Tempering chocolate in the microwave is so easy and results in a glossy, shiny tempered chocolate!
Tempering chocolate doesn't have to be hard! I used to temper my chocolate by the seeding method but once I learned how to do it in the microwave, I'll never do it another way again! This is a great way to temper your chocolate for hot chocolate bombs.
What does tempering chocolate mean?
When you temper chocolate, you are heating and cooling the chocolate in a specific way. When you correctly temper, the crystals in the cocoa butter arrange themselves in a specific order when they chocolate cools. Properly tempered chocolate is shiny, set's firm at room temperature and has a sharp SNAP when you bite into it.
What happens if I don't temper my chocolate?
When you melt chocolate and the temperature goes above 95ºF, your chocolate will be out of temper. If you try to use this chocolate it will be dull, soft in your hands and will not set.
If you're baking, you don't need to worry about tempering chocolate but if you're making candies or dipping strawberries, the chocolate must be tempered. Same thing with making molded chocolates. Chocolate has to be tempered otherwise it will not release from a chocolate mold.
What tools do I need for tempering chocolate in the microwave?
The great thing about tempering in the microwave is it's extremely simple. You only need a few tools to successfully temper chocolate in the microwave. *this list contains affiliate links*
- Silicone or plastic bowl for melting chocolate in the microwave.
- Glass or metal bowl for the seeding method
- Pot for simmering water for seeding method
- Thermometer spatula
- Bench scraper
- Parchment paper
What kind of chocolate should I use for tempering?
There are two kinds of chocolate. Real chocolate and fake (compound) chocolate. The only way to tell the difference is to read the ingredients. If the ingredients say cocoa butter, then it's real chocolate. You need real chocolate if you're going to temper.
You can use compound chocolate for flexible silicone or plastic molds or for dipping chocolates but it doesn't have that SNAP that real chocolate has. It also won't release from a polycarbonate mold.
Compound chocolate also melts at a much higher temperature than real chocolate. Real chocolate melts at body temperature so it dissolves on the tongue when you bite into it. Compound chocolate has to be chewed.
I like to use Callebaut semi-sweet callets. It's pretty standard chocolate and not too expensive. This is a 54% cocoa solids and 36% cocoa butter. The higher the cocoa solids %, the thicker the chocolate will be. Milk chocolate and white chocolate will also contain sugar and dairy.
Ok let's get to tempering our chocolate! Choose the method that works best for you but I highly recommend you give tempering chocolate in the microwave a try!
How to temper chocolate in the microwave
To keep your chocolate in temper you MUST pay attention to the temperature of the chocolate. Semi-sweet chocolate should never go above 88F-90F. Milk chocolate should never go above 84F-86F. White or colored chocolate should never go above 82F-84F. The chocolate must contain cocoa butter for this to work.
- Place 12 oz of semi-sweet chocolate into your plastic or silicone bowl and microwave for 30 seconds on high, then stir.
- Microwave one more time for 30 seconds, then 15 seconds, then 10 seconds. Stirring in between each heating. DO NOT RUSH THIS!
- Always check your thermometer to make sure your temperature is not going above 90ºF.
- Once your chocolate is melted, it's ready to use!
The secret to this way of tempering chocolate is controlling the temperature. As long as it doesn't go above the proper temperature then the crystals inside the cocoa butter remain intact and the chocolate stays in temper. This is a great way to temper small amounts of chocolate.
If you're melting a big chocolate bar, make sure you chop it into small bits before melting to avoid over-heating and accidentally getting your chocolate out of temper.
What happens if my chocolate gets too hot?
If you do happen to get your chocolate too hot don't worry, you can still temper it using the seeding method. Transfer your chocolate to another bowl and add a little unmelted chocolate to the melted chocolate and stir until it cools to 97ºF.
How to temper chocolate using the seeding method
- Melt ⅔ of the chocolate that you need over a double boiler until it reaches 115ºF. Stir constantly to prevent hot spots. Make sure the bowl fits firmly over your simmering water to prevent steam or drops of water from getting in your chocolate
- Remove chocolate from the heat. Add ½ of your remaining un-melted chocolate back into the bowl. Stir to melt. This cools down the chocolate. Transfer melted chocolate to another bowl to speed up the cooling process. Continue stirring until the chocolate reaches 100ºF
- Finely chop your remaining chocolate. At 96-98ºF, add in your chopped tempered chocolate and stir it into your warm chocolate. 95ºF is were the crystals in the cocoa butter start blooming so adding tempered chocolate in right before you reach this temperature ensures the proper crystals will grow and temper the rest of the untempered chocolate.
- Continue stirring the chocolate every 5 minutes until it cools to 79ºF
- Warm chocolate VERY carefully over the double boiler for 5 seconds until chocolate reaches 86ºF-90ºF which is a good working temperature for using in molds or making candies.
How to temper chocolate using cocoa butter beta crystals
Another way to temper chocolate is to use tempered cocoa butter crystals called beta crystals. This is a little bit more expensive but pretty much full-proof when it comes to tempering.
- Melt ⅔ of your chocolate until it reaches 115ºF
- Add your remaining ⅓ of chocolate back into the melted chocolate to cool it down
- At 96ºF, add in 1% beta crystals (1 teaspoon per 7 ounces of chocolate) Stir well
- Cool chocolate to 79ºF then warm to 86-90ºF for workability
How to use tempered chocolate
Now that your chocolate is tempered you can use it to make chocolate spheres using a chocolate sphere mold, piped chocolate decorations and lots of other fun things! Tempering chocolate is a great skill to have and once you know how you'll be surprised how much more you'll use chocolate in your decorating.
