Raw Chocolate Hearts are a lovely chocolate to make any time of year, but, of course, they'd be perfect for Valentine's Day.The base recipes for these hearts are a collection of chocolates made in the free mini course and Level 1 of the complete online course. You can use any freeze dried fruit powder you'd like, but I used raspberry. Strawberry comes out more pink.
Ingredients
What you’ll need
Heart mould of your choice - this can be polycarbonate (as demonstrated in the videor silicone. Polycarbonate will create a shiny finish on the chocolate.
200gwhite chocolate
200gdark or milk chocolate
Freeze dried fruit powder - I used raspberry in the videobut strawberry also works and gives a more pink colour than raspberry.
Piping Bags
Fine Sieve
Instructions
Prepare your poly mould by polishing it with cotton wool or a microfibre cloth to get that lovely shine. Your mould should be at room temp, do not make cold or warm before filling as this will remove the chocolate from temper or cause it to crack.
Sieve the berry powder you’re using to remove the seeds. Start with ½ tbsp and increase if needed to achieve the colour you want.
Heat the white chocolate to 42°C / 107°F, and then pour a little into the bowl with the fruit powder and mix well to combine. It’s easier to mix into a small amount and then you add more chocolate to reach the colour desired.
Stir this chocolate until it reaches 28°C/29°C ( 82°F/84°F ) and then carefully pipe into the bottom of the prepared mould. Be careful not to allow the chocolate to drip down the sides of the mould as it will show on the finished product.
Place this mould to one side to semi set whilst you temper the white chocolate. This layer should go matte before you add the white chocolate layer.
Be sure the white chocolate has reached 42°C / 107°F before beginning to temper. Once it’s dropped down to 28°C/29°C transfer to a piping bag and pipe a little onto the fruit layer. We just want a thin layer so don’t add too much. Shake and tap the mould to help the chocolate settle.
Place to one side whilst you temper the dark/milk chocolate layer.
Once the white has semi set, same as the fruit layer, pipe in dark/milk chocolate to fill. Tap the mould to remove air bubbles before setting in the fridge 5 minutes and room temp until full set. When the chocolate has set ( in a hard mould ) it will contract from the mould. This is how you know it’s ready to come out.
Invert the mould onto a cutting board, as seen in the video, and tap the back to release the chocolates.