Ingredient Ratios for Homemade Milk Chocolate

Question

I am experimenting with making chocolate.

From the research I did, the best starting point I got for ratios for normal "70% dark" chocolate is:

• 30% Sugar
• 38.5% Cocoa Butter (55% Butter of 70%)
• 31.5% Cocoa Solids (45% Solids of 70%)

I reckon I successfully made some dark chocolate! I am happy with the result.

I do have kids though, and they are not quite there yet on "dark" chocolate.

From research, the basic idea is to add in milk powder.

I substituted half of the cocoa solids with whey powder (does it make a difference?). The taste is "alright," but the mix was very "gritty." As soon as the whey went in, it became a "porridge" rather than a "thin custard." It has yet to set, but I think it will set fine. It's just not going to be very consistent in texture.

Can you point me in the direction of the basic starting ratios for milk chocolate? I am not necessarily looking for recipes, as those that I do find vary greatly and use all sorts of different vegetable fats, etc.

I want to limit my ingredients to Cocoa butter, Cocoa Solids, Milk Powder and Sugar.

Answer 1

Like Sneftel said, whey powder is NOT milk powder. Whey powder is created using curdled and strained milk by-product. It's closer to cheese than it is to milk.

Milk powder is just evaporated milk.

With that out of the way, if I were to create a ratio by making modifications based on your ratio it would be: 30% sugar, 28.5% cacao butter, 21.5% cacao solids, 20% milk powder.

Again, make sure you are using actual milk powder, not whey powder.