Melting Couverture: What Do You Have to Watch Out For?

The best way to melt couverture is over a water bath. It is important that the temperature is not too high, otherwise, the chocolate could burn or the cocoa butter could dissolve. After drying, it becomes visible as a gray haze on the surface. This is particularly annoying when the couverture is to be used as a decorative chocolate icing. Chocolate usually melts at around 32 degrees Celsius – the water bath doesn’t have to be much warmer.

For the bain-marie, heat some water in a saucepan over low heat and place a second bowl in it. Roughly chop the couverture and place only half into the second bowl. Caution: No water must splash into the chocolate. Otherwise, it will falter and become crumbly.

When the couverture starts to melt, stir it with a wooden spoon so that all the chocolate pieces are evenly heated. As soon as it is liquid, take it out of the water bath and mix in the other half, which is still solid. When the chocolate is completely dissolved, let it cool.

The couverture is then tempered. This means that it is melted again at around 32 degrees Celsius over the water bath. So that the chocolate icing has a nice shine at the end, you should only use couverture and not mix it with chocolate bars. However, this only affects the appearance, not the taste. With our Baileys Kugeln recipe, the chocolate coating is also ennobled with fine gold dust, while you also enrich the couverture for our marzipan pralines with cocoa butter.

The cake or cookies you want to decorate with the chocolate frosting should be around room temperature. If the pastry is too warm, the couverture will not harden quickly enough, if the pastry is too cold, the result can be uneven.

You can also melt couverture in the microwave. To do this, chop the chocolate into small pieces and place in a microwave-safe bowl. Then put the couverture in the microwave for one minute at 600 watts and then stir it. Leave them for a minute to allow the heat to dissipate and repeat the process. Do this until the chocolate has completely melted. You can then use the liquid mass for our homemade chocolate crossies, for example, or to decorate our shrapnel.