The best flavoring for chocolate and candy depends on what you are making. A bar or a dipped truffle shell wants a flavor oil, because melted chocolate and liquid do not always get along. A ganache, a caramel, or a buttercream center gives you more room, and that is where an extract can shine too.
- Straight into melted chocolate: use a Pure Infusions™ flavor oil.
- Ganache, caramel, fudge, and cream centers: either format works; extracts go in with the warm cream.
- Vanilla and chocolate extracts: keep them out of melted chocolate. They can make it seize.
- Hard candy: add flavor off the heat, after the syrup stops bubbling.
Melted chocolate wants a flavor oil
Chocolate is mostly cocoa butter and fine sugar and cocoa particles. A splash of a water based liquid can make those particles clump into a thick, grainy paste, which chocolatiers call seizing. A flavor oil sidesteps the problem, because it blends straight into the cocoa butter.
Angel Bake Pure Infusions™ flavor oils use an organic coconut derived MCT carrier and are alcohol free. Stir them into tempered or melted chocolate for bars, bark, dipped strawberries, chocolate covered pretzels, coated truffles, and molded bonbon shells. Peppermint bark, orange dark chocolate, and cardamom milk chocolate are three easy places to start.
Our vanilla and chocolate extracts are standard strength extracts, made the traditional way, and they can still seize melted chocolate. Use them in the cream of a ganache, in a caramel, in batter or in frosting. For flavor that goes directly into melted chocolate, choose a flavor oil.
Ganache, truffles, and cream centers give you a choice
A ganache is chocolate and warm cream brought together into a smooth emulsion on purpose, so it handles liquid far better than plain melted chocolate. Add a Culinary Aromatics® extract to the warm cream before you pour it over the chopped chocolate, then stir from the center out. A flavor oil works as well, stirred in once the ganache is smooth.
Rose ganache for macarons, Bulgarian lavender truffles, orange ganache tarts and ginger dark chocolate truffles all start this way. Chocolate extract belongs in the cream too, where it deepens a ganache that will be piped, rolled, or used to fill a cake.
Which format for which sweet
| What you are making | Best format | When to add it |
|---|---|---|
| Chocolate bars, bark, molded shells, dipping chocolate | Pure Infusions flavor oil | Into the melted or tempered chocolate |
| Ganache and truffles | Extract or flavor oil | Extract in the warm cream; oil once smooth |
| Buttercream and cream centers | Extract or flavor oil | After the fat and sugar are combined |
| Caramel and fudge | Extract or flavor oil | Off the heat, before pouring |
| Hard candy and lollipops | Flavor oil | Off the heat, once the bubbling stops |
| Marshmallows and nougat | Extract | With the last of the whipping |
Caramel, fudge, and hard candy
Cooked sugar is very hot, and flavor added at the boil spends its aroma in the steam. Take the pan off the heat first. For caramel and fudge, stir the flavor in just before you pour, when the bubbling has settled. Salted caramel with a little orange, or chocolate fudge with peppermint, are reliable crowd pleasers.
For hard candy and lollipops, use a flavor oil and stir it in quickly once the syrup stops bubbling, then pour. Work carefully, since the syrup is far hotter than boiling water. Cinnamon and peppermint are the classics, and ginger makes a lovely winter drop.
How much to use
Our concentrated extracts and flavor oils go a long way. In chocolate, ganache, fillings, and frosting, start with 3 to 5 drops per cup of the finished mixture. For a pound of melted chocolate, which is roughly a cup and a half, that is about 5 to 8 drops.
Peppermint, clove, and the florals (rose, lavender, orange blossom) are assertive, so start below that range. Vanilla and chocolate extracts are standard strength rather than concentrates, so use the amount your recipe calls for.
The rates above are a starting point. Taste and adjust; every base is different. Our guide to how much extract to use has the full table and conversions.
Flavors that love chocolate
- Peppermint for bark, thin mints, and hot chocolate bombs. See how to use peppermint extract.
- Valencia orange for the classic chocolate orange in bars and truffles.
- Bulgarian rose and raspberry in white or dark chocolate ganache.
- Cardamom and ginger for warm, spiced milk chocolate.
- Almond and cherry in a cream center or dark chocolate bark.
Finish with aroma
The Culinary Aromatics Kit includes a dropper and a spray nozzle. A light mist over a plated truffle or a slice of chocolate tart, just before serving, puts the aroma in front of the guest before the first bite. Read more about aromatic finishing.
Our Culinary Aromatics extracts and Pure Infusions flavor oils are No Sugar Added, Kosher Pareve, Non-GMO, Gluten-Free and vegan, and a 2 oz bottle of a concentrated flavor covers more than 300 cups.
Ready to flavor your chocolate
Browse Pure Infusions flavor oils for chocolate and candy, and Culinary Aromatics extracts for ganache, fillings and frosting. Chocolatiers and confectioners can ask about gallon sizes and samples.