Scrapers and Spatulas
Scrapers and Spatulas: The more the better. Spatulas are used to stir the melting chocolate and ganache, spoon it onto the molds and into the piping bags, and cleaning up the chocolatey bowls.
scrapers and spatulas
- Two of my favorite spatulas are shown in the photo above. The orange one is great because both ends can be used, and the narrow end is perfect for getting leftover ganache out of plastic squeeze bottles. The white one is my favorite because it is very firm yet flexible, and has a sharp corner that is great for breaking up chocolate — but I have no idea where to find another one, as it came in the box with my handheld mixer.
Scrapers are used to scrape the excess chocolate off the molds, as well as clean up the remaining chocolate that has hardened. You want a long-handled scraper or you’ll end up with chocolate covered arms and unless you have someone nearby who you would just love to have lick it all off of you, it will not be pleasant (unless you convince yourself it’s a beauty treatment).
Now here’s the thing. It’s not easy finding long-handled scrapers, even in this world of infinite material abundance. The long-handled straight spatula is the easiest to find, and Amazon and various chocolate supply companies carry the other long-handled type you see pictured on the far right. They can be expensive, though, so I got the brilliant idea of going to Home Depot and buying painters’ paint scrapers. Worked wonders until the third or fourth run through the dishwasher when I noticed an imperceptible plastic coating was peeling and the exposed metal was turning black. So, invent a long-handled affordable chocolate scraper, stock it at Target, and let me thank you.
