Chocolate is one of the most popular flavours and ingredients used in desserts. Walk into any bakery in Australia and you will find chocolate in dozens of treats – from Lamingtons to tarts and chocolate-dipped fruit.
If you are looking to make your own dessert, make sure to pick the right chocolate for the recipe. Compound chocolate is a good melting chocolate and is therefore often used for dipping. Couverture chocolate offers a higher quality flavour and is better for desserts with a simple ingredient list that need each component to be perfect.

No matter what you’re looking to make, Nestle chocolate offers a variety of high-quality chocolate for baking and cooking desserts.

Dark Chocolate Products

White Chocolate Products

Milk Chocolate Products

Compound Chocolate Recipes

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Chocolate Brownie Sandwich

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White Chocolate Crème Patisserie Tarts

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Chocolate & Macadamia Cheesecakes

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Chocolate & Walnut Brownies

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What is compound chocolate used for?

Compound chocolate is the easiest chocolate to melt. It swaps out cocoa butter for vegetable oils and uses cocoa powder instead of chocolate liquor. Some have added emulsifiers, which help to maintain a runny consistency without the ingredients separating. This makes it less stressful to melt down than real chocolate, which needs to be tempered.

Compound chocolate is commonly used to decorate desserts or dip things in, such as fruits and nuts.

If you decide to cook with compound chocolate, one thing to note is that sweeteners (often found in compound chocolate) can make it considerably sweeter than couverture chocolate.  If you cook with compound chocolate but the recipe calls for couverture, it might not require as much added sugar. This is especially key for richer desserts that call for ‘real’ dark or semi-sweet chocolate.

 

 

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Compound vs couverture chocolate

When cooking with chocolate, you might wonder if you should use compound or coverture. There are a couple key differences to take into consideration when making this decision: ingredients, texture, and easiness to melt.

Couverture chocolate is ‘real’ chocolate with cocoa fat and chocolate liquor instead of vegetables oils and cocoa powder, which are used to make compound chocolate. If a chocolate has a fat source other than cocoa fat, then it is technically not true chocolate. The different ingredients contribute to different textures. Compound chocolate is smoother, silkier, and shinier than couverture. When tempered and cooled correctly, it also has a cleaner snap to it.

The benefit of compound chocolate is how easy it is to melt. It can be done quickly with minimal effort in the microwave or on the stove. The temperature at which it’s melted at isn’t as crucial either – as long as it doesn’t burn! Couverture chocolate is trickier to melt as it needs to be tempered. Tempering is heating and then cooling the chocolate to bring it to its ideal temperature for the best texture and finish. If couverture chocolate isn’t tempered when melted, it could ‘bloom’ or not set up properly.

Couverture chocolate is a higher quality and more expensive option but for desserts with minimal ingredients that need chocolate to shine, then it’s probably the better option. If you’re looking to make a dessert needing melted chocolate that compliments another flavour, compound chocolate is the way to go.