Most people would not realise that it is so easy to get it wrong when cooking or baking with chocolate but it does happen. One of the most common tasks that can go wrong is the simple act of melting chocolate, but there are a few things that you can keep in mind to help you to get a professional result.

Gentle heating

Avoiding using a microwave for melting chocolate is the first step. Once it is in the microwave you have very little control over it, so the best way of melting chocolate is to use a water bath. This is where the chocolate is in a bowl over a pan of warming water. The chocolate should be stirred regularly but the water should only be heated gently and not boiled. It might happen faster if the water is boiling but that won’t necessarily bring the best result.

Don’t forget that there is a difference between melting and tempering. If the chocolate is being used as a coating then the best method is tempering the chocolate. If the chocolate is being combined into the ingredients for a recipe then melting is the best option.