THE airbrush chocolate is a food coloring method for chocolate bars and chocolate candies a little special is one of the secrets of the art of chocolate making. To be used as a surface coloring and not to pigment the mass of your chocolates, the airbrush chocolate allows you to make sweets and moldings with surprising visuals. Discover our method of chocolate decoration with colored cocoa butter by combining colors to create splendid decorations on your chocolates.
Among food colorings, colored cocoa butter is the ideal ingredient for coloring chocolate with an airbrush and never alters the taste of your chocolate bars or homemade chocolate candies.
How to use cocoa butter?
There are several methods to color the natural cocoa butter . Chocolate airbrush techniques vary depending on whether you want to fully color your chocolate moldings and candies or just cover the surface.
- For surface coloring, heat your colored cocoa butter to 30°C in the microwave or in a bain-marie. Using your food airbrush, spray a thin layer of color inside your polycarbonate chocolate moulds . Wait for the colored cocoa butter to harden a little then pour your tempered chocolate over it. When unmoulded, you will obtain a thin layer of colored chocolate .
- For fully colored chocolates, mix the colored cocoa butter directly with melted white chocolate. Your white chocolate will get a nice color that can be intensified by adding a few drops of liquid food coloring . The colored cocoa butter will mix perfectly with the tempered chocolate mass for a chocolatier result.
How to temper cocoa butter?
We use tempered cocoa butter to color the chocolate moulds . It is the tempered cocoa butter that crystallizes in a stable form and makes our molded chocolates incredibly beautiful and shiny.
It doesn't matter what you use to color (an airbrush , brush or any other tool). Each color based on cocoa butter must be tempered during each coloring step.
We distinguish between two main methods used for tempering cocoa butter: the classic method and the creamy cocoa butter tempering .
What is the classic method of tempering cocoa butter?
Cocoa butter is melted: it doesn't matter how you melt it. In the microwave or in a bain-marie.
We melt the cocoa butter at the temperature of 40-45°C (104-122℉). By melting cocoa butter at a given temperature, we destroy all crystals and crystal bonds.
Then we cool the cocoa butter to 26-27°C (78.8-80.6ºF). Stable crystals form at this temperature, allowing the cocoa butter to crystallize in a stable form.
After cooling, we heat the cocoa butter to the working temperature at which we will use this cocoa butter for the coloring . The working temperature is 29-30°C (84.2-86℉).
40-45°C ︎︎︎ 26-27°C ︎︎︎ 29-30°C
Let's see this tempering method in practice. Heat the cocoa butter to a temperature of 40-45°C (104-122℉) in the microwave.
Let's cool it using water with ice. We place the container with the cocoa butter in the bowl of water and, constantly stirring it with a brush and controlling the temperature, we wait for it to cool. 
When we see that butter cocoa has reached the required temperature in the range 26-27°C (78.8-80.6ºF), the container is removed from the bowl of water, wiped with a towel and heated to working temperature with a hair dryer.
Cocoa butter is ready to use. This tempering method is quick and easy.
How to temper cocoa without ice?
We melt the cocoa butter in a microwave oven at a temperature of 40-45°C (104-122℉). And to cool it, we use a separate container, preferably metal, or you can take a glass bowl. Then we pour the cocoa butter into this container and stir it with a spatula to cool it.
After it has reached the required temperature, we again pour it into the container and bring it to working temperature with a hair dryer.
What is the method of tempering creamy cocoa butter?
The second tempering method uses butter creamy cocoa . It is often referred to as "shiny cocoa butter". Before moving on to this method, let us tell you a bit more about what the creamy cocoa butter and how to make it.
Creamy cocoa butter is made from ordinary cocoa butter pellets using a special machine. In fact, cocoa butter wafers are kept at a certain temperature for a long time. The temperature at which the wafers are maintained is slightly lower than the temperature of the stable crystals. This temperature is 33.5-33.8°C (92.3-92.84°F).
Held at this temperature for a long time, the cocoa butter pellets soften and eventually have a smooth, creamy texture and gloss. It's this shine that gave creamy cocoa butter its second name " shiny cocoa butter ".
Let's get to the basics of this method. Melt the cocoa butter at a temperature between 40-45°C (104-122℉). Then wait for the temperature to drop to 32.5-33.5°C (90.5-92.3℉). At this temperature we add 1% glossy cocoa butter.
Mix carefully. Thanks to the creamy cocoa butter texture, it is very easy to mix it into tempered cocoa butter. We work at 29-30°C (84.2-86℉).
40-45°C ︎︎︎ 32.5-33.5°C +1% gloss ︎︎︎ 29-30°C
How to crystallize cocoa butter?
You can do a simple test to make sure the cocoa butter is properly tempered. Pour a drop of cocoa butter on the table and watch how it crystallizes. Stable cocoa butter crystallizes much faster than melted cocoa butter.
Give it 1-2 minutes and you will see the drop become dull. You will observe the crystallization phase. The drop is not sticky. This means the cocoa butter is ready. Don't forget the temperature of your work surface.
Why doesn't cocoa butter crystallize?
If it's been 2 minutes and you see that the cocoa butter is far from crystallized, temper it again. You have to start again from the very first temperature. Done melt the cocoa butter and repeat all the steps mentioned above.
