Is there a way to add shine to a chocolate coating after it has hardened?
My recipe calls for melting chocolate chips and pouring the liquid chocolate over the cake for a coating. That works but, when it hardens, it returns to that dull gray/brown color of chocolate chips, i.e. to the color of the chips before they were melted.
Is there a way to polish or add some shine to the hardened coating? Would rubbing a thin coating of butter on the surface work?
Best Answer
What you're looking for is 'tempered' chocolate. Tempered chocolate has that sheen and snap to it. When properly heated and cooled, the cocoa butter in the chocolate formed the correct crystalline structure for this to occur. When the process is uncontrolled, you get dull chocolate that doesn't snap quite as well.
There's a few (1,2,3) different ways to do it. But overall the easiest way - in general terms, is to heat chocolate to the correct temperature (check the links for correct temperatures for your type of chocoloate), stir in *pre-tempered chocolate (from the store or such) as it cools, and then slightly reheat.
This should give you that gloss your after.
*Store bought chocolate is pretty much always tempered and the dull gray of the chips doesn't mean its not tempered - just scratched up. You can use this to stir into your cooling chocolate at step 2.
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Quick Answer about "Is there a way to add shine to a chocolate coating after it has hardened?"
Heat the chocolate over a very low heat source, such as a heating pad on low or a small coffee warmer or hot tray, stirring constantly, until about two thirds of it melts. Remove it and patiently continue stirring until all the chocolate is melted.How do you fix hardened chocolate?
It's easy to do: Simply add boiling water to seized chocolate, 1 teaspoon at a time, and stir vigorously after each addition until the chocolate is smooth.Why is my melted chocolate not shiny?
Slowly heating and cooling melted chocolate while stirring puts it into temper. If chocolate is not tempered properly, the cocoa butter crystallization is uncontrolled and uneven, which results in an unattractive chocolate that is dull or has white streaks running through it.Why is my melted chocolate dull?
When you melt chocolate and the temperature goes above 95\xbaF, your chocolate will be out of temper. If you try to use this chocolate it will be dull, soft in your hands and will not set.How to Temper Chocolate Three Easy Ways!
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Answer 2
If you want a bit of shine on an existing coating, I would prepare a very dense syrup (bring 1/2 cup of water to a boil and add in 1 cup of sugar, stir until all the sugar dissolves, let cool) and apply a thin coat with a brush. Try on a side and see how it goes. If it convinces you then apply to the whole cake.
Answer 3
There a product called confectionary shine. Do a search this could do the job
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