How Can I Fix This Modeling Chocolate!?

Decorating By lrlt2000 Updated 11 Jul 2013 , 2:57am by WickedGoodies

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lrlt2000 Posted 31 Mar 2013 , 9:01pm
post #1 of 6

AI made a large batch of white modeling chocolate, using 49oz of white chocolate (48 almond bark and 1 Baker's white, for an even conversion from the recipe I was using--it called for 7oz of white chocolate to 2.5-3 T of corn syrup). I wanted to add Wilton white coloring, but I had a momentary lapse in focus and added the coloring to the melting chocolate instead of the corn syrup ://

I added it after only the first warming (microwave), but I still think it didn't let me get quite smooth enough before adding the corn syrup. I cooled it and kneaded it, but there are still tiny little grains of unmelted chocolate (I think that's what they are).

Is this salvageable????? It's a ton of material for me, as I make everything from scratch and only to order. :(((

Please help!

5 replies
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Norasmom Posted 31 Mar 2013 , 9:06pm
post #2 of 6

I'd say keep kneeding it and the little bumps will blend in.

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-K8memphis Posted 31 Mar 2013 , 9:07pm
post #3 of 6

i'd take a small blob of it and microwave it gently but firmly and knead it real good and see if the heat generated will level those hard bits out for you

 

but be careful-- i mean chocolate melts at what 90 something degrees anyhow so you don't have to get too agressive just be determined to level out the heat in each chunk

 

if it's not burned bits that crystalized on you--this should work

 

i know what you mean about grieving that much product

 

this should work

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lrlt2000 Posted 2 Apr 2013 , 4:52pm
post #4 of 6

Just an update :) I decided to try to remelt the entire batch (which was a double batch) and re-knead.  I did it using a double boiler, which was another mistake!!! I'm not sure whether it got to hot, whether I was stirring or agitating too much, or both, but I ended up with a MESS! All of the fat had been forced out and I had a bowl of fat soup with a giant mountain of disgusting chocolate.  I felt defeated ;)

 

With the help and encouragement of Rae (blakescakes), I was determined not to waste 49 oz of white chocolate!  I let it cool, not all the way, as you would ordinarily, and kneaded (with gloves).  I did this repeatedly--letting it cool more, then kneading it more.  I seriously seemed like all of the fatty liquid couldn't possibly be incorporated.  But it eventually did!  

Also, I inspected those little bumps/lumps/specks and determined that they weren't crystals, but pieces of chocolate or fat that hadn't fully melted before it seized up from my improper addition of the white coloring before the corn syrup.  So, as I kneaded, I squished those little lumps between my fingers as I went.  YAY!!!!! 

LESSON: always add color to the corn syrup first.  :D  (Those marks you see are just

air bubbles in the bag, not lumps).  

 

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jenbug1 Posted 5 Apr 2013 , 4:46am
post #5 of 6

I'm so glad you posted this, including the successful update!! I'm going to be using modeling chocolate for the first time very soon and I'm trying to learn all I can so I don't make a huge mess of things!

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WickedGoodies Posted 6 Apr 2013 , 10:49am
post #6 of 6

It's cocoa butter/fat that leaks out of modeling chocolate when it is overheated or overmixed. You did the right thing! 
A little easier way to fix it - reheat it gently then work against the tabletop with a bench scraper, dragging the blade of the bench scraper against small amounts of modeling chocolate. That will work the lumps out quicker than kneading over and over. Glad you were able to save your big batch! MC can almost always be saved this way.

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