Consumer demand for simplified, clean labels featuring natural and healthful ingredients is impacting the choices bakers make when coating products in chocolate or compound coatings. In compound coatings, suppliers find more bakers are interested in fractionated oils because they don't want hydrogenated oils on the label. More compound coatings feature natural flavors, such as a natural vanilla, as well as more innovative flavors, such as coffee, cinnamon, strawberry or mint. As for chocolate coatings, consumers are drawn to baked products coated in antioxidant rich dark chocolate or coatings with a high percentage of cocoa, which are perceived to be more healthful. Coatings with added fortification from calcium, whey protein, fiber and flaxseed for omega-3s also are growing in popularity.

Compound versus chocolate coatings

The fat source used in coatings is what distinguishes a chocolate coating from a compound coating. Chocolate coatings use cocoa butter as the fat source, as required by the Standard of Identity for chocolate (U.S. code of Federal Regulations Title 21 part 163). “The cocoa butter provides the characteristic melting profile consumers expect from ‘real’ chocolate,” notes Tom Jablonowski, product, service and development manager, ADM Cocoa, Milwaukee, Wis. The most common types of chocolates covered by the Standards are milk, bittersweet or semisweet and white chocolate. White chocolate, although classified as a chocolate, contains no chocolate liquor, but is a mix of cocoa butter, sugar, lecithin, milk solids and vanilla. Chocolate liquor is the brown paste leftover after the cocoa butter has been extracted from the cocoa nibs.

Compound coatings use other vegetable fats, including lauric fats, such as palm kernel oil and coconut oil; and non-lauric fats, such as cottonseed and soybean oils. The fats in compound coatings also can be partially hydrogenated, fractionated or interesterified, resulting in different melting points, Jablonowski says. “Compound coatings offer benefits, such as ease of use; [cost-effective price], as vegetable fats are typically lower in cost than cocoa butter; range of melting point options; freedom from the Standards of Identity; compatibility with other fats; and formulation with other ingredients not allowed in chocolate.” In addition, tempering is usually not required with compound coatings as it is with chocolate coatings.

The shelf life for coatings can vary. Compound coatings have a shelf life of about one year, while dark chocolate lasts for two years or more, says Dan Kazmierczak, technical service/R&D manager, Blommer Chocolate Co., Chicago. Milk chocolate has a shelf life of about one to two years depending on the amount of milk. “White chocolate will not have as much of a shelf life as dark chocolate due to the amount of milk and the lack of cocoa, which can act as an antioxidant to extend the shelf life,” Kazmierczak notes.

Choosing the correct coating

Working closely with a chocolate or compound coating supplier to identify the right coating for an application early on in the process can help products reach supermarket shelves sooner and have a better chance for success. One of the first considerations to discuss is viscosity. “If you need a coating that will be used as a drizzle or stripe on a baked good, then you will need a lower viscosity (thinner) coating,” Jablonowski says.

Mouthfeel also is an important characteristic to consider when choosing a viscosity. “We have some high-end chocolates that have a lower fineness, less than 20 microns, but a lot of baked goods, particularly cookies, are very coarse because of the granulated sugar inside. So, it's not necessary to have such a smooth coating because the inside overtakes the chocolate coating from a mouthfeel perspective,” Kazmierczak says. The amount of coating the product requires also plays a part in determining the best viscosity to use. “If you're putting a lot on, and you want people to get that chocolate impact, you may want to go for smoother mouthfeel,” he notes. By contrast, when enrobing a sandwich cookie, a smooth mouthfeel isn't necessary.

Typically, the higher the percentage of cocoa solids the more fluid the chocolate will become, notes Laurent Besin, technical services and applications manager North America, Barry Callebaut USA LLC, Chicago. “If you have a chocolate with 70 percent cocoa solids, you tend to have more fat content because you're putting cocoa liquor into it.” In other words, the viscosity of the coating will decrease and become more fluid as the fat content increases. “For enrobing purposes, normally the chocolate will have between 29 percent and 32 percent fat,” Besin says. The viscosity of a coating is at its lowest when almost all the fat crystals are liquid, which occurs at 104°F for chocolate, so maintaining the proper temperature of the chocolate is crucial.

Once bakers decide on the coating that is best for your product, the next step is getting it delivered. Bakers can have coatings delivered in liquid or solid form. Bakeries ordering more than 120 metric tons of a coating per year will find it more economical to buy chocolate in a liquid form than in than a solid, due to the capital investment that may be required for liquid handling capability, Besin says. The chocolate liquid is delivered in a tanker. “If a bakery uses less than 120 metric tons, a solid would problably be more economical. Also, if a baker is using three to five different chocolates, it can be more complex to have them delivered in liquid form; each chocolate would have to be high in volume in order to receive it in a liquid,” he adds.