I made first batch of modeling chocolate and it is too soft. Any way to stiffen it up? Thanks

Did you wrap it up and let it sit overnight?  It is soft until it settles.  

yes, I did let it sit overnight, but I wonder if I put too much corn syrup, not sure.

AThis website is awesome and will tell you all you need to know about modeling chocolate. The bottom quoted portion is what she says about soft modeling chocolate. HTH

http://www.hungryhappenings.com/p/chocolate-making-tips.html

"Sticky, Soft, or Wet Modeling Chocolate: You may find that you have added too much corn syrup or too much coloring and that your modeling chocolate is just too sticky, soft, or wet. If it is sticky, wash your sticky hands then continue to knead until all of the corn syrup is incorporated. Take the sticky, soft, or wet dough and roll it in a ball then flatten it out in a disc. Then wrap it in plastic wrap and allow it to sit for at least an hour so that it can dry out a bit before using. If it is really wet, allow it to dry at room temperature until workable. As a last resort, you can try to knead in some melted chocolate, but you can end up with hard clumps of chocolate or an oily mess. Drying is your best option."

Hi,

I love working with modeling chocolate. If yours has not set up, you used to much corn syrup. 

I use this recipe

16 ounces of chocolate 

3 ounces corn syrup

I warm my corn syrup up for about 30 seconds in the microwave

When mixing, I use the "fold in" type stirring and I do it slowly

Pour on saran wrap and wrap up

let sit on counter for 2 hours...

Than I need in any color that I want.

Hope that helps!

if you want to stiffen up the batch you've already made it's fine just to kneed in more melted chocolate, you'll not spoil it :-)

ALittleliz2304...

Can you tell me what type or brand of chocolate you're using?

Thanks guys, I added more melted chocolate and it worked just fine. I used Wilton candy melts.

I am from a small town in Iowa, so if I need to make something in a pinch, I use Wilton chocolates

Otherwise, I order Couveture chocolate online. Global sugar art, Amazon...no problem finding it online. I have read recipes that you can use honey instead of Karo syrup...but I would think that would flavor the chocolate...and really chocolate is yummy all on it's own...

I realize this post is five months old but it addresses my problem: modeling chocolate too soft. I looked at lots of "recipes" before deciding to use 7 ozs. semisweet choc. to 1/4 cup Karo. I let it sit all night. It is still very soft.

Now, my question: one of these posts says you can knead in more melted chocolate and it will be fine, another says you may end up with hard bits of chocolate or a greasy mess. Which is it? Will someone give me a little more input to "break the tie"?  Thanks, guys!

Dawn

AIf you overheat your slightly too soft MC it will go very greasy as the cocoa butter will liquify and can seperate out leaving a 'grainy' lump and llots of oil- but you can put it in the fridge for a few minites and then kneed it till becomes pliable again. You may need to firdge-kneed-frige a few times to get it perfect.

When my MC has been too soft I have warmed it in the microwave for litterally 5 seconds on low power at a time till its really soft but not oily, then I kneed in more melted choc, so long as the new choc is totally melted there shouldnt be any hard bits. I often find it helps to kneed in a little fondant once its cooled slightly; about 1 part fondant to 3 parts MC.

I find the 'soft point' is a very narrow margin- rollong a ball in you palms makes it too soft and it has to firm up in the fridge before it can be used again, a hot room is a pain too!

Hope that helps :-)

Crazy-Gray,

That's interesting. I just kneaded it and it's not sticky at all, and not overly oily, just very soft.t does feel a bit grainy though. There's no way this would ever hold its shape! I'll try the frig, knead, frig first. Then, if necessary, I'll knead in more chocolate. Thank you for the input.

This is what you do to modeling chocolate:

You knead it. You also knead bread dough.

You do not need it (well, maybe you do, but that doesn't involve touching the chocolate).

You do not kneed it. If you thrust your knee into your modeling chocolate, you're doing it wrong.

shanter, English major, editor, writer. I now return you to your baking/sugar work.

