Using Melted Chocolate Chips In Buttercream??

Baking By Clovers Updated 20 Jul 2009 , 6:45pm by Clovers

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Clovers Posted 17 Jul 2009 , 4:52pm
post #1 of 11

I had read on here that one poster used melted chocolate chips in their buttercream instead of cocoa so that it was smoother and not grainy...

I tried that last night, adding the melted chips gradually, and once it began to taste like chocolate buttercream stopped... however the constitency changed to a weird half dough/half icing. I could ice with it, but if I wasn't careful it would come off in chunks - in fact I could actually press it onto the cake with my hands! It worked great in some ways, since it let me fill gaps perfectly, but I can't use a spatula on it much as it comes away from the cake too easily.

What did I do wrong? Should the chips have been mixed with oil or anything??

10 replies
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Doug Posted 17 Jul 2009 , 7:53pm
post #2 of 11

I melt the chips and add all the time (and even toss in extra cocoa powder too for really intense flavor)

I add 8oz melted Ghriadelli per regular single batch of buttercream (indydebi's recipe)

I've tried it both ways:
>adding to fats first and blending in then adding PS
>adding at end

same results either way it seemed -- a VERY stiff buttercream -- it keeps getting stiffer as chocolate cools to room temp.

Fix: add milk until soft enough to do what you want with it. May have to do this several times as it continues to stiffen from cooling.

Smooths well w/ hot spatula or Viva paper towel method.

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other things:

replace 1/2 of shortening w/ butter -- softer and easier to spread. Max substitution if going to do Viva method.

replace all of shortening w/ butter -- mongo soft -- too soft even for Viva method.

but adding milk is the easiest way (tho' not as delicious as butter!)

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Clovers Posted 20 Jul 2009 , 3:30pm
post #3 of 11

See I figured it was going to get really stiff - but that wasn't the problem really.

The icing was still very soft, but pliable. I could almost mold it. It worked beautifully with the hot spatula and when I left it overnight it set up to a nice hard finish that almost looked like fondant... but it fell apart and pulled away, it was like there was no 'stick' left in it. Do you think the milk would help that for next time? And will the addition of the milk not cause issues with the chocolate seizing up and turning SUPER hard, because of the water content? I was too afraid to add anything with water to it.

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Peridot Posted 20 Jul 2009 , 3:54pm
post #4 of 11

Doug - you are a wealth of info just like Indy!!!

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Peridot Posted 20 Jul 2009 , 3:56pm
post #5 of 11

Doug - you are a wealth of info just like Indy!!!

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Peridot Posted 20 Jul 2009 , 3:58pm
post #6 of 11

Doug - you are a wealth of info just like Indy!!!

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PinkZiab Posted 20 Jul 2009 , 4:15pm
post #7 of 11

Just another note: Chocolate chips have other additives to make them hold their shape when baking. If you use "regular" chocolate, rather than chips, it won't thicken your buttercream as much.

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Doug Posted 20 Jul 2009 , 4:44pm
post #8 of 11

milk added after chocolate all blended in will not cause it to seize. It is already too dispersed in the sugar and other fats.

I use only whole milk (tho' one of these times I'm going to do it with cream -- what's a little extra fat going to hurt?)

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Clovers Posted 20 Jul 2009 , 5:43pm
post #9 of 11

Ok, perfect, good to know! I'll try that next time!

I put myself into a bit of a panic because I was doing all it after midnight and for some reason forgot the seizing bit about chocolate, so I melted my chips and thought 'Hey! I'll mix in some chocolate milk syrup to make it SUPER chocolately'...yeah don't do that. As soon as the syrup hit the melted chips the whole thing solidified like ball of clay. Made for some GREAT accidental fudge though!

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Doug Posted 20 Jul 2009 , 6:08pm
post #10 of 11

add the syrup AFTER you've blended the melted chocolate into the BC (and yes, I've done melted AND cocoa powder AND syrup all in on BC batch -- was going for death by chocolate flavor

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seized chocolate CAN be rescued (gee how would I know -- and if you watch Chef Irvine on Dinner Impossible it happened to him too)

melt butter -- and chop up the seized chocolate -- start adding it bit by bit to the melted butter -- add slowly enough that it has a chance to completely melt before adding more. (Irvine being in a rush did it the quick method -- threw in the butter without chopping up the seized chocolate and just stirred until it all remelted)

Some suggest using vegetable shortening instead of butter (EWWW) and if have it and could afford it cocoa butter (tho' that will make for a very soft chocolate)

of course could also chop it up and then heat up a enough cream to near boiling then pour that over to make a ganache.

but impromptu fudge is good too

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Clovers Posted 20 Jul 2009 , 6:45pm
post #11 of 11

Oh wow! I didn't know it could be saved! I just tossed it in a bag and threw it in the fridge.. but now it's VERY hard, so I haven't done anything with it. But now I'll try what you suggested!

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