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Enrobing: coating fillings perfectly with chocolate
Enrobing means coating fillings with a layer of chocolate. Pralines, truffles, cookies, biscuits, marzipan pieces or chilled fillings: they are all suitable. It is still often done by hand, but an enrobing machine does it faster, more precisely and more hygienically.
By hand or by machine?
Enrobing by hand means dipping every filling into a bath of tempered chocolate. That is true craftsmanship, but it is also time-consuming. What’s more, the chocolate is constantly in contact with the fillings, so it stays less pure.
An automatic enrobing machine, also known as an enrober, solves that:
- Higher productivity: the capacity of your workshop rises considerably, without the quality of the finished product suffering.
- An adjustable coating thickness: the flow rate is stable and adjustable, so you determine the thickness of the chocolate layer with great precision.
- Better hygiene: the tempered chocolate stays pure and the products are hardly touched.
- An even finish: every piece gets the same coating and the same gloss.
How an enrobing machine works
- A silent motor drives a woven stainless steel belt that carries the products along the full length of the machine.
- Heating lamps pre-warm the belt, so that excess chocolate does not stick to it.
- The belt takes the products through a single or double curtain of liquid, tempered chocolate.
- A vibrating section shakes off the excess chocolate and a detailer (tail remover) removes the little tail at the bottom. On larger lines, a blower unit makes the coating even smoother.
- The enrobed products land on a sheet of thin parchment paper. With the take-off plate supplied, you can easily move them to the cooling area.
It all starts with well-tempered chocolate
An enrobing machine always works together with a moulding and tempering machine. First, the chocolate is melted and pre-crystallised. Then you place the enrobing machine on the moulding machine, which continuously feeds the chocolate curtain. Because you control the flow rate, you also control the thickness of the coating. Without correctly tempered chocolate, you will get neither gloss nor a clean snap. So be sure to read Tempering chocolate: the basis for a perfect result as well.
From table-top set-up to complete truffle line
The Mol d’Art enrobing machines come in various belt widths and can be expanded step by step.
| Set-up | Suitable for |
|---|---|
| Enrobing machine of 18 or 28 cm on a 50 kg moulding machine | Artisan and medium-sized workshops |
| Enrobing line for truffles: 18 cm enrobing machine, 50 kg moulding machine, truffle attachment and truffle table | Automatic production of chocolate truffles |
| 60 cm enrobing machine with its own tempering function, pump and conveyor belt | Industrial production, up to 500 kg of pralines per day |
On a truffle line, the truffle attachment carries the enrobed fillings to a rotating truffle table. There they drop into a bed of chocolate shavings, cocoa powder or chocolate granules. You can make the shavings yourself with a shaving machine: see Working efficiently with a chocolate shaving machine.
Add an extra tempering kettle and a cooling tunnel, and you have a fully automated enrobing line tailored to your business.
Five tips for a beautiful result
- Work with chilled, firm fillings. They keep their shape under the warm chocolate curtain.
- Pre-warm the belt with the lamps before you start.
- Adjust the flow rate to the product. A thin layer for biscuits, a thicker one for truffles.
- Cool gradually. Sudden cold can cause chocolate to develop a white bloom.
- Touch the products as little as possible until they have set completely.