Nothing ruins a satiny smooth chocolate frosting quite like gritty, grainy chocolate. What causes chocolate to seize? And is there any way to undo it?
WHAT IS SEIZED CHOCOLATE?
Seizing describes the nearly instantaneous transformation of chocolate from a fluid state to a stiff, grainy one. When chocolate is melted, its ingredients—mainly cocoa powder, sugar, and cocoa butter—disperse evenly, creating a fluid mass. But if even a tiny amount of moisture is introduced, the liquid and the sugar will form a syrup to which the cocoa particles will cling, thereby creating grainy clumps. How much liquid it actually takes to trigger this reaction depends mostly on the amount of chocolate and its sugar content. (Even in the absence of sugar, however, such as in unsweetened chocolate, the cocoa particles will still cling together if liquid is introduced.) Surprisingly, the addition of more liquid can actually reverse the seizing and bring the chocolate back to a fluid state.
TWO WAYS TO PREVENT SEIZING
In recipes that contain no liquid, take great care not to let any moisture into the chocolate.
In recipes that do contain liquids such as melted butter, liqueur, or water, always melt the chocolate along with these ingredients to keep the cocoa and sugar particles sufficiently wet.
HOW TO FIX CHOCOLATE IF IT DOES SEIZE
Reversing the reaction means adding just enough water (or other liquid) to dissolve most of the sugar and cocoa particles in the seized chocolate clumps. It's easy to do:
Simply add boiling water to seized chocolate, 1 teaspoon at a time, and stir vigorously after each addition until the chocolate is smooth.
The water will dilute the chocolate slightly, so it can no longer reliably be used for baking. Use it instead for makingchocolate sauceorhot chocolateor drizzling on cookies.
