Modeling chocolate, also called chocolate leather, plastic chocolate or candy clay, is a chocolate paste made by melting chocolate and combining it with corn syrup, glucose syrup, or golden syrup. Primarily used by upscale cakemakers and pâtisseries to add decoration to cakes and pastries, modeling chocolate is formed into a variety of shapes and structures that cannot be easily accomplished with other softer edible materials such as buttercream frosting, marzipan, or fondant. Modeling chocolate can be made from white, dark, semi-sweet, or milk chocolate. Source

Adding water in chocolate is against the basic rules because even the smallest bit of water starts to makes chocolate creamy, and more water turns the chocolate into a greasy paste that’s not very useful. However, if we also add glucose, the result is a smooth plasticine like texture. The issue is that there will be no single recipe that works for every chocolate. Couvertures will need more liquid then compound chocolate. 20 to 25 percent glucose and water mixture will give a reasonable texture depending of the hardness of the chocolate which is called (snap). This paste can be used for coating cakes, making centrepieces look like curved chocolate, modelling figurines and also cutting shapes from rolled sheets.

Ingredients

The weights in the recipe table below will yield the following 'weight per unit' and 'number of units'. If you would like to change the recipe to cater to a different 'weight per unit' and/or 'number of units', you can use the Recipe Calculator Tool below the ingredients table.
Weight Per Unit: 1225
Number of Units: 1
WEIGHT
(grams) 		ALTERNATIVE METRIC INGREDIENT IMAGE CONDITION
A 1000 35.2 ounces White Chocolate (Compound) Compound chocolate is a product made from a combination of cocoa, vegetable fat, and sweeteners. 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. In a bowl.
B 175 6.2 ounces Glucose Syrup

Glucose syrup, also known as confectioner's glucose, is a syrup made from the hydrolysis of starch. Glucose is a sugar. Maize (corn) is commonly used as the source of the starch in the US, in which case the syrup is called "corn syrup", but glucose syrup is also made from potatoes and wheat, and less often from barley, rice and cassava.


Glucose syrup containing over 90% glucose is used in industrial fermentation, but syrups used in confectionery contain varying amounts of glucose, maltose and higher oligosaccharides, depending on the grade, and can typically contain 10% to 43% glucose. Glucose syrup is used in foods to sweeten, soften texture and add volume. By converting some of the glucose in corn syrup into fructose (using an enzymatic process), a sweeter product, high fructose corn syrup can be produced.

 (approximately 43BE) 		In a sauce pan.
C 50 1.8 ounces Water
1225

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Method

STEP ACTION DETAIL CONDITION
1 MIX Mix the glucose and water in a sauce pan.
2 BOIL Bring to a boil for a few seconds.
3 POUR Pour the mix on the chocolate (in a separate bowl).
4 MIX Mix till the chocolate is dissolved.
5 STORE Store overnight in room temperature or 1-2 hours in the fridge. Covered with cellophane or cling wrap.
6 KNEAD Knead before use.

Important Notes

  • The paste can quickly become softer then the desired texture in a warmer room. Working with gloves minimizes this problem as there is less heat transferred from your hands.
  • You can roll the paste with starch but white dust will be visible. Rolling in between 2 sheets of baking paper gives a cleaner result.
  • You can knead the paste with additional icing sugar and starch to make it dry more quickly.
  • For small amounts, you can place all ingredients in to a glass bowl and heat for 30 second pulses in microwave till everything incorporated.

22 comments

  1. Vincy KP says:
    December 17, 2022 at 2:33 am

    can i use liquid glucose instead of corn syrup or glucose syrup?

    1. Serdar Yener says:
      January 4, 2023 at 9:15 pm

      Hi Vincy, all three are the same thing, one is a little more liquid than the other. What I use is 42B thick glucose, so-called corn syrup is softer. It will work but I recommend reducing the water to half and increase the glucose in the same amount if you are using corn syrup.

  2. Elizabeth Bondarenko says:
    April 23, 2022 at 6:37 pm

    Hi Chef thank you for your recipe. Can you advise what type of glucose syrup to buy/do you use in Australia and where to get if from, please?
    Thankyou

  3. Yasmin Shaawe says:
    December 23, 2017 at 7:39 am

    hi
    ca you learn us the modelling pasta ?

    1. Serdar Yener says:
      December 28, 2017 at 10:01 am

      Go to http://www.yenersway.com/recipes it is free

  4. Angie Mizon says:
    October 30, 2017 at 12:31 am

    Hello I have a problem as I cannot access the amounts of glucose and water needed for your recipe for the amounts of glucose and water for the white and dark modelling chocolate recipes, is this not available if I am only subscribed for free tutorials? Thanks.

    1. Serdar Yener says:
      October 30, 2017 at 9:20 am

      Recipes are free. Only for using recipe tool, you have to be paid member. Thanks

  5. klteif says:
    August 21, 2017 at 7:27 pm

    Hello Chef!
    There is no compound chocolate in my country. I have white chocolate with 33,6% beurre de cacao.
    So how much water and glucose should I add?
    Thank you in advance
    K.

