hi, i am so glad i found this board.

a few weeks ago, i made my first batch of creme ivoire with plain old nestle white chocolate chips and safflower oil. it looked ok at first, but as it cooled on top my cupcakes, it began to develop oily spots on the surface. not pretty. does anyone know why this might be? is it because of the cheapo quality of the white chocolate?

the reason why i used the chips was because i’ve somehow found it really difficult to actually locate white chocolate in stores. i see 500 types of dark, bittersweet and milk chocolate. but virtually no plain old white chocolate except these chips and the baker’s brand white chocolate which i figure is also not so high quality.

not and expert, but I wonder if the chocolate chips that you used have actually cocoa butter in it, which is a MUST.

Liv2eat - do you have a Trader Joe’s located near you?  They have decent white chocolate.  Also, try the candy section of the grocery store rather than the baking section.  You can usually find the higher quality chocolate bars there (including white).

Check the ingredient list, as Hector says it is important that the chocolate contains cocoa butter. I bought Ghiradelli white chocolate chips and regretted it when I got home. It didn’t contain any cocoa butter. I didn’t think to read the label in the store b/c it was Ghiradelli, after all they do make good chocolate. Lesson learned…..read the label in the store.

thanks everyone. it sounds like the quality of the chocolate was the most likely culprit. i do have trader joe’s nearby! i will try them. or maybe whole foods? what brands definitely ahve cocoa butter in them? i know rose recommends the tobler… but i never see that in stores.

Tobler doesn’t make the white chocolate that Rose recommends in the Cake Bible anymore. Try Green and Black’s. That’s what Rose recommends since Tobler discontinued their white chocolate.

Ghiradelli makes a good cocoa butter white chocolate bar available in a 4oz size.

Yes, Tobler is out.  I get mines from restaurant supply stores, yes a huge 5 lb block or so.  It is worth and more affordable than buying smaller.  I vacuum pack it in 1/2 lb blocks and keep them frozen.

The thinking behind “real” white chocolate is that it has cacao butter.  Butter remains solid or shapely at room temperature.  Plain white chocolate has vegetable oil instead, which turns into liquid at room temp!  This will affect emulsification and physical stability, thus you get those different results.

oh, good ot know. i often see green&black;‘s around… but i don’t think i’ve ever seen their white choc. gotta keep searching i suppose…

Try callebaut white chocolate.  I have had great success with this brand.  Melts so smooth.  No grains.  It’s very high quality and the brand that Cooks Illustrated suggests. Avoid “chocolate compounds” aka “chocolate melts.  Check out chocolatesource.com and chefrubber.com [for chocolate and a great deal of other GREAT stuff!]

FYI…

Whole Foods does sell Callebaut white chocolate blocks, cut and wrapped. Look in breads/bakery goods/cheese/confections section of the store to find it.

Also, the Baker’s brand white chocolate is a decent enough white chocolate to use if you can’t find anything else. It at least has cocoa butter in it.

Roxanne

I’m having problems with creme ivoire (not delux) too! I expected good results with green & blacks white chocolate but the mixture tasted very oily and unpleasant. The safflower oil I used was ‘extra virgin’ - is that the wrong sort? Unfortunately there was no other choice at the shop. Thanks!

I’d suggest tasting a little of the oil by itself—is that what you’re tasting in the creme ivoire? You want a bland oil with very little taste—and “extra virgin” usually means less filtering and more taste.

It has an ‘oily’ taste - it’s not exactly flavourless. I’ll try again with the normal safflower oil when I find it! Thanks for your help.