Baking can be a lot of fun, but it can also be a disastrous mess if you don’t know what you’re doing.
Take melting chocolate for instance – it can take a few seconds for all that gooey deliciousness to turn into a burnt mess – a total waste of time and good chocolate.
But luckily for all you aspiring bakers out there, we have the ultimate cooking hack to make sure that will never happen again.
There used to be only two ways to melt chocolate: in the microwave or on the stove top with a bain-marie.
Using a bain-marie works well, but it can be time consuming and you have to keep an eye on it. This is because when moisture or steam comes into contact with the chocolate, it can “seize” it and give you a clumpy, unpleasant result.
Similarly, when melting chocolate in the microwave, you have to keep stopping and starting every few seconds to stir the mixture and stop it from burning. But now, there’s an easier way.
WATCH: How to melt chocolate in a bain-marie. Post continues…
Thanks to the geniuses at Sunbeam, you can melt chocolate, butter and more with ease with their new Mixmaster Hand Mixer with HeatSoft technology.
To the ordinary eye it may look like your average electrical whisk, but with one of its new functions, you can take a block of broken up chocolate and transform it into delicious melted goodness in under three minutes with no microwave or boiling water required.
With seven variable speeds for all types of mixing, there’s also a “burst of power” feature for those thicker consistencies so you can whip up anything from light meringues to heavier pizza dough as well as softening chocolate.
HeatSoft technology just made melting chocolate and butter so much easier. (Image: Supplied)
And if you needed another reason to get cooking with more chocolate (as if we need another reason to eat more), it turns out that it can actually boost your brain power!
The University of L’Aquila in Italy released the results of a recent review and found that regularly chomping on cacao-based sweets is good for your brain.
Elderly people who are at risk of memory decline were found to be the ones to benefit the most from regularly eating chocolate, while young adults experienced short term benefits like doing better on cognitive tests.
Of course, it’s important to eat chocolate in moderation and opt for dark chocolate as opposed to milk and white types, as these have less cacao.
But if you’re feeling inspired, check out these six easy desserts to satisfy a chocolate craving.
Happy baking! (Image: Getty Images)
