bake - January 2014 - 18

ingredients

Valentine's
Chocolates
With Valentine's Day fast approaching, your bakery can add
proﬁts by jumping on the opportunity to make chocolate candies. Even if you are not a master chocolatier, you can reach
out for technical assistance and troubleshooting tips from
the experts to create a special collection of your own chocolates for this extremely important holiday. Remember, you

As you ﬁll your chocolate molds, tap the mold gently on your

don't have to be a full-time chocolate shop to make your own

work table to allow for settling. If you overﬁll, Pfeiffer recom-

chocolates at special times of the year.

mends placing a sheet of parchment paper or plastic wrap
on top to take care of the excess. Once ﬁlled, your chocolates

The proﬁt potential is huge. According to a 2013 Valentine's

need to go into a chocolate room overnight before you add a

Day spending survey conducted by BIGinsight, the average US

ﬁnal layer of chocolate on top the next day.

consumer spends $130.97 on candy, cards, gifts and more, up
from $126.03 in the previous year. More than half of gift givers

The ideal storage temperature for chocolate is between 59° F

will buy candy, spending $1.6 billion in total.

to 63° F, with a humidity that is less than 50%. Chocolate easily absorbs aroma and should be stored separately from other

It is important to know what types of chocolates are in

foods, especially those with strong aromas such as herbs,

demand by your local customers. Of note, milk chocolate is

spices, onions, garlic, and meat. For this reason, dark, white,

preferred by 57% of chocolate consumers in the US, with dark

and milk chocolates are carefully and tightly wrapped, so as

(33%) and white (10%) chocolate coming in second and third,

to avoid absorbing moisture and other foreign elements.

according to Mintel. Older consumers prefer dark chocolate
more than younger ones. Two-thirds of consumers aged 25-34

The beauty of chocolate candies is you can experiment on

prefer milk chocolate, compared to half of those aged 55-64.

your own unique sweets. Chef Celine Plano, a Barry Callebaut
technical adviser, offers a creative twist on the classic S'mores

To make your own artisan chocolate candies, chef Jacquy

dessert, which can be a perfectly unique chocolate treat for

Pfeiffer, academic dean for student affairs for The French Pas-

Valentine's. Her version is called C'Mores (with the C standing

try School, offers several helpful tips for making chocolates

for Callebaut and caramel).

with fruit ﬁllings.
These marshmallow-ﬁlled chocolates are made with your own
"When you make your own jam with sugar and fruit, reduce

marshmallow ﬁlling. First, Plano lines the chocolate molds

it completely," he recommends. "If you have too much water

with tempered chocolate, adds the marshmallow ﬁlling, and

left, it will mold."

then pipes in a small line of caramel into the center of the
marshmallow ﬁlling.

Invest in a brix refractometer to measure the brix, or sugar
content of an aqueous solution, in your fruit reduction. Pfeiffer

"I wait 12 to 24 hours for the marshmallow to set before I ﬁn-

recommends reducing your jam to 60-62 brix.

ish my candies," she recommends. "Always remember to use
tempered chocolate to have a nice shine on your chocolates,

"Let it cool to 89° F before piping into the chocolate mold,"

and to be able to unload them as well. Otherwise, it's going to

he says. "Then keep it overnight in a chocolate room."

be trouble." JOHN UNREIN

18 < JAN 2014 | bakemag.com

http://www.bakemag.com

bake - January 2014

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