Choosing the right chocolate for the right application - Glazes

The importance of fluidity

A chocolate mirror glaze should be runny enough to be applied easily, but viscous enough to stick to cakes and pastries. In order to realise this perfect end result, it’s crucial to choose chocolate with the right fluidity. In practice, this means using chocolate with a three-drop fluidity.

If you’d use chocolate with a lower fluidity (i.e. containing less cocoa butter), it would yield a chocolate mirror glaze that is way too thick, which makes it retain air bubbles far too easily. On the other hand, chocolate with a higher fluidity (i.e. with more cocoa butter in it) would make your glaze rather stiff, which would render it impossible to cut through your cakes or pastries without squishing them or having the glaze stick to your knife.

Fluidity guidelines

Callebaut offers a wide range of fluidity levels for each of its chocolate recipes. It’s important to know that all of the chocolates with the same recipe number taste exactly the same, although the amount of cocoa butter they contain differs. The fluidity of a particular chocolate is indicated on the packaging with a drop symbol system. Depending on the application, it’s crucial to choose a chocolate with the right amount of cocoa butter in it:

• Chocolate with a one-drop fluidity: great for infusing e.g. fillings, butter cream or ice cream with a hint of chocolate taste;
• Chocolate with a two-drop fluidity: perfect for large moulded chocolate figures;
• Chocolate with a three-drop fluidity: extremely versatile, ideal for any application;
• Chocolate with a four-drop fluidity: best choice for moulded chocolates with a thin chocolate shell or (sharply) angular chocolate moulds;
• Chocolate with a five-drop fluidity: excellent for applying a thin layer of chocolate on top of biscuits with a large surface.