    1. Serdar Yener says:
      August 22, 2017 at 7:33 am

      Hi, just follow dark chocolate couverture recipe and replace the dark with white couverture.

  6. prasath chathuranga says:
    July 30, 2017 at 3:16 am

    hi chef .can you give to me this Recipe by kg.thanks

    1. Serdar Yener says:
      August 4, 2017 at 8:06 am

      Please divide the gram amount to 1000 . If gram is 5400 so it is 5.4 kg. Thanks

  7. Marie McCafferty says:
    May 24, 2016 at 10:22 pm

    Hi, do you melt the chocolate and use alone as a glue, i tried it and it dries before i can use it, i am trying to glue pieces together before royal icing the joints. Many thanks

    1. Serdar Yener says:
      May 28, 2016 at 7:50 am

      Please keep your melted chocolate under a table light or in a small chocolate warmer. Thanks

  8. Dr Asheena Batra says:
    July 29, 2015 at 11:45 am

    Hi Serdar, i tried to make this as per ur recipe but it didnt come out well. It can not be rolled into a paste form.Iif i hold it vertically in my hands it tears apart. I mixed 35gm of liquid glucose n 10 gm of water in a bowl n brought it to a boil. Then poured this over the chopped white compound(200gm) . Since it did not melt completely I microwaved it for 30sec n just mixed all the three properly n cling wrapped this . Next day when i kneaded this , it was little bit crumbly. I was not able to roll it into paste. Plz help. Where did I go wrong. The glucose you hv mentioned here should be in LIQUID/POWDER form? Do i hv to throw this away or can this be corrected?

    1. Serdar Yener says:
      July 30, 2015 at 1:02 pm

      Hi Dr Asheena I use 43 b glucose quite a thick syrup. It is also important what is the chocolate .It look like your liquid wasn’t enough to melt the chocolate . It may be boiled a little too long by looking the such a small amount you did . So next time when you do that small amount again . Place simply EVERYTHING in a bowl slowly melt in a microwave with short sequences . It would t be problem Thanks. For you r other recipe request. I do not have a any recipe in hand . All what I like to say Recipes created from other recipes which is created from others. Target the consistency before bake to make the changes and try… Thanks

  9. Darling_lin says:
    July 17, 2015 at 12:56 am

    Chef yener , i plan to make a multi level fountain Cake that covered with fondant… Unfortunately fondant can not be touched with water….I’m wondering will this work if I use this to cover on the fountain and let water go thru it ? will it melt ? Hope to hear
    from u soon … Thanks ❤️

    1. Serdar Yener says:
      July 17, 2015 at 10:01 pm

      I am afraid I can not give you much advise on this becaouse I don’t know the rest of the idea. Maybe pure chocolate can be considered but dark will be turn to ugly whitish colour . If I have to I would use pure white chocolate but not modelling chocolate .

  10. Heddy Black says:
    May 21, 2015 at 12:03 am

    Hi there, I have tried this recipe. I boil the glucose and water together in few seconds, but it seem they don’t warm enough. So I boiled about 1 minute offer that I pour in to bowl which has the chocolate in it. I mixed it up but the chocolate not melt enough. So I don’t know what the next. I made mistake by heat them in microwave for about a minute. It was look okay until I mixed it up then I see the fat separate from the chocolate ( the oil on top the chocolate . So I think my modelling chocolate failed . I used old ingredient same on this recipe. I feel horrible don’t know how to do .. If there any trick to fix it ? Or what can I do with failed recipe. I feel bad to put them on the bin. I wish you have a video when you make this modelling chocolate so I can see the vision about ” mix until the chocolate is dissolved” I check on here or on your YouTube there is no video about making modelling chocolate .. TIA

    1. Serdar Yener says:
      May 21, 2015 at 8:15 am

      Hi Heddy
      It is normal when you mix glucose with chocolate the result look a bit split . Keep it in room temp till next day and knead it . It will form a nice dough. Another way to do is put all ingridients in a glass bowl and place in microwave for short periods till all melt . Do the same thing, keep it room temp, then knead the next day. If you are in hurry when finish you can put it in the fridge and than knead to dough.

  11. Safiye Basagac says:
    February 15, 2015 at 11:11 pm

    Hi, I have always been worried about using modelling chocolate for figurines in the hot humid Australian weather. Does it hold up well or does it go soft.

    I guess Im scared to spend all the hrs preparing figurines and then have them go soft. Also, with figurines, how far in advance should I make them? Do they need to wait a week to go rock hard…..do they even go hard? Sorry for the millions of questions.
    Thanks in advance

    1. Serdar Yener says:
      February 16, 2015 at 2:26 am

      Modelling chocolate has attitude according to room temperature . You can make it more reliable in warmer condition by adding some corn starch and icing sugar. How much I don’t know, as much as it listen to you.

  12. rim chami says:
    February 10, 2015 at 9:44 pm

    the recipe worked great..but i have small little lumps in my modelling chocolate. how do I get rid of them?

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