(P.S. Dawnybird gets a gold star.)

A

Lol oops! Didn't even notice myself doing that! Please miss can I blame predictive text*?? (Has my "lol", lack of "I" and double question mark annoyed you yet? He he he)

*for three months my contract read "in the unlikely event that you are not happy with the flavour of your cake you must return a sample to us where it will be assed.." A three letter typo that caused much amusement! So I don't think I can blame predictive text :-(

I try really, really, really hard not to be the grammar/spelling police, but sometimes I just boil over. I always feel pompous and terrible after.

Crazy-Gray, just how did you *ss those cakes? I'm disturbed by the pictures in my head. heeheehee

AOMG @ shanter and crazy-gray!!!! I'm literally rolling around on the floor laughing!!! Yes crazy-gray how exactly DID you ass those cakes??? : ))))

Oh, and Crazy-Gray, no matter how you spell, I appreciated you taking the time to offer me advice! Thank you.

AHoly moley, crazygray, you really address the issue of someone not liking the cake in your contract? You don't worry someone will take advantage of that to try to get a refund because they spent money they shouldn't have?

A

Honestly yes I did worry massively about encouraging false complaints but by highlighting the effort they would have to go to to get one over on me I think it puts them off as I've never had a problem (touch wood!): a sample must be double wrapped in cling wrap, refrigerated and returned to us for assessment within 48hrs of receipt, our decision is final.

AAh, that is clever, yes.

Thank You WickedGoodies:  Made a good batch of white modeling choc last month.  Decided to try to make 'fall' leaves to go on my practice camo cake.  Used the recipe from wicked Goodies book 'Cake Decorating with Modeling Chocolate" Kristen Conairis.  I added a bit of yellow & green gel coloring & some dark MC.  cut out some leaves.  here it is:

The best part is that the MC tastes so super duper good, unlike fondant.

AMBalasta- what white chocolate did you use? I've been trying my hand at modeling chocolate as well recently. Thanks!

AThere is a pizza shop near my work that has the tagline 'pizza just got awesomer'. Drives me crazy.

AI have a question. So you make the clay (I used the wiltons bits and light corn syrup) it set up over night and was rock hard. With my hot hands it kneaded in minutes. I rolled little pumpkin balls, drew lines in them, gave them a stem (which was very hard because the stem was so small it kept getting to soft). Now they sat out over night and are still semi soft to the touch, (I could dent them by barely touching them). They are holding shape, but I'm worried. I wish they would harden as much as the original hardened dough was. Will the fridge help permanently make them harder? Or is there anything else I can do? Just keep letting them sit? I need to make some superheroes too and they will need to stand up. I can see problems if they turn out the same way.

One more question. When making the clay, I tried several different ways. I am using the double boil method. I've added the syrup after the melts have melted, like the wiltons site recipe says. And it seems a mess for the longest time to get it all to blend. Then I've tried added the syrup from the start, and I get to a point where it seems almost like the try before right before I added the syrup. Then shortly after goes runny again and I have to keep stirring and stirring to get the liquid to go away. Should I have followed the second method and stopped as soon as it seemed mixed? The only reason I kept going was because I knew from when I did it the Wiltons way, if I kept going it would eventually go away. (By the way those two times I was using pre colored candies, when I used white, it had a yellow liquid to it that would not go away, even after stirring and stirring, so I ended up dumping the liquid and just letting it harden). All of these seem to have the same result. Except the very first one. I rolled a head for IronMan and it's rock hard. It's also been sitting about 12 hours longer than the pumpkins.

AIs there any other way to keep chocolate from melting without crisco and/or shortening?

ALaura-I'm not sure what your question is exactly. Are you asking about making modeling chocolate? Are you using shortening when working with modeling chocolate and then it's melting?

When working with MC, especially if your hands are hot, the MC will soften and you just have to walk away for a min. Or try wearing gloves if you don't already.