Many chocolate lovers don't know how their favourite chocolates are made, so we thought we would use this opportunity to explain the simple differences between an enrobed and a moulded chocolate.
Enrobed Chocolate
An enrobed chocolate is typically when the center of the chocolate is made first and is then coated in a thin layer of chocolate. The center can either be hand dipped into chocolate, or covered by using a chocolate enrobing machine that passes the center under a chocolate curtain to create a thin crisp covering.
Famous Chocolate Products that are Enrobed: Mars bar, Crunchie, Bounty.
Benefit of Enrobed Chocolates:
- Thin Crisp Covering to the chocolate.
- Allows multiple ways of decorating the chocolate; fork marks, cocoa butter transfers, herbs, spices, gold leaf etc.
- Quick and efficient when using an enrobing machine.
The Skill Of Enrobing:
Many chocolatiers believe that having an enrobing machine will result in perfect looking chocolates everytime. Unfortunately this is not the case. A skillful chocolatier will ensure that a thin layer of chocolate is left on the chocolate, with no pooling of chocolate at the base of the chocolate and if they correctly control the cooling of the chocolate they can achieve a shiney finish rather than a dull finish which you will find on some finished chocolates.
The Limits Of Enrobing:
Enrobing has it's limits when it comes to liquid centers. For the likes of a Liquid Salt Caramel, the liquid caramel must be encased in a sealed chocolate shell before enrobing. Firm stable centers such as slabbed ganaches, honeycomb, candied fruit and biscuits are perfect for enrobing.
Enrobing is also limited by the size of the center that is to be covered. Too small and the center will not pass off the enrobing belt.
Products That We Enrobe:
Here at The Chocolate Society we are very fortunate to have the Rolls Royce of an enrobing machine: a Sollich. This machine is used on a daily basis to cover our Signature Collection chocolates, honeycomb and our fruit and nuts.
Moulded Chocolates
A moulded chocolate is as the name might suggest a chocolate that is made using a mould. Typically a firm plastic mould will be filled completely with chocolate and then turned upside down to remove the majority of chocolate. The remaining chocolate in the mould lines the inside of the mould creating a cavity which can be filled.
Famous Chocolate Products that are Moulded: Kitkat
Benefit of Enrobed Chocolates:
- Thin crisp shell encasing a multitude of centers which can vary in viscocity and textures.
- Allows for a number of different shaped to be made dependant on the mould design.
- Skillful chocolatiers can use coloured cocoa butters to create striking chocolates that resemble glass marbles.
- Custom moulds can be made so that the logo of the company manufacturing the product is shown on the finished product. eg. Kitkat.
The Skill Of Moulding:
A skillful chocolatier will ensure that their moulded chocolates have a blemish free appearance with no mould marks or bubbles. In addition, the shell of a moulded chocolate should be very thin. A large number of chocolatiers will have very thick shells to their chocolates.
In addition to a blemish free thin shell, a chocolatier can create marble shiney finishes by ensuring their moulds are spotlessly clean and by using a spray gun to spray the cavity of the mould with cocoa butter before casting with chocolate.
The Limits Of Moulding:
The number of chocolates that you can make when moulding is limited by the number of moulds that the chocolatier has and the speed in which they can clean each mould. Here at The Chocolate Society we will clean the moulds between every batch of chocolates that we make to ensure that the finish on the chocolates is of the highest standard.
Products That We Mould:
Due to our set up with a large enrobing machine, we only mould a few items, such as our Valentines Day Collection and our new Summer Collection. We will be adding more moulded chocolates to our collection soon.
Conclusion:
Both Enrobing and Moulding chocolates entails a large amount of skills from the chocolatier. Both disciplines have their advantages in terms of what products can be made and as such we will be utilising both techniques to create truly delicious fresh artisan chocolates.
