I think people have been slow to respond to you here because tempering chocolate has been discussed in depth several times. I was trying to find some of the links for you – but I can see that this might be frustrating because apparently it has been a while and they seem pretty well hidden away.
First you need to think about how much time you want to commit to this chocolate leaf project and decide if you really want to make these yourself or just purchase some.
If you decide you want to make these leave and that the waxy crap is out (yayayay – good choice on that at least) you need to locate some good chocolate. Chocolate for tempering is normally referred to as couverature (its French). Couverature has a higher percentage of cocoa butter. You do not want chocolate that involves paraffin or coconut oil or any fat other than cocoa butter.
Sourcing chocolate for tempering may not be easy depending on where you are located. You should use a dark chocolate because that is the easiest to work with. As was mentioned already – Callebaut is a very functional and widely used chocolate that is also fairly available. I think that Williams Sonoma sells it – another source of good chocolate is Sur La Table. Trader Joes has several chocolates that can be tempered as does Whole Foods. Or you can look on the web.
Your mold – you have just the one? This could be a slow job – you might want to look for another one or two so that you can produce more efficiently. Make sure it is nice and clean – I like to wipe my molds gently with a cotton pad or cotton ball – but if it is new and never used you should not have to do this unless you have gotten fingerprints inside the mold cavities. If you have just the one you may need to give it a cleaning once or twice during your production (either because you misstemper and need to clean our untempered chocolate stuck in your mold – or because you may see a decrease in shine after a couple of moldings as a little cocoa butter film may accumulate). If you must wash – use hot water – soap is generally frowned upon and definitely no abrasives. Dry the mold carefully with a soft towel and give each cavity a wipe with a cotton ball – if you rub vigorously you can build up static electricity that may cause the chocolate to refuse to release without a fight.
Now its time to temper and of course there are several methods to do that – you already have one that is perfectly serviceable.
You can chop your chocolate and melt it (direct warm) in the microwave. To do this your chocolate must already be in temper – which purchased chocolate should be – and you should be pretty sure of yourself and have an accurate thermometer
1) . This is not actually tempering in the strictest sense since you are merely raising the temperature gradually without allowing it to rise above 91F. Use a plastic bowl so that you do not have heat accumulation. Typically it is a good idea to temper at least 1 pound of chocolate.
2) Wave on Hi 1 minute then check your chocolate (it will probably still be pieces that are just a bit soft – maybe a tiny bit of melt)
3) Wave some more but just 10-30 seconds at a time. Check after each waving to see the melt and sample the temp.
4) After approximately 2 minutes your chocolate should be almost all melted (not all – that would be a bad sign) with many small lumps (good sign)
5) Stir with a rubber spatula smushing lumps as you do
6) Take the temp – you want it to be 91F or lower if you come up with 93F then you need to proceed to real tempering methods
7) Test the chocolate – dip a slip of parchment, or the blade of a knife in the chocolate and set it on your counter (hopefully you will be working in a comfortably cool area – too cold will mean the chocolate sets up quickly and may make it hard for you to do your molding – too warm and the chocolate will be problematic – too humid is also bad since very moist air can also cause chocolate to take on a grayish film. The dipped paper or blade should be smooth and hardened without streaking or spots in about 1 minute. If after 1 minute you still have a blade or paper that is coated in wet chocolate then you probably are too warm and will need to proceed to real tempering.
8) Never pour chocolate into your molds unless you are absolutely certain that it is in temper – otherwise you have a lot of washing up to do and waste a lot of chocolate.
The hot water method – as described previously – that should work
This is Seeding – you ‘seed’ the melted chocolate with tempered chocolate pieces. Typically you will melt 2/3 and reserve 1/3 for seeding.
You can do this same effect by dropping a block of tempered chocolate into your bowl of melted chocolate and stirring it around until the melted chocolate has cooled sufficiently and responds appropriately to the temper test. At this point you just pull out the remainder of the block and save it for later.
Tempering using an Ice Bath or Marble
This is real honest to goodness tempering – perhaps when you have messed up or don’t have any tempered chocolate left to work with.
1) Warm your chocolate (all of it) to 120F (you can do this over hot water or in the microwave.
2) Assuming you do not have a marble or any tools – you can use an ice bath to temper your chocolate you will probably want a metal bowl for this.
Link to Huafeng Mold
3) Set the bowl of warmed chocolate into a larger bowl with some ice and just a bit of water
4) Use a rubber spatula to stir the chocolate
5) You will notice that the chocolate at the bottom in contact with the cold ice sets up quickly – so you want to keep that moving and incorporate it into the main body of the chocolate
6) Assuming you are working with a pound of chocolate you should cool down fairly fast
7) Lumps may be an issue – do the best you can to get rid of them
8) Test and use
9) Be very careful since you have water hazards with the ice – get that out of the way and wipe off the bowl immediately
Tabling (Tablier - if you insist on the french) – same basic theory classically achieved
1) Pour about 2/3 of the chocolate out onto your marble (I would recommend a large marble 18x24. You will also want an large offset spatula and a dough scraper or nice large clean metal paint scraper
2) Using the large offset – spread the chocolate out in a thin layer so that it approaches the edge of your marble but not so that it drips off the edges
3) Let it set for a moment then scrape it up with the scraper – cleaning regularly with your spatula
4) You will probably have to repeat the spreading and scraping procedure a couple of times – it will be obvious when the chocolate is getting to the right temperature since it will get thick and pasty
5) Scrape up your cooled chocolate and stir it into the warm chocolate smushing any lumps
6) Test for temperature (you are always looking for 91F or below – note that under 88 the chocolate will be harder to work with for molding since the fluidity is less the colder it gets – the microwave is your friend but only used sparingly – no more than a 6 second burst to be safe
Now you have to mold off all those leaves
If the leaf shapes are complex and have creases and small points you may want to use a clean soft paint brush to brush chocolate lightly into the mold so that all the surface of the cavity is coated before you pour chocolate into the mold. The reason for this is to avoid bubbles and air holes in the finished chocolates. The down side is that once you finish with the brush the chocolate will set and you have to clean and dry it before reusing. (you can set the brush in a bowl over some hot water to keep it from hardening – just make sure to squish out the chocolate on the brush with a paper towel before using it again since that chocolate will be over warmed at will cause bloom in your mold. (bad)
I am assuming that you are using one of those clear plastic molds available at many craft and candy supply shops. The difficulty in working with this type of mold is that they are not rigid like a polycarbonate mold. If you are using a real polycarbonate mold thet is great.
Pour the tempered chocolate (88-90F) into the mold cavities – at least try to keep the stream focused on filling the holes – you could use a ladel for this – but that’s just one more thing that will now be coated in hard chocolate that you have to clean later.
Tapping is generally the next step – this gets out air bubbles – tapping is hard if you are working with a plastic mold.
Next you use the clean offset or spatula to scrape off the excess chocolate back into the bowl. If you are working with the plastic you should probably leave the mold on the counter and carefully scrape the chocolate off – ideally you now have the cavities evenly filled with chocolate all smoothed off even with the surface of the mold and the mold surface just has a light smear of chocolate.
Pop the mold into the fridge for about 15 minutes then remove. The leaves should just pop right out when you invert the mold. (keep your fingers crossed)
Good luck
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