How to fix a melted chocolate malfunction … kitchen helper
Help! My melted chocolate has separated! Read on and find out how to fix this culinary disaster in one minute flat.
Sometimes you take your eye off something for a minute and well, it all goes to pieces. This can very easily happen when you are melting chocolate over a saucepan of simmering water. Your chocolate goes from glossy and silky to a solid lump surrounded by watery-looking chocolate. To use the culinary term – it has seized. Before you throw it all in the bin – it can be saved!
Chocolate can seize for a variety of reasons – your simmering water underneath is too hot, or if you are making a ganache, the cream is not adequately heated and it cools the chocolate too quickly, resulting in a separated ball of misery.
The remedy – flick on the kettle. Add a tablespoon of boiling water at a time to the seized chocolate while whisking quickly. It seems counter-intuitive to add water, because your chocolate has gone all watery, with a solid mass in the middle. Be brave and add another tablespoon of boiling water. Keep whisking! Magically, your chocolate will change back to a thick, glossy consistency and the crisis is averted. You can then get on with your mousse, chocolate tart or chocolate ganache as if nothing happened. Phew!
