Compound chocolate is a cheaper alternative to traditional baking chocolate, made with vegetable fat, cocoa powder, and sweeteners. It does not require tempering and is commonly used in candy bars and cookies, but can have a dull finish and texture issues if not heated and cooled properly.
Compound chocolate is a confectionery ingredient that serves as an alternative to other types of baking chocolate. This non-chocolate product is typically made from a blend of some vegetable fat, cocoa powder, and sweetening agents. This type of chocolate is generally available at lower prices and does not require the same kind of tempering as chocolate made with cocoa butter and chocolate liquor. Compound chocolate coating is often used for some brands of candy bars and for filling some types of cookies.
Every type of chocolate needs an additional source of fat to hold the rest of its ingredients together and to give the chocolate its taste and texture. The pure cocoa butter added to chocolate creates a glossy, rich quality surface once a baker tempers and cools the chocolate properly. Compound chocolate generally does not contain cocoa butter and instead uses plant-based oil additives such as palm or coconut oil as fat substitutes. This confectionery chocolate can also contain vegetable butters with a more solid consistency; these are commonly known as non-lauric fats.
During preparation, compounded chocolate is usually heated to about 37°F (about 3°C) above its melting point before being poured over the candy filling of choice. While some bakers report that higher-quality tempered chocolate is a better choice for many types of desserts, others point out that many varieties of compound chocolate work just as well for most recipes as long as the ingredient is heated and cooled properly. One of the most common problems with compound chocolate is a dull surface finish; this often happens when excess moisture is present during the cooling process. This problem can occur especially frequently with the use of a bar glazing machine that is not maintained at a constant internal cooling temperature.
The nonlauric fats in compound chocolate can also sometimes affect the finished texture if they are inadvertently heated too much. Because this type of cocoa butter substitute has a thicker consistency than palm oil or coconut oil, it can easily fatten chocolate if its temperature exceeds its melting point by a few degrees. Even after cooling, it can often retain the same greasy texture on the surface of the chocolate. Cooking with non-lauric fats in this type of chocolate therefore requires careful attention to temperature readings, ideally with the use of a candy thermometer.
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