On Food and Cooking

require tempering to look good, break with
a snap, and remain hard at high
temperatures. Some closely resemble
cocoa butter and can be mixed with
chocolate, while others are very different,
not compatible with chocolate, and must be
flavored with low-fat cocoa. Among the
former are fats purified from a number of
tropical nuts (palm, shea, illipe, sal);
among the latter are “lauric fats” derived
from coconut and palm oils. Coatings
made with these ingredients are often
called “nontempering” chocolates.
Modeling Chocolate “Modeling” or
“molding” chocolate is a version made
expressly for shaping into decorations. It’s
made by mixing molten chocolate with a third
to half its weight of corn syrup and sugar, then
kneading the mixture into a pliable mass. The
resulting “chocolate” is now a concentrated
sugar syrup that is filled and thickened with
cocoa particles and droplets of cocoa butter.