Recipe
Equipment
- 1 Thermometer
Instructions
Tempering Chocolate Instructions
- Place your chocolate in a plastic or silicone bowl in the microwave and heat on high for 30 seconds. Then stir
- Heat again for another 30 seconds, stir, then 15 seconds, stir, then 10 seconds, stir. Make sure your temperature never goes above 90ºF for dark chocolate. 86F for milk chocolate and 84F for white chocolate. DO NOT RUSH THIS
- If your chocolate is not fully melted then only do another 5 seconds until it is melted
- Now your chocolate is in temper and ready to use!
- Check out the video or blog post for ideas on decorating
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Hannah says
Hi Liz, I am attempting to temper Cadbury’s dairy milk with the ingredients of: milk, sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, vegetable fats (palm, Shea), emulsifiers (E442, E476), flavourings. It says cocoa solids are a minimum of 20%. Would I be able to temper this successfully if I follow your (very clear) microwave method? Many thanks!
Elizabeth Marek says
If there is cocoa butter then you should be ok 🙂
Shruti says
Heyy..
I was wondering what method would work best if im making my chocolate from scratch.. either by processing cocoa nibs like i do a nut butter or make it by using cocoa butter and cocoa powder..
I don't have a homemade tempered seed to work it with.. thanks a ton 🙂
Elizabeth Marek says
Wow haha I have no idea how to make chocolate from scratch. That's above my knowledge level, unfortunately.
Aisha says
Hi Liz! Would like to seek your expert advice.
I melt my coverture white chocolates and cast them into moulds to take a particular shape. I then throw it into freezer to harden and once set, I release the white chocolates from the mold. I then stuff the white chocolate into cookies and bake them at about 180F for 15 mins. The white chocolate inside the cookies remain melted only for a while. Once the cookie sets, the white chocolate somewhat solidifies. I’m wondering how I can get the white chocolate in the cookie to remain melted for longer? Should i stuff the white chocolates into the cookies as is without melting them/ casting them into molds? Is it my “tempering” thats making my chocolate solidify more easily? Thanks in advance!
Elizabeth Marek says
The chocolate hardens when it's cold. It has nothing to do with tempering. The only way to keep it soft is if what you were putting in them were soft to begin with like ganache.
Uly says
How can we store the remaining temper chocolate? Can I re temper it to 86°F after it has harden ? Can I store it at room temperature after it harden or should it be store in the fridge?
Elizabeth Marek says
Chocolate does not need to be stored in the fridge. You will need to temper it again every time you melt it 🙂
Maritza says
Amazing article thanks so much. Everyone was so clear!!!
Lori K says
Love the microwave method. After a few times doing it in the microwave, it is super easy and you get quicker. I temper more often without hesitating
Ylli says
Hi!
If use tempered chocolate for eclairs and I have 10 Pc . What will be temperature when I take the tenth
The Sugar Geek Show says
There is no way for me to know that. You will just have to take the temperature to see.
Tim says
Hi ... If real chocolate comes tempered right out of the bag and as long as I don't go above 90 deg.F the temper will not be lost, if I can control the temperature of the heating process and not have it go above 90 deg.F (for example) .. then why the need for seeding at all ... wouldn't what I just described be the easiest of all the processes ?
Would appreciate your perspective.
Many thanks,
Tim.
The Sugar Geek Show says
Seeding is only needed if your chocolate goes above 90ºF which can happen very easily.
Diana says
I want to try the beta crystals, but I don't see the link. I tried looking on the internet, but only see Paramount crystals. Are they the same as beta crystals?
The Sugar Geek Show says
Yes those are the same 🙂
Ronda says
I've melted my dark chocolate to 89°, but it's not fluid at all. Could the chocolate be old? It didn't look like it bloomed.
The Sugar Geek Show says
What kind of chocolate is it?
Georgia says
So with the freeze dried cocoa butter method, you don’t have to cool it to 79 and then bring it back up. You just add it and then let it cool to work g temperature. Also, for a pound, it’s about 5g and not 45g. I think you used 10% instead of 1%.
The Sugar Geek Show says
All you have to do is melt the chocolate then cool to 95ºF and add in 1tsp of freeze dried cocoa butter per one cup (7 ounces) of chocolate
Heather says
Thank you! As it cools down (because I'm slow or have lots of items to dip) will the chocolate go out of temper? Will I need to rewarm it?
The Sugar Geek Show says
It won't go out of temper as it cools, you will only need to warm to make it soft enough for dipping again. Be very very careful not to warm more than 85ºF or it will go out of temper
Elizabeth Miller says
Doing the microwave version of tempering. Once chocolate is ready like nuts and Caramel into chocolate. The Caramel room temperature. Will this take it out of tempered?
The Sugar Geek Show says
Room temperature caramel will not take the chocolate out of temper
Divya Gupta says
Are the heating times same if using smaller quantity? Say Iam tempering a small batch of 6oz to make some shards
The Sugar Geek Show says
Def decrease the heating times if you're only doing a very small amount. better safe than sorry
Bea says
You said you use a 54% can you use a higher percentage such as 70% to temper? Is there a correct percentage to use? Thanks so much.
The Sugar Geek Show says
No there isn't a certain percentage you have to use, as long as there is cocoa butter in the chocolate it will temper!