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Temper chocolate

Creating the delicate, glossy chocolate scrolls used to decorate dessert plates in fine-dining restaurants is not a job for the faint hearted, but practice and precision will yield perfect results.

"Temper" is a culinary term meaning to stabilize certain products. For instance, when a hot liquid, like soup, is mixed with cold cream, it is added slowly, whisking the entire time, so the dairy product doesn't curdle. Likewise, chocolate is tempered by heating and cooling and heating again to stabilize the fat in the chocolate so it doesn't crystallize or "bloom" once it cools.

Follow the steps and most of all, enjoy! For the text version of this recipe (which you can add to your online recipe book), click the link: Temper chocolate.

COOK'S TIP:

• Delicate tempered chocolate scrolls are a stylish embellishment for home bakes. After tempering, spread the molten chocolate evenly onto a sheet of wax paper, then carefully roll into a thick tube. Leave to set before carefully peeling away the wax paper.