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I recently made New Best Recipe's chocolate pudding recipe. It's very good, but I was expecting that sort of 'glossy' texture you get with store bought pudding cups (at least in the U.S.) whereas this isn't quite as smooth. It's definitely not grainy or anything - as far as I can tell, I made the recipe correctly and it came out properly - it's just not that extra little bit of smooth, I suppose (kind of hard to describe the texture I'm looking for).

Is the texture in a store bought pudding cup something that is achieved because of whatever impossible-to-pronounce stuff they throw in there, or is it something I can modify the recipe to achieve? (I can provide the original recipe if necessary.)

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    Did you pass it through a fine mesh sieve? That might help.
    – moscafj
    Commented Aug 19, 2019 at 21:31
  • @moscafj yep. After cooking, I passed it through a sieve, then chilled the pudding. I possibly could have used a finer sieve, I suppose.
    – auden
    Commented Aug 19, 2019 at 21:45
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    @heather...the finer the sieve, the smoother the texture...and, you can pass it through more then once.
    – moscafj
    Commented Aug 19, 2019 at 22:07
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    Whisk more. Never stop whisking.
    – user50726
    Commented Aug 20, 2019 at 5:12

2 Answers 2

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Without the actual recipe to work with it's hard to suggest precise modifications (I don't have the cookbook you mention), but it's quite possible that store-bought puddings have more gelatin and/or gum-like ingredients. Gelatin can be added to a ganache (normally some combination of chocolate and cream, with a low-gloss finish) to achieve a "mirror glaze", which has a very smooth, consistent, high-gloss surface. Perhaps adding a bit more gelatin (and liquid?) to your recipe will get you there.

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From my experience what really helps with the glossy texture is butter. The more you add the glossier it becomes.

But then if you mean clumpiness then for that I sift the cocoa powder before putting it in and I whisk continuously so that it doesn't clump.

I found that if you don't whisk it when you add the dry ingredients (try to add all together) the lumps don't go away, even if blended later on.

So whisk ALL the cocoa and cornstarch when initially adding, and add them all in one.

After countless hours of pudding making, this has proven to be the only way.

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