Compound Chocolate is a product made from a combination of Cocoa Powder, Vegetable Fat, Sunflower Lecithin (E442), Sweeteners and Salt. Compound chocolate is used as a coating on cakes, brownies, etc as it retains a good consistency. It is also great to be used as fillings in biscuits. It is used as a lower – cost alternative to true chocolate, as it uses less – expensive hard vegetable fats such as coconut oil or palm kernel oil in place of the more expensive cocoa butter. It may also be known as “compound coating” or “chocolatey coating” when used as a coating for candy. It is often used in less expensive chocolate bars to replace enrobed chocolate on a product.

The three kinds of chocolate are Dark Chocolate, Milk Chocolate and White Chocolate. They are distinct because they have varying amounts of cocoa (cocoa mass and/or cocoa butter) and sugar. Cocoa butter must be tempered to maintain gloss and coating. A chocolatier tempers chocolate by cooling the chocolate mass below its setting point, then re–warming the chocolate to between 31 ºC and 32 °C (88 ºF to 90 °F) for milk chocolate, or between 32 ºC and 33 °C (90 ºF and 91 °F) for semi – sweet chocolate. Compound coatings, however, do not need to be tempered. Instead, they are simply warmed to between 3 ºC and 5 °C (5 ºF and 9 °F) above the coating’s melting point.

What’s more, a lot of people choose compound chocolates that come with vegetable fats because they’re easy to source and do not require the complex process of tempering (careful heating and cooling) to get a glossy finish and a satisfying snap!

Due to the texture of the vegetable fat in compound chocolate, the melted compound will harden within a few minutes of removal from a heat source, creating a firm adherent coating on an item dipped in melted compound chocolate.

Sure, compound chocolates too come with a variety of cacao percentages, but in most of their milk and dark options it’s often cocoa powder and not chocolate liquor. Similarly, when it comes to white compound chocolates, they essentially consist of vegetable fats, emulsifiers,  milk and sugar.

What is compound chocolate used for?

As mentioned before, when it comes to compound versus real chocolate, the former consists of inexpensive ingredients which make them an affordable option.