I made chocolate SMBC for the first time today. I use the Well-Dressed Cake's recipe for SMBC, and it says to add 1/3 C of melted but cooled chocolate at the end. I made the SMBC. I slowly melted semi-sweet chocolate chips til they were smooth and let them cool until they were room temp but still smooth. I added them to the SMBC and it was like part the chocolate cooled off and formed little chocolate lumps throughout. I really couldn't see any just looking at the frosting, but it started getting stuck in my piping tip as I worked. Any idea how to get chocolate SMBC without lumps? I couldn't even finish piping a dozen cupcakes with a 2D tip. I had to switch to an open star.
Never have been able to get rid of the chocolate bits in the past, so I always run my chocolate smbc through a strainer before piping. Never have any problems after that. HTH
Do you just push it through a strainer? Is there another way to keep the lumps out? Should I try ganache instead of plain chocolate?
Yes, I just push it through with a spatula. I haven't tried using ganache, but that is definitely a thought. Might have to try that myself.
I have not made the chocolate SMBC yet, though I will be trying it. I usually whip chocolate ganache when I want to frost cupcakes with chocolate, but I use the SMBC for everything else.
I am wondering if your issue is that you are using chocolate chips? There are added ingredients in the chips so that they don't lose their shape when baking. So while you can melt them down to liquid, the other ingredients may be solidifying once they cool and causing you issues.
Not sure but that's my guess.
the problem is definitely the chocolate chips. Use real chocolate such as Ghiardelli and it will not happen. Chips do not have the same amount of cocoa butter.
I fold ganache into my SMBC after I've made it and I've had no issues. It's also awesome.
We make ours the same way (except we use "real" chocolate and don't worry about cooling it down after melting) but you have to temper it. Mix some buttercream into the melted choc (2:1 ish buttercream:chocolate) and then add that into the rest of the white buttercream.
Ganache works for us in a pinch but it will spoil faster (from the cream) so we usually use just the chocolate.
I was using Ghiardelli chocolate chips. I'll have to try it with baking chocolate instead. Unfortunately around here I can't get the good quality stuff in bars, which is why I tried chips.
I have made ganache with the chips and then added that to my SMBC with no problem. If you do this, make sure the cream comes to a rising boil or the chips will not melt all the way. Ganache is delicious in SMBC. If you can get merkens melting chocolate disks they work. Wilton's disks do not work. Supermarkets here (in NY) are selling bar chocolates in the organic section. Maybe you can get it there?
I have made ganache with the chips and then added that to my SMBC with no problem. If you do this, make sure the cream comes to a rising boil or the chips will not melt all the way. Ganache is delicious in SMBC. If you can get merkens melting chocolate disks they work. Wilton's disks do not work. Supermarkets here (in NY) are selling bar chocolates in the organic section. Maybe you can get it there?
I have made ganache with the chips and then added that to my SMBC with no problem. If you do this, make sure the cream comes to a rising boil or the chips will not melt all the way. Ganache is delicious in SMBC. If you can get merkens melting chocolate disks they will work. Wilton's disks are not good. Supermarkets here (in NY) are selling bar chocolates in the organic section. Maybe you can get it there?
I have made ganache with the chips and then added that to my SMBC with no problem. If you do this, make sure the cream comes to a rising boil or the chips will not melt all the way. Ganache is delicious in SMBC. If you can get merkens melting chocolate disks they will work. Wilton's disks are not good. Supermarkets here (in NY) are selling bar chocolates in the organic section. Maybe you can get it there?
I have made ganache with the chips and then added that to my SMBC with no problem. If you do this, make sure the cream comes to a rising boil or the chips will not melt all the way. Ganache is delicious in SMBC. If you can get merkens melting chocolate disks they will work. Wilton's disks are not good. Supermarkets here (in NY) are selling bar chocolates in the organic section. Maybe you can get it there?
I went and got some baking chocolate to try it with. The good stuff's not available around here so I went with the standard Baker's brand. If it works out maybe I'll make a trip to a bigger city and see what I can find.
I use Ghirardelli chips (I use a combo of semi-sweet and bittersweet) melted, let them cool a bit and then add them to the SMBC at the end. I just add it slowly and let each addition incorporate fully before adding more... If I'm using white chocolate I have to add it still kind of warm because I find it clumps more easily. But if you add it slowly instead of all at one time I think you should be OK.
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