I am trying to figure out why my candy colours are not looking vibrant in my experiments, and have been told to use 'candy melts'. However they are not easily obtainable here in New Zealand, and the one place I have found them want my first born son as payment for them!

So, is compound chocolate the same thing? Can't seem to get those vibrant colours, looking for something to blame it on!

Yes, compound chocolate is the same as candy melts is the same as confectionery coating.

Confectionery Coating is also known as coating chocolate, chocolate compound or nontempering chocolate. This is not true chocolate, because it does not contain cocoa butter. The cocoa butter has been replaced with other vegetable fats and in exchange does not need tempering.

Rae

Thank you so much Rae, I'm really pleased to know this. Of all the different areas of cake making, chocolate appeals to me the most, but it's the hardest to find information about.

While I have your attention, do you recommend any particular brand of candy oil colour to get vibrant colours?

Chocolate is my big business, And I use the wilton oils, but they ALWAYS thicken the white chocolate. Any suggestions Rae?

just in case it interests you, I asked Liv Hansen from The Whimsical Bakehouse which colours she used, and she said chefmaster for everything except the blue, for which she uses Wilton. Interesting! But I have been unable to find Wilton oil anywhere, except for those tiny starter packs. Where do you get yours sweetheart? (lol... feels funny calling you sweetheart, I'm sure you're very sweet though

hahaha my name si sweetheart cuz my business is called Sweetheart Confections after my daughter

I get mine at michaels and I can only ever find the small ones as well, and it takes a whole container to colour one batch!!!!

I will look into the chef master thanks!

Well, I´m pretty lazy and generally use the pre-colored candy melts, often mixing several colors to get custom colors, but I, too, have been told that the ChefMaster oil/candy colors are the way to go.

Rae

What about using flo-coat with your paste colors?