Chocolate Fountains – An Expert Discusses

Chocolate Fountains – An Expert Discusses

A chocolate fountain is a fantastic centre piece for any special occasion.  Often chosen to be part of a wedding or birthday celebrations, the fountain allows all of the guests to share in the wonderful tasting experience.

The fountain itself consists of a heated base unit called the bowl, which will melt the chocolate slowly before the motor is turned on to start the chocolate flowing.  The centre piece, known as the auger, slots into the middle of the unit and within this is an Archimedes screw.  When the motor is turned on, the screw turns and draws the melted chocolate up inside and once at the top it flows over the crown and flows down over the tiers gracefully of the chocolate fountain.

When the base unit has been plugged in, the heated base is set to pre heat for at least 10 minutes.  Once the bowl has got to temperature, the chocolate can be added.  Little buttons of chocolate known as callets are poured into the bowl in small quantities and stirred occasionally with a plastic spatula.  It must be a plastic spatula to prevent the temperature of the melted chocolate being altered.

Fountain ready chocolate is the best to use in the chocolate fountain as it does not require anything else to be added to it.  Other chocolates require large quantities of oil to be added to thin out the chocolate and allow it to flow through the unit.  Belgian fountain ready chocolate will often use soya as the emulsifier, which means that vegetarians can enjoy using the fountain as well.  This type of chocolate is also kosher.

Milk, dark and white chocolate are available to use within the fountain.  White chocolate can be more interesting as colourings can be added.  Pink, orange and even green chocolate can flow through the unit.

Most chocolate fountain hire companies will provide skewers, napkins and or plates for guests to use.  Guests can then use the skewers to create a kebab using the dip choices on offer.

There are many items that can be dipped into the chocolate.  The most popular choices are; marshmallows, fudge, cookies, shortbread and fresh fruit such as strawberries, pineapple and banana.  When using fruit, I would recommend displaying them no earlier than 10 minutes before guests will be eating them.  This is so that they stay fresh.

Chocolate fountains are available in several different sizes.  No matter how large or small, chocolate can be added as it starts to be used.  Once the chocolate is flowing, the recommended way to add the callets to the unit is by melting them in a microwave first.  They can be added to the crown of the fondue fountain, but it will take more time for them to fully melt.  Each fountain has a maximum amount of chocolate that be put into it at once.  Always read the manual that is provided with the chocolate fountain.  By putting too much chocolate into the unit can put unnecessary stress on the motor, which in time will wear out the bearings.

Some companies will have an illuminated base unit to accompany the fountain.  This is a fabulous finishing touch to the centre piece.  This unit has several primary colours which can be mixed to create up to 6 colour options.  This works particularly well if you are trying to colour match a theme.

This article was written by Ceri Joleys from www.chocolatefountains.co.uk owner of a chocolate fondue fountain hire company based in the UK.