Chocolate Fountain
Chocolate fountains melt solid chocolate and keep it warm enough to remain liquid as it flows through the fountain. These eye-catching centerpieces present chocolate fondue in a new fantastical manner. Skewers are used to hold fruit chunks or cake pieces under the flowing chocolate.
Choosing chocolate
Whether it's white, milk or dark chocolate, it's important that the flavor of the melted chocolate be appealing to the palate. The fountains can use any type of chocolate that can be melted, but couverture chocolate, typically used as a coating by chocolatiers, will yield the best result. Still, if the guest of honor's favorite is Hershey's Kisses, those can be used in the fountain, with the addition of oil as explained below.
Preparing chocolate for a chocolate fountain
The amount of cocoa butter in the chocolate used is important. Couverture has between 36 and 39 percent cocoa butter, and it feels smooth and silky in the mouth. This type of chocolate only needs to be slowly melted in a double boiler before being added to the fountain. Chocolate bars and chips for eating and baking have between 25 and 33 percent cocoa butter, and these will require additional fat to give them a feel similar to that of couveture. Typical eating chocolate (which has less than 32 percent cocoa butter) will need one cup of neutral-flavored vegetable oil added to every five pounds of chocolate used.
Using and cleaning chocolate fountain
The melted chocolate is placed into the reservoir of the fountain and the machine is turned on. It will cycle the chocolate through the fountain until the unit is turned off. Replacing the chocolate inside the fountain is unnecessary as long as the chocolate still has the same sheen and coloring as when it was put into the fountain freshly melted. Depending upon the model, most of the parts can be put into the dishwasher and dried, but the electric base should be soaked with hot water and rinsed before drying and reusing.
Tags: cocoa butter, percent cocoa, percent cocoa butter, between percent, between percent cocoa