What temperature to temper cocoa butter?
There ambient temperature is important not only during the tempering process, but also during the whole process of creating the homemade chocolates . If you want to get an excellent result, respect the ideal room temperature is 18-20ºC (64.4-68ºF).
You should always keep your ambient temperature in mind. This is the temperature of the room where you temper the cocoa butter, perform a stability test, chocolate coloring and, in general, where the complete cycle of the production of chocolate bar Or chocolate candies .
You can temper cocoa butter and do everything perfectly, but the stability test may fail. One reason is possible: it is too hot in the room where you are working.
After tempering the cocoa butter, use a temperature between 29-30°C (84.2-86℉). Maintain this temperature as you continue to use this cocoa butter. If you overheat it, it will be too temperate. If it gets too cold, it will crystallize, and it will need to be tempered again.
How to store cocoa butter?
When you are done working with a particular color, leave the cocoa butter in the container. It will crystallize there. You can store it at room temperature until next use. And don't forget to temper it whenever you need that cocoa butter. You can temper the cocoa butter as many times as you like.
You can prepare cocoa butter in different colors and in large quantities. And, depending on the need, you can break off a piece of colored cocoa butter, temper it and use it.
If you prefer the uncolored cocoa butter , it is tempered in the same way. Follow the instructions for colored cocoa butter depending on the tempering method.
How to make colored cocoa butter?
If the cocoa butter does not crystallize quickly enough, that is, if it resembles cocoa butter in its unstable form, and the required room temperature is maintained, then, most likely, this cocoa butter is not tempered.
The probability that you temper the cocoa butter correctly and that the conditions required for crystallization are met and that the cocoa butter does not crystallize is still very, very low. By following our method you have a 99.9% chance of obtaining the same result.
Deodorized or natural cocoa butter?
When cocoa butter goes through a process to neutralize its flavor, aroma and color, it is said to be deodorized. This operation is carried out so that the natural flavor and aroma of the cocoa butter does not alter the taste of the chocolate. However, the deodorized cocoa butter sometimes develops a pungent odor as a result of the treatment. If using deodorized cocoa butter, choose a reputable brand for better quality.
If you don't have access to deodorized cocoa butter, or prefer the complexity of taste and naturally occurring antioxidants in natural cocoa butter , then this unrefined cocoa butter may be the solution. Again, choose a brand known for its consistency and quality.
Taste and aroma become more of a concern when cocoa butter is used directly in chocolate (tempering, fluidity). They are less so when it comes to making colors, which are usually applied in a very thin layer. We use deodorized cocoa butter to spray the food colorings on the Polycarbonate chocolate molds .
Liposoluble or water soluble food colorings?
THE fat soluble dyes will give the best results for your airbrushed chocolates , in terms of aesthetics, but above all in terms of shelf life. These powders come in your standard colors and are concentrated, odorless, tasteless and dissolve easily in grease. You can use them to add color to cocoa butter or to color the airbrush chocolate himself. In general, light colors are more suitable for white chocolate , while the dark dyes can be added to dark chocolate and milk chocolate.
If you find that your homemade cocoa butter produces a translucent color, the addition of food grade titanium dioxide will help improve opacity. If you don't have access to titanium dioxide, another way to improve opacity is to spray your chocolate mold with some white food coloring.
Recipe for colored cocoa butter
The ingredients :
- 120 grams of cocoa butter
- 12 grams of fat soluble food coloring
Instructions :
- Melt the cocoa butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Remove from the heat when it is almost melted to avoid overheating it. Swirl the pan to melt the remaining solids.
- Add the fat-soluble food coloring to the melted cocoa butter. Stir to combine, then use an immersion blender to emulsify the mixture. Pass the mixture through a clean sieve to remove any residual solids.
- Allow the mixture to cool and harden, usually for 12 hours. When you are ready to use it, temper the cocoa butter and keep it between 31° and 33°C for decoration. You can also simply heat the cocoa butter to 31°C, but you'll get better, shinier results by tempering it.
How to use polycarbonate chocolate moulds?
The choice of a chocolate mold is a very personal matter. The market is filled with various shapes and sizes. THE chocolate molds the most commonly used are PVC, silicone and polycarbonate. There are also stamped or cast metal chocolate molds for chocolatiers .
If you're just a casual hobbyist and cost is your primary concern, we recommend the polycarbonate molds . It's the best value for money to get brilliant homemade chocolates. Thanks to their solidity, your chocolates will never break during chocolate mold release .
Once the colored cocoa butter sprayed on your polycarbonate moulds , let dry for a few hours. Pour your tempered chocolate into the molds and turn your chocolate mold upside down over a large bowl to catch the dripping chocolate. Only a thin film of chocolate adheres to your mold against your color imprints already present in the chocolate mold.
Let your chocolate rest for a few hours in your mold then pour your chocolate ganache house in a piping bag preferably. Pipe your preparation into the cavities of your molds then leave to rest in the fridge for a few hours.
When your ganache is ready, repeat the tempered chocolate operation to close your chocolate candies over the ganache. Wait a few hours in the refrigerator before unmolding your chocolates by tapping your polycarbonate mold against your work plan.
Congratulations your airbrush chocolates are ready to eat!