Chocolate Teddy

Last week I read about modelling chocolate and recounted my experience with candy clay, wondering "aloud" whether real modelling chocolate would be more stable and work better. I made a note to try making it using Ewald Notter's recipe at some point in the future, but I didn't expect the future would come so soon. 

At least for 2023, Monday night is chocolate night in this apartment and I've been doing my best to keep with that schedule. When I found out that I had to attend a work-related meeting during what should have been chocolate time, I was disappointed and assumed that meant chocolate study just wouldn't happen this week. During an hour of down time between Teams meetings, I started making a grocery list and added the ingredients for modelling chocolate for a future chocolate session. That's when I realized I already had everything I needed. I looked at the clock: forty-five minutes until my meeting. I dropped everything and headed for the kitchen. 

Knowing I didn't want 1.5kg of modelling chocolate, I decided to scale down the Notter recipe and make only a quarter batch. Unlike the recipe for candy clay (which has two ingredients -- candy melts and corn syrup), the Notter recipe included water, sugar, glucose, and chocolate. It also contained instructions regarding the temperatures required to successfully combine all of the ingredients. With that information, I melted my chocolate first and let it cool on a marble slab while I prepared the other ingredients. After boiling the water and sugar in a saucepan and adding the glucose, I slowly streamed the sugar mixture to the chocolate while stirring. The ingredients incorporated beautifully. And then I did something I haven't done in a few years: I tabled the mixture on marble.

Shout out to (codename) Delta Charlie. Years ago when I decided to take the professional chocolatier program, I remember telling her about the many items on the supply list, including a marble slab. And when I returned from Newfoundland after Christmas, I found a marble cutting board among my Christmas presents. It served me well during the program and it came in handy once again this week!

It took about 15 minutes, but the mixture transformed from fairly fluid to more of a fudge-like consistency as I worked it on the marble with my plaster spackle knife. (Note: It's only ever been used with chocolate.) By the end, I was able to pick it up with a gloved hand and knead it. I loosely wrapped it in waxed paper so that it could crystallize for two hours and settled back into my office for a Teams meeting.  

When the meeting was over, I was rewarded with perfectly solidified chocolate modelling paste. More importantly, it did not exhibit any fat separation as I'd experienced with my previous attempt with candy clay. And when I cut off a small piece to taste, I was surprised to find that it had the taste and texture of a standard (creamy) chocolate fudge. I wrapped placed it in a Ziploc bag until I could use it.

Then on Tuesday after supper, I sat down to try making something with it. While I had originally thought about making a rose, as outlined in the Notter book, I ended up trying a teddy bear instead. I weighed out pieces of modelling chocolate for the body, head, ears, arms, legs, and tail, and set about forming them into the appropriate shapes. After adding a bowtie, I also formed a rose for him to carry.

This modelling chocolate was definitely easier to work with than the candy clay I'd tried in the past. It does soften as you work with it and the heat of your hands can make it almost too soft, but it still can be shaped and holds its form far better than the candy clay. And when it is left to set, it sets very firm. 

Now that I've had success with Notter's modelling chocolate, I am wondering if the technique he outlines could be applied to candy clay. Given his directions, it appears that the fat separation I experienced when making candy clay might be been caused by combining the corn syrup with the candy melts while they were still too hot. The only way to know is to try it again at some point in the future. It would be particularly convenient if the modified technique was the solution to this issue -- after all, candy melts come in a wide variety of colours and it would save time over making white modelling chocolate and colouring it as needed. 

In conclusion, I'll definitely make this again when the occasion calls for a cake topper or other decoration. The rose I made may fulfill its destiny (i.e. be eaten) this weekend. 

But as for the teddy bear, I'm not sure I could bit into him. He's just too cute! Would you? Comment below!