Compound chocolate is a product made from a combination of cocoa, vegetable fat, and sweeteners. It is used as a lower-cost alternative to pure chocolate, as it uses less-expensive hard vegetable fats such as coconut oil or palm kernel oil in place of the more expensive cocoa butter. Compound chocolate is also known as "compound coating" or "chocolatey coating" when used as a coating for candy. Unlike real chocolate, compound chocolate does not need to be tempered, which is a process of cooling and rewarming chocolate to maintain its gloss and coating. Instead, it is simply warmed to between 3 and 5 °C (5 and 9 °F) above the coatings melting point.

Here are some key differences between compound chocolate and real chocolate:

• Composition: Real chocolate is made of cocoa mass and cocoa butter, while compound chocolate is made of cocoa powder and vegetable fat. The vegetable fats used in compound chocolate can be derived from palm, palm kernel, shea, or a combination of these oils.

• Taste and texture: Compound chocolate only gets its chocolate flavor from bulk cocoa powder, missing depth, and aroma in the chocolate. It tends to have more sugar in it, which might give it an extra sweet effect, but it also reduces the effect of the chocolate flavor. Real chocolate has various tastes based on origin, the roasting of the cocoa nibs, and the percentage of cocoa solids. Compound chocolate allows for big possibility to play around with different textures and melting points, to create a perfect product for specific applications.

• Tempering: Real chocolate needs to be tempered to maintain its gloss and coating. Compound chocolate, on the other hand, does not require chocolate tempering.

Compound chocolate is often used in less expensive chocolate bars to replace enrobed chocolate on a product. It is also used as a coating on cakes, brownies, etc., as it retains a good consistency. It is great to be used as fillings in biscuits and is used for decorating cakes, for example, as it will harden to form a shell around the soft baked goods. Compound chocolate is more flexible in the manufacturing process and versatile, making it a popular choice for cookin...