All About Candy Wafers

Candy wafers not only have easier workability, but the finished product looks professional every time.

What are Candy Wafers?
A candy wafer is a chocolate-like product where the cocoa butter has been replaced with a different fat, usually palm kernel oil. Because the cocoa butter is out of the picture, you will not have to temper this product in order to achieve shine, snap, and a smooth mouth feel. When using candy wafers, it is required that you melt the wafers completely, and chill the finished product to ensure proper set up. It is important that a few precautions are taken throughout the process, which will be covered throughout this book. Once you understand the procedure, it might be hard to see the benefits of attempting to work with “real” chocolate in your home.

Candy Wafers vs. Real Chocolate
Candy wafers are not actually chocolate. In the culinary world, they are also known as compound coating or confectionery coating. They are similar to chocolate but have a few differences, which make them easier to work with. For example, have you ever tried to melt chocolate chips or chocolate bars, and ended up with a fudge-like mass that is too thick for drizzling, fondue, or painting inside a candy mold? Or even worse, had the finished piece look white-ish gray and streaky after it set-up? Candy wafers not only have easier workability and comparable flavor to other chocolate products on the market, but the finished product looks professional every time.

Give Me the Facts
Dark chocolate (in its simplest form) is made of cocoa solids, cocoa butter and sugar. Although only 3 ingredients are used, chocolate is very complex due to the cocoa butter. Cocoa butter requires a process called “tempering” at any point when the chocolate needs to be melted down and re-shaped. Tempering is the process of melting the chocolate completely to break down all the cocoa butter bonds, followed by bringing it through a series of temperatures to re-build those bonds and create a strong structure again. This is done to ensure that the finished (dipped, drizzled, or molded) piece has shine, snap, and a smooth mouth feel.