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I am sure your chocolate cups came out fine, besides even if they don’t look pretty there made out of CHOCOLATE!

Before we get into it, if you are using an inexpensive chip product that contains vegetable fats usually no tempering is necessary. That type of product is generally not considered to be chocolate because there are other things added to it not derived from Cacao.

Now if you have decided to use a real chocolate, Bravo! Here is what you have to know. There are 2 distinct methods of tempering. I am going to recommend the one that is the easiest to keep your kitchen clean while doing it, and it’s called the “seeding method”. You will need a stainless steel probe thermometer, at least one rubber spatulas (I like to have an extra) and lots of paper towels.

Pure chocolate is made up of a mixture of cocoa solids, cocoa butter, and sometimes an emulsifier. Cocoa butter has one of the most consistent melting points out of any fat, meaning when it hits the right temp. it all melts at the same time. Because of this you have to give it a little help to stay emulsified throughout the chocolate. The way we do this is by controlling temperature. So you will need a calibrated probe thermometer. Now each brand of chocolate has a different temperature that is ideal but generally speaking the temp. ranges below will suffice.

Dark chocolate 120-82-89

Milk chocolate 118-80-87

The method:

Coarsely chop your chocolate, reserving 1/3 of it and leave it in the block form. Put the chopped chocolate in a double boiler, (a bowl over a pot of steaming water). Best way to do this is heat the water till it’s steaming; turn off the heat then put your bowl over it. This way it does not get too hot. Heat the chocolate to 120 degrees.

So after you heat it to 120 we have to bring the temperature down to about 82 degrees, the second number after dark chocolate. To achieve that you’re going to add your reserved chunks to the melted chocolate, bringing the temperature down. This process takes a little while so be patient.

When you reach around 86 degrees or so take out your remaining chunks and let the temp. come down the rest of the way on its own. OK so you’re at 82 degrees your chocolate should be visibly thicker. It is time to check to see if you have a good temper. Take a small piece of wax paper and dip it in the chocolate. If it sets in about 1-2 minutes with a smooth surface free of streaks and firm to the touch congrats! You have tempered your first chocolate. If not, let the temp. come down a little more until it does.

Now it’s time to bring it up to what we call it’s working temperature, where the chocolate is fluid enough to dip with so put the chocolate back on the water bath to gently heat it up. Be very careful not to bring it past the middle temperature. If you do you may lose your temper and have to start over again.

What is actually happening in the chocolate: When you brought it down in temperature you are allowing tiny fat crystals to form which bump into each other and help keep the fat distribution even in the chocolate.

When you get really good at this you won’t need the thermometer. You will be able to instinctively see it changing. But don’t fret if you are unsuccessful at first. It usually takes people 3 tries to get the feel for it.

Best,

-Daniel