Have you ever attempted to make a recipe such as rocky road and you end up with seized or split chocolate once the chocolate has melted with the butter and syrup. This post may help to prevent it in the future so you can stop wasting chocolate. It will also explain how to fix melted split chocolate.
There are many recipes online that require you to mix chocolate, butter and golden syrup. These include recipes such as rice krispie treats and rock road. Many recipes may just say milk or dark chocolate without saying what type to use.
When it comes to mixing chocolate with butter and golden syrup the chocolate you use is very important because some chocolate won’t mix well with the golden syrup.
Cocoa Solids
Chocolate is made up of cocoa solids which is a component of cocoa beans and the part of the cocoa bean that remains after the cocoa butter is extracted. Cocoa butter is the fatty component of the beans. The percentage of cocoa solids in chocolate affects how the chocolate behaves when melted with butter and golden syrup.
Chocolate Test
I tested different chocolate bars which all had different percentages of cocoa solids. Each chocolate was melted in the microwave with butter alone then each chocolate was melted in the microwave with butter and golden syrup. I mixed 50g of each chocolate with 20g of butter and 7g of golden syrup. These are similar ratios to what is used in a typical rocky road recipe.
Results
White Chocolate - 0% Cocoa Solids
I tested white chocolate with 0% cocoa solids. This white chocolate was smooth when melted with butter alone but split and became grainy looking within a few minutes when melted with butter and golden syrup. If you use this chocolate to make rocky road then just melt butter alone and avoid adding golden syrup to the mixture.
White Chocolate - 25% Cocoa Solids
The white chocolate that contained 25% cocoa solids melted well with butter alone. When mixed with butter and golden syrup, it did split but only after sitting for 5 minutes. If you use white chocolate with 25% cocoa solids then your best bet is to avoid using golden syrup and use the chocolate and butter alone.
Milk Chocolate - 25% Cocoa Solids
I melted milk chocolate with 25% cocoa solids which came out smooth when melted with butter alone. However, when melted with butter and golden syrup, the chocolate completely split, seized and became extremely grainy looking with clumps. Do not use chocolate with this low percentage of cocoa solids to make rocky road and if you do, omit the golden syrup to keep a smooth mixture.
Milk Chocolate - 35% Cocoa Solids
The chocolate with 35% cocoa solids melted well with butter and also came out smooth when melted with butter and golden syrup. It did begin to thicken and became slightly grainy when sat for a while. If you use chocolate with this percentage of cocoa solids then you can melt with butter and golden syrup but use immediately as if left sitting it may begin to split.
Dark Chocolate - 51% Cocoa Solids
Chocolate with 51% cocoa solids melted perfectly with butter and stayed smooth when melted with butter and golden syrup. The chocolate with 51% cocoa solids gave great results when mixed with butter and golden syrup and is ideal for making recipes such as rocky road or rice krispie treats.
Milk and Dark Chocolate - 20% and 70% Cocoa Solids
Melting milk and dark chocolate together with butter came out completely smooth. It also melted perfectly with butter and golden syrup which would be perfect for a recipe such as rocky road. Just use half and half ensuring the dark chocolate has a high percentage of cocoa solids.
Preventing Split or Seized Chocolate
Tips to prevent split, grainy or seized chocolate:
- Ideally use dark chocolate to melt with golden syrup and butter.
- If you are certain you want to use milk chocolate then use one with at least 35% cocoa solids but the higher the cocoa solids, the smoother the chocolate will be when it is melted with the butter and golden syrup. Milk chocolate with 37% - 45% cocoa solids is ideal.
- When buying chocolate, the label will tell you how much cocoa solids the chocolate contains.
- If you are using milk chocolate with less than 35% cocoa solids then omit the golden syrup completely as recipes such as rocky road and rice krispie treats can be made without it.
- Use a combination of half milk and half dark chocolate.
Fix Split or Seized Chocolate
If you’ve already mixed your milk chocolate, butter and golden syrup which has split then you can fix it by melting some dark chocolate that contains over around or over 50% cocoa solids and adding it to the split milk chocolate.
When you melt the dark chocolate to add to the split milk chocolate, you may need to add more melted butter to get the correct ratios. This should smooth it out again even if the mixture has been sitting at room temperature for a while.
The images below shows split milk chocolate (25% cocoa solids) with butter and golden syrup and next to it is an image showing how the chocolate came out when mixed with some melted dark chocolate with 51% cocoa solids.
As you can see, adding melted dark chocolate reduced the clumps and smoothed the chocolate out again.
Conclusion
As you can see all chocolates melt well with butter alone so you can use any chocolate if you're not using golden syrup.
The higher the cocoa solids in a chocolate the better it melts with butter and golden syrup so most dark chocolate will melt well with them both.
When it comes to melting chocolate with butter and golden syrup, milk chocolate with 25% cocoa solids do not melt well with them so avoid using chocolate with this low percentage of cocoa solids.
If using milk or white chocolate with less than 35% cocoa solids then omit the golden syrup and just melt the chocolate with butter.
If you use milk chocolate with butter and golden syrup then make sure the chocolate is over 35% cocoa solids but milk chocolate with 37% - 45% cocoa solids is ideal.
Using a combination of milk chocolate and dark chocolate also work well as long as the dark chocolate contains over 50% cocoa solids. Melting the milk chocolate with dark chocolate with 70% cocoa solids along with the butter and golden syrup will give perfect results and won't cause your chocolate to split.
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