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| Title: | How to Make them Goodies |
| Notice: | Please Don't Start New Notes for Old Topics! Check 5.* |
| Moderator: | FUTURE::DDESMAISONS ec.com::winalski |
|
| Created: | Wed Feb 19 1986 |
| Last Modified: | Thu Jun 05 1997 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 4127 |
| Total number of notes: | 31160 |
2785.0. "Chocolate: Melted Chocolate Woes" by TLE::EIKENBERRY (A goal is a dream with a deadline) Thu Dec 06 1990 15:48
Last night, I set out to make a chocolate cake - the same one that gave me
grief with the unbleached flour a few weeks back!
Once again, I'll state that I've made this cake MANY times without any
trouble...
I melted the chocolate (3 oz. Baker's Unsweetened), and let it cool. But,
when I added it to the butter/sugar/egg mixture, I noticed that there were
specks of "solid" chocolate throughout the cooled chocolate. Why would this
happend? To the best of my knowledge, no moisture got into the chocolate...
Then, when I went to make the chocolate buttercream icing, I melted another
3 oz. chocolate, and it didn't have those specks. But, when I was spreading
the icing on the cake, I noticed small chips of chocolate through the icing.
Once again, I was baffled. Could the chocolate have solidified a bit while
in the mixing bowl? (I was using my 5-quart Kitchenaid, if that helps
create an image in your mind!)
I like to find out why things don't go quite right, so any suggestions to
the causes of these two problems would be helpful!
--Sharon
| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 2785.1 | bad chocolate? | ENABLE::GLANTZ | Mike 227-4299 TAY Littleton MA | Fri Dec 07 1990 18:42 | 9 |
| It could be the chocolate.
Chocolate is very sensitive to age, temperature and humidity (the
cocoa butter is the sensitive part). One good indication of the
condition of the chocolate is its appearance. If it's smooth, dark,
and silky looking, it's probably fine. If it's chalky or powdery
looking, it's probably too old or has been affected by heat or
humidity. I've had bad chocolate totally ruin recipes. Chocolate has a
limited shelf life, even if well-wrapped and frozen.
|
| 2785.2 | It's too old | SQM::WARRINER | I feel better than James Brown | Wed Dec 12 1990 11:45 | 8 |
| I think it's age too. I have had that problem on chocolate that's been
sitting around for a while. Last week I melted some choclate that had
been sitting around for about a year. I got the same lumps that you
dsecribed and they wouldn't go away at any temperature. I heaved that
mixture, and started again with the exact same brand of chocolate,
except this stuff was just purchased. No problems since.
-David
|
| 2785.3 | an update | TLE::EIKENBERRY | Don't confuse activity with productivity | Mon Jan 21 1991 15:53 | 17 |
| An update to .0
I am now convinced that the specks of chocolate are a result of the
melted chocolate cooling on the sides of the metal bowl and/or the flat
beater. This weekend, when making the same chocolate cake, I made sure
that the melted chocolate didn't come in contact with the beater or
the sides of the bowl before I started doing the actual mixing, and the
results were much much better. I did still notice some chocolate hardened
on the sides of the bowl, so I was careful not to scrape it off into the
batter.
I'm amazed that noone else with a KitchenAid in this conference has
had the same problem!
Next time, I may try warming the bowl before starting....
--Sharon
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