Problem Solving: Adding Other Fats and Oils

ADDING OTHER FATS & OILS TO CHOCOLATE

Problem: The chocolate is thicker, more viscous than expected or needed for a particular application

Potential resolutions: Cocoa butter and other fats and oils may be added to your favorite chocolate to lower the viscosity and result in a thinner chocolate. Cocoa butter can be added to chocolate in the amount needed to reach your ideal flow behavior. If this is the first time adding cocoa butter to your chocolate, we suggest fully melting the cocoa butter and chocolate, separately, and adding the cocoa butter 1% by mass at a time and thoroughly mixing between additions, while being sure not to incorporate too much air into the chocolate. If adding fats or oils other than cocoa butter to chocolate, a bit of fat chemistry is helpful in choosing and understanding the effect of the addition on the chocolate. Blending other fats and oils into chocolate, whether intentionally or unintentionally (due to nut inclusions or confectionery centers), will result in softer, quick-to-melt chocolate that will likely be more susceptible to bloom. For this reason, tropical, lauric fats like coconut and palm, as well as lower melting nut oils should be used very sparingly in chocolate.