Working with coloured cocoa butter
The source of every mirror-finish coloured bonbon. It is tempered cocoa butter, and it fails for the same reasons chocolate does.
Coloured cocoa butter is cocoa butter with fat-soluble colour dispersed in it, brushed, splattered or airbrushed into a mould before the chocolate shell is cast. The colour transfers to the finished piece's surface.
It must be tempered like chocolate — melted, cooled, brought to around 29–30°C — because untempered cocoa butter does not release from the mould and streaks the finish. That is the step most people skip, and it is why home attempts look cloudy.
Water-based food colouring cannot be used. It will not disperse in fat, and it seizes any chocolate it later meets.
- What it is for
- To apply coloured decoration to the surface of a moulded chocolate.
- Working temperature
- 29–30°C — Tempered like chocolate, because it is cocoa butter. Above about 32°C the temper is lost and the finish goes cloudy.
- Works with
- Cocoa butter, Bonbon, Couverture
- Does not work with
- Water-based or alcohol-based colouring cannot be used at any stage. It will not disperse in cocoa butter and seizes the chocolate.
Method
1. Melt the coloured cocoa butter to 45°C, then cool it to 29–30°C.
Where people go wrong: Using it straight from a warm melt. Untempered cocoa butter sticks to the mould and dries cloudy.
2. Apply into a polished mould by brush, sponge or airbrush and let it set fully before casting the shell.
3. Cast the chocolate shell over it as normal.
When it goes wrong
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Colour looks cloudy or streaked | Cocoa butter not tempered. | Temper it exactly as you would chocolate. |
| Colour lifts off with the mould | Applied too thick, or the mould was greasy. | Thin layers, and polish the mould with cotton wool first. |
What this will not work with
Water-based or alcohol-based colouring cannot be used at any stage. It will not disperse in cocoa butter and seizes the chocolate.
Related
Works with
- Cocoa butterThe source of every mirror-finish coloured bonbon. It is tempered cocoa butter, and it fails for the same reasons chocolate does.
- BonbonThe source of every mirror-finish coloured bonbon. It is tempered cocoa butter, and it fails for the same reasons chocolate does.
- CouvertureThe source of every mirror-finish coloured bonbon. It is tempered cocoa butter, and it fails for the same reasons chocolate does.
Covered in
- Cocoa butter vs chocolateIts main decorative use.
Sources
- ChocolateHQ editorial synthesis — ChocolateHQ(citation identity confirmed; passage not re-read)
- The Science of Chocolate — Royal Society of Chemistry(citation identity confirmed; passage not re-read)