Most bakers do not need to know what 811 is. They need to know what to buy for the thing they are making on Thursday. This guide works the other way round from a product catalogue: pick your dessert, get the chocolate.
One principle underneath all of it: match fluidity to the job, then cocoa percentage to the flavour you want. Most failed batches are a fluidity mistake, not a temperature mistake.
San Sebastián / Basque burnt cheesecake
Use 811 (54.5% dark).
This one surprises people. The instinct is to reach for the most intense dark you have, and it is the wrong instinct.
A Basque cheesecake is mostly cream cheese, and cream cheese is acidic. A 70% chocolate fights that acidity — the result reads harsh and chalky rather than rich. 811 has enough cocoa presence to be unmistakably chocolate while still letting the cheesecake taste like cheesecake.
Melt it and fold it into the batter while the chocolate is warm but not hot. If it cools too far it seizes against the cold cheese and you get streaks.
For a white San Sebastián, use W2 — but drop your oven temperature by 10 °C. White chocolate contains milk solids that scorch, and a Basque cheesecake is baked deliberately hot. The classic burnt top and white chocolate are working against each other; you need to meet in the middle.
Avoid: 70-30-38. Too assertive, and its low fluidity makes it harder to fold in evenly.
Moulded bonbons
Shell: 811 for dark, 823 for milk, W2 for white, Ruby RB2 for pink.
The shell is the whole game. It should be thin enough to break cleanly against the filling — thick shells taste of chocolate and bury whatever you put inside.
That means fluidity matters more here than anywhere else. 811 at medium fluidity is the workable minimum; if you are doing fine detail moulds, a more fluid dark will fill better on the first pour instead of trapping air.
Filling: use a different chocolate from the shell. Ganache centres want body, so 70-30-38 sets firmer and holds its shape when you cut a bonbon in half.
Ruby: use it pure. The colour and the berry tang are the product. A ruby shell over a dark ganache wastes both — pair it with something light instead: raspberry, citrus, white ganache.
Working out how much to order? Our quantities guide covers shell and filling weights per hundred.
Avoid: 70-30-38 as a shell. Thick walls, trapped air, heavy mouthