Hi all I decided to try and have a go at making chocolate clay/modelling paste. It's very rare here in little old NZ but I found a recipie on the net and have whipped it up however....I just came to the kneading part and it's like a dry earth consistency.
I've been kneading it for half an hour, my arms are about to fall off and I'm done! I am wondering if the corn syrup in the states is different to what we have here? It's like a very very very thick syrup the recipe was 6oz chocolate and 5t of Corn syrup and it made a nice ball when it was warm but once cold it was a dry mess, I tried adding a little water like the recipe suggested and used some oil spray (Ithink you call it Pam?) but no go...
Any ideas? 
I had the same problem as you for years, until I found and tried another recipe. This is perfect, it has never been dry, it's pliable and just great! I found that all the previous recipes I had tried discouraged letting the cocoa butter come out of the mix - my recipe actually makes you squeeze as mich of it out at the initial stage and I honestly think this is what makes the difference!
500g (1lb) chocolate of choice (works with dark, milk and white)
250g (8oz/1c) glucose syrup
15ml (1 tbsp) water
Melt chocolate and warm the glucose to approx 40C/100F. Mix together until mixture starts to curdle. Take handfuls of the mixture and squeeze out as much cocoa butter as you can, squeezing and kneading in your hands until each handful is smooth. Place in a bowl and repeat with the whole batch. Microwave the mixture for 30 seconds at a time until very soft, add the water and stir until smooth. Wrap in plastic bag and allow to cool. Can be kept for several months wrapped in plastic and sealed in an airtight container.
It seems like you may not have used enough corn syrup. I go by 1lb (16oz) dark chocolate to 2/3 cup corn syrup, which is just under 11 tablespoons.
Corn syrup in the States is like a very thick, sweet, clear syrup. It has a consistency similar to honey. If you can't find it in NZ, I've heard that golden syrup can be used instead.
Thanks heaps to you both, it certainly sounds like no where near enough corn syrup, What I have here sounds like that it's only been available in the last few months at 1 supermarket and I bought it as soon as I saw it as I've seen it used in so many recipes so I've been dying to try something with it and then this happened....
I'm not giving up I'll try another batch tomorrow and fingers crossed!
I'll let you know how I get on.
Cheers Andi
I had the same problem as you for years, until I found and tried another recipe. This is perfect, it has never been dry, it's pliable and just great! I found that all the previous recipes I had tried discouraged letting the cocoa butter come out of the mix - my recipe actually makes you squeeze as mich of it out at the initial stage and I honestly think this is what makes the difference!
500g (1lb) chocolate of choice (works with dark, milk and white)
250g (8oz/1c) glucose syrup
15ml (1 tbsp) water
Melt chocolate and warm the glucose to approx 40C/100F. Mix together until mixture starts to curdle. Take handfuls of the mixture and squeeze out as much cocoa butter as you can, squeezing and kneading in your hands until each handful is smooth. Place in a bowl and repeat with the whole batch. Microwave the mixture for 30 seconds at a time until very soft, add the water and stir until smooth. Wrap in plastic bag and allow to cool. Can be kept for several months wrapped in plastic and sealed in an airtight container.
I would like to try this. Two questions:
So is there anything you can do with the cocoa butter you squeeze out?
With the melted chocolate and warmed glucose, is it too hot to handle or do you let it cool for a bit?
Snotface14:
Can you post your recipe?
Thanks.
I had the same problem as you for years, until I found and tried another recipe. This is perfect, it has never been dry, it's pliable and just great! I found that all the previous recipes I had tried discouraged letting the cocoa butter come out of the mix - my recipe actually makes you squeeze as mich of it out at the initial stage and I honestly think this is what makes the difference!
500g (1lb) chocolate of choice (works with dark, milk and white)
250g (8oz/1c) glucose syrup
15ml (1 tbsp) water
Melt chocolate and warm the glucose to approx 40C/100F. Mix together until mixture starts to curdle. Take handfuls of the mixture and squeeze out as much cocoa butter as you can, squeezing and kneading in your hands until each handful is smooth. Place in a bowl and repeat with the whole batch. Microwave the mixture for 30 seconds at a time until very soft, add the water and stir until smooth. Wrap in plastic bag and allow to cool. Can be kept for several months wrapped in plastic and sealed in an airtight container.
I would like to try this. Two questions:
So is there anything you can do with the cocoa butter you squeeze out?
With the melted chocolate and warmed glucose, is it too hot to handle or do you let it cool for a bit?
Snotface14:
Can you post your recipe?
Thanks.
Well, I've never tried it, but I know you need cocoa butter to mix with dry cocoa for cocoa painting, and it will also help thin out chocolate/candy melts when they are too thick when melted.
One word of warning though - glucose syrup and corn syrup are very different textures, with glucose being much, much thicker, so I don't know if you can interchange them. You may need to reduce the amount of corn syrup as it contains more liquid (I would try the 2/3c as previous poster stated if you use that instead of glucose).
The initial mix of glucose and chocolate should only be around 40C, that's only a few degrees above body temp, so fine to handle. The second heating when you add the water is much hotter, so I tend to just pour it straight from the bowl to the plastic bag!
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