How to Temper Chocolate

To make superb chocolate creations at home, it is often preferable to temper the chocolate so that its texture and colour are perfect. More than just a matter of temperature, here’s how you can master this rather simple technique.

The principle

Tempering chocolate produces a shiny and smooth finish, without the appearance of white tints of sugar crystals and fat when the chocolate cools.

tempered chocolate

The technique

Simply melt two-thirds of the required amount of chocolate in a double-boiler. Once melted, take your bowl off the heat, add the unmelted chocolate and mix vigorously for about five minutes. The resulting chocolate is tempered and ready to be used. It is also possible to temper chocolate in the microwave, for 30 seconds, to prevent the chocolate from burning.

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Once the chocolate has been tempered, it should be kept slightly warmer than room temperature so that it doesn’t congeal. A simple trick to achieve this is to lightly warm a compress and put your bowl of chocolate on top of it until you are done with your recipe. You can also put the chocolate on top of a bowl filled with hot water.

Good to know

If your chocolate has whitened, it’ll still taste just as good. Only its appearance will have been affected.

Here are a few chocolate recipes to practise this tempering technique and to satisfy your sweet tooth: