1. Tempered chocolate has a glossy shine when set. You only need to temper chocolate if it’s not been tempered already. Previously tempered dark chocolate will stay in temper as long as it’s not heated above 32°C. Milk chocolate will stay tempered as long as it’s not heated above 30°C and white chocolate will stay tempered as long as it’s not heated above 29°C.
2. Large chocolate bars bought from supermarket are almost always tempered. Look for chocolate that is shiny and snaps cleanly when broken. If chocolate looks dull or has white blotches, it’s not tempered.
3. Rather than tempering chocolate from scratch, it’s much easier to melt already tempered chocolate very gently, so it stays in temper.
4. Put finely chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water and immediately turn off heat. Make sure that bowl doesn’t touch water, otherwise chocolate may overheat and won’t be shiny when it cools.
5. Allow chocolate to slowly melt, taking chocolate off heat every so often and stirring until just melted.
6. Once chocolate has melted, remove from heat and use immediately. Once set, chocolate will be smooth and shiny.
Use your skills to make these triple-tested recipes:
White chocolate cherry cups recipe
Chocolate and ginger truffles recipe
Home-made Easter egg recipe
Classic glass measure jug (1 litre), Classic glass bowl (1 litre), Pyrex. Black two-tone silicone scraper, Montreux saucepan (1 litre, 14cm) (without lid), Kuhn Rikon UK. Thermometer, silicone mould tray, pink-sided chopping board, chef's own.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
