking bar will inspire you to bake with us in the Fall.
Did you know: the difference between each baking bar
Divine Chocolate has three baking bars ranging from 55% cocoa to 70% and 100%. You can choose whether you want your chocolate recipes to be sweeter or bitterer. If you want less sweet desserts or to limit your sugar intake, the 100% cocoa baking bars are a great choice. Although the 55% and the 70% bars contain some sugar, you can always experiment with adding less sugar as a baker.
Divine Chocolate baking bars melt at a perfect temperature, creating smooth and satisfying desserts. Chocolate from 100% pure cocoa is more decadent and more delicious than any other brand. You can choose how sweet you want your desserts to be by adjusting the amount of sugar in our baking bars.
Did you know: about the Melting and Blooming Point
Most of us have experienced the unfortunate discovery of a melted bar of Chocolate in our car, handbag, or home. Follow the above steps on how to store Chocolate, and then read about why and how this happens.
The sugar separates from the cocoa, causing a “bloom.”
Sugar blooms and fat blooms are both types of blooming. Sugar blooms are formed when the condensation on the chocolate bar separates the sugar crystals. The fat blooms look very similar to sugar blooms because they are both caused by fat crystallization. Consistent and correct temperatures are the cause. Following the above steps for storing Chocolate will help you avoid sugar and fat blooms.
