Why wont my chocolate melt??

[Illbefinejustbloodyfine]

Decided to make rice crispie cakes with the dc. Usually, i break the chocolate up, add a bit of golden syrup and butter, and melt together. Either in the microwave or in a bowl over a pan.

Did it in the microwave, bit at a time. It slightly softened then turned into a stiff paste type consistency. Didnt melt.

Tried again over the hob, bit better but then did the same. I managed to mix some rice crispies in but they arent coated. Whats going on??

Large bar of galaxy wasted!

I use good quality plain cooking chocolate ,melted SLOWLY over a pan of boiling water. (just set the bowl over the pan ,dont let it touch the water if possible .Delia Smith has a page "how to melt chocolate" and says it takes around 10 mins to melt thoroughly.Also I think plain works better .Dont worry if you think too sour ,it just tastes of chocolate and is not too strong .If Easter nests pop a mini egg or two on top and will be well sweet!(or a chopped flake )

A lot of chocolate now is barely considered chocolate due to low cocoa content and high palm oil content!

Yes this. The cheap 70p chocolate bars from Tesco's are far superior for melting.

Everything I've used Cadbury or galaxy it seiezes like this. It's probably the fat/moisture ratio in the chocolate itself.

Add the broken chocolate to hot cream to make a gnashe or use an other similar recipe where you just melt it in water/milk/butter, some cakes or brownies will work. Or use it for hot chocolate.

I've tried to rescue seized chocolate with water but then it's unusable for Krispies as it's too wet and they go soggy.

Galaxy is shit for melting. Asda own brand cheap milk chocolate is usually good though.

I heat the butter and syrup together first and then throw the chocolate into that to melt in the residual heat. It then doesn't ned to go in the microwave which can easily overheat it. Cheap chocolate works fine i find.

1. type of chocolate. Galaxy might have too many additives
2. melt in a bowl over hot water - slowly and gently

Did you stir with a wooden spoon? Even when they're "dry" they can introduce moisture (which is seemingly where I went wrong last time I tried to do this)

Yep, this happens to me too.
Its the type of chocolate thats causing this.
The bugger of it is you don't know until you try to melt it.

I now always stick to Bournville chocolate because I know it will never fail me.

I know yours are for children, but sometimes it's worth paying for 60% chocolate so it will melt properly.
Keep the Galaxy for shoving in your mouth 😁

i always buy plain cheap chocolate i agree, lidl, tesco, asda

Dr Oetker do a milk chocolate designed specifically for baking.

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/315067243

Was it out of date? I’ve only ever had this happen when its past is BBD!

(I’ve melted galaxy hundreds of times - I work for Mars so can get it cheap from staff sale sometimes. I used to make a chocolate cake covered in melted galaxy… so good lol)

This happens when you overcook it.
you shouldn’t put it on the hob, it’s better to Bain Marie it so it heats more gently and you can avoid this.

it is also the quality of the chocolate that makes it more likely too

Going against the grain to say it wasn’t the chocolate. I have successfully melted many cheap and expensive chocolates, but it’s when you try to melt the chocolate together with the butter and syrup that it seizes. If you melt them separately and then mix together it will be fine :) My own theory is that the syrup heats up much hotter than the chocolate can handle and causes it to seize!

I use the aldi bars of milk and dark chocolate in the microwave to make ganache. Never had a problem.

What make is it?

She did put it in a bowl over a pan.

Cocopowder in butter works great for this!

We always use cooking
chocolate. Never any issues.

It is not real chovolate (galaxy) so it does not melt like real chocolate

it is made with more sugar than real chocolate, and also contains palm fat

need to use a chocolate that is actual real chocolate

Apologies missed this but she did it with the syrup which as a pp said seems to cause it to heat oddly.
I’ve only ever see that texture when it’s been overheated

If you use a microwave -
30 second blasts max before stirring.
Almost melt, then use the residual heat from the bowl and lots of stirring to finish it melting.

If it seizes add a little oil, it should fix the problem, although the consistency may still be slightly off.

It's similar to the problem of melting white chocolate - it doesn't always melt smoothly as it doesn't actually contain enough chocolate in the mix.

It's in the OP - Galaxy.

You'd think, except i have done it this way for decades! Also, the second try was chocolate only

I make moulded cake decorations from white moulding chocolate which I make by adding golden syrup to melted chocolate and this before it has been kneaded looks just like your picture. For krispie cake I melt butter and syrup together then add cocoa powder and a smallish amount of real chocolate to melted in the heat of the melted ingredients.