I was making a cake with chocolate chips and I was wondering - how come they don’t really melt in the oven? are they made of a different, tougher kind of chocolate then the regular kind?
It’s a 1/3 asbestos mix.
Try getting regular chocolate and smashing it up, and using that instead of chocolate chips. If the regular chocolate melts, you have your answer. My thought: maybe the cake insulates them somewhat (cf. baked alaska).
Try melting a solid chocolate bar in the microwave. You’ll find that it is viscous enough that it holds its shape. (This only works to a point, though. Don’t continue to heat it to the point of scorching or boiling the chocolate.)
Have you ever noticed that when you melt chocolate in a double boiler, it holds its shape long after it has completely melted and only loses it after you squish it. I believe that such a liquid is called “thixotropic”. Whatever it is called, I think your chocolate chips are melting but holding their shape and then resolidifying when the cake cools.
From what I’ve heard, Hari Seldon is right. The cookie dough holds the shape of the molten chocolate durign cooking. That’s why the chocolate chips on the top of the cookie are flattened. Microwave a cookie and break it in half - notice the runny chocolate?
Nitpick: Thixotropic liquids become more viscous (thicker) as you apply shearing (eg, mixing, beating). Classic example of a non-newtonian fluid - a newtonian fluid would have a constant viscosity with respect to applied shearing forces.
:smack: :smack: Damn it, my fluids lecturer would kill me if he read that. Addendum for fluid geeks:
Thixotropic liquids reduce their viscosity over time as a shearing force is applied. (eg, paints, blood)
A dilatant fluid increases its viscosity by a constant amount as a shearing force is applied. (eg, quicksand, PEG solutions with high molc. weight)
American chocolate chips are specifically laced with large amounts of stabilizers (read: paraffin wax) to prolong their shelf life and reduce their temperature sensitivity. This tends to enhance their thixotropic characteristics. Paraffin also contributes to sheen as well.
I certainly didn’t expect so much feedback. thanks!
PS: Welcome aboard(s), sleep1937!
Years ago I remember a Nestle commercial which (supposedly) re-enacted how chocolate chip cookies were invented by accident. A woman cooking at a small B&B (The ‘Tollhouse Inn’) chopped up chocolate into small bits and put them into cookie dough expecting them to melt making chocolate cookies. They didn’t and the rest is history…