How To Temper Chocolate

Tempering chocolate made easy! In this post, I am guiding you through the basics of tempering chocolate and the step-by-step instructions for the easiest method I've been using for years.

Follow the important tips to successfully temper chocolate at home and create beautiful chocolate decorations, chocolate bars, chocolate truffles, and many more!

📌 What Is Tempering Chocolate?

Tempering chocolate refers to the process of heating and cooling chocolate to stabilize the crystals in the cocoa butter and give it a better look and texture. 

Here are the specific benefits of tempering chocolate.

The benefits of tempering chocolate

• Glossy shine: It creates a beautiful look with the glossy finish.
• Crisp snap: It makes a steady, hard chocolate that does not break easily, which is ideal for many chocolate creations, such as chocolate showpieces.
• Tempered chocolate does not melt easily: Successfully tempered chocolate does not melt easily at room temperature or when touching it by hand.
• Smooth texture: The beautifully aligned crystals feel so smooth and slowly melt in your mouth.

Untempered chocolate

• Blooms: You'll see white streaks (fat bloom) or white spots (sugar bloom) on the surface since the crystals are not stabilized.
• Crumbly: It does not snap like tempered chocolate and breaks more easily.
• It melts more easily: This is not ideal for almost any occasion, such as chocolate truffles and chocolate decorations.
• Rougher texture: The unstable crystals do not feel smooth in your mouth.

Even when using the same chocolate, tempered chocolate and untempered chocolate create a completely different look and texture. That is why it is so important to take time and work on the tempering process whenever you want the chocolate to look and taste exceptional.

📌 What Type Of Chocolate Should I Use To temper chocolate?

Couverture chocolate

Use couverture chocolate to temper chocolate for the best results. This is the most pure chocolate with a minimum amount of additives. It works best to maximize all the benefits of tempering chocolate, which I mentioned above. Try online if it's not sold locally. (I personally order on Amazon.) You'll find a lot of selections from various brands with various cacao percentages and flavors. 

Compound chocolate

Compound chocolate refers to chocolate with more additives, such as chocolate chips, candy melts, and some of chocolate bars. 

Although it works great as baking chocolate and is very handy when you want to decorate something quickly, It will not give the same look and texture as couverture chocolate. 

📌 Many Ways To Temper Chocolate

​Here are some of the most well-known methods.

• Seeding method: Adding tempered chocolate to melted chocolate. This is the easiest way. (at least for me!)
• Microwave method: Heating chocolate little by little with 10 - 30-second intervals and mix each time until almost all the chocolate chocolate melts. This is also a very easy method. I tend to go for the seeding method since opening/closing the microwave each time feels a bit more exhausting.
• Marble slab method: Cooling melted chocolate on a marble counter. This is a traditional way that was used by more pastry chefs decades ago. A proper working surface and higher techniques are needed to mix the melted chocolate properly. 
• Cold water method: Cooling melted chocolate in cold water. This is the method I first learned at a baking school, and it was more common on older days. I no longer use this method since the water could go into the chocolate more easily during the process.
• Tempering machine: When producing lots of chocolate products on a daily basis, you may want to invest in the machine. All the chocolate factories or some of the pastry shops use it.

📌 Easiest Way To Temper Chocolate (Seeding Method)

Now, let's go step by step to learn how to temper chocolate with the seeding method. 

​Dark chocolate

1. Melt about ¾ - ⅔ of the dark chocolate in a heat-proof bowl over a double boiler.  Melt it to 113 - 122 ºF (45 - 50ºC) Meanwhile, cut the remaining chocolate (¼ - ⅓) into very small pieces so they can melt more easily.

2. Add the diced chocolate and mix. The goal is to let the dark chocolate cool to between 87.8 - 89.6ºF (31 - 32ºC) right around when all the dark chocolate is melted. I recommend not adding all of it at once and adding dividing a few times or more. Continue adding them until they stop melting. If all the chocolate melted before it cools down to the temperature, dice more chocolate and add more. If the chocolate is not melted by the time you reach the temperature range, blend it with an immersion hand blender or warm it a little bit with the microwave, hot water, or a hair dryer. Do not overheat it - the tempering won't be done successfully when it goes out of the temperature range.

3. To check if the tempering is done correctly, drop a small amount of chocolate on anything you like, such as a cake spatula: The chocolate should get set within a few minutes at room temperature. 
4. Use it immediately before the chocolate cools down. When you need to work with it for a longer time, check the temperature sometimes and heat the sides and bottom of the bowl with a hair dryer before it cools down too much. Mix each time you heat to even out the temperature.

White chocolate

For milk chocolate, follow the exact steps but with the different temperatures:

• Heat it to 104 - 113ºF (40 - 45ºC)
• Cool it to 78.8 - 82.4ºF (26 - 28ºC): Hold the temperature while working on it.

📌 4 Most Important Tips

1. Stick to the temperature ranges. 

It is important both when heating and cooling chocolate. Going outside of the ranges leads to unsuccessful tempering by breaking the structure of chocolate crystals. The most common mistake is reheating the chocolate too much after the tempering is done. 

2. Water is your enemy!

Be very careful not to let the water or any moisture go in the chocolate since it can mess up the tempering completely. Ensure the tools, working surface, and your hands are completely dry. Also, when heating the chocolate over a double boiler, use a bowl bigger than the size of the pot to prevent moisture from going into the bowl. 

3. Tips for dipping something in the tempered chocolate

When dipping something in the tempered chocolate, be careful with the list below to avoid getting fat or sugar bloom.

• Ensure no excess moisture is attached to the surface. (ex. chocolate-dipped strawberries)
• Avoid dipping them while they are warm or soft. When dipping chocolate ganache to make chocolate truffles, for example, avoid dipping soft ganache since the ingredients, such as the butter, sugar, and cream inside, can be mixed in the chocolate. Use cool ones if necessary. (I do not recommend using extremely cold ones since the chocolate sets too quickly.) Or, when dipping cookies that contain lots of butter, you may want to chill them so that the butter stays firm while dipping them.
• Avoid dipping them repeatedly or scraping off the excess chocolate on the edge of the bowl vigorously to prevent the ingredients from going into the chocolate.

4. How to store it

Successfully tempered chocolate can be stored again for the next use. Pour it into the airtight container or pour it onto parchment paper or plastic wrap and cut it into smaller pieces once hardened. Store it in a cooling place.

📌 What Can You Make With Tempered Chocolate?

Once you know how to temper chocolate, it'll open up SO MANY more possibilities for you to make various kinds of chocolate creations.

• Homemade chocolate bars
• Chocolate truffles or bonbons
• Chocolate decorations
• Hot chocolate bombs
• Chocolate-covered cookies, madeleines, marshmallows, etc.
• Chocolate showpiece

Although it may feel very intimidating to try it, all you need is some practice. You'll get used to the movements each time you practice! Don't be afraid of mistakes, and expect a chocolate mess in the kitchen! (That's a part of the fun too.😊) It is totally worth it in the end.

📌 The Video Tutorial

Watch this video tutorial to see the tempering process visually and have a better understanding of each step. (This is a chocolate madeleine video, but you'll find the chocolate tempering tutorial in the middle of the video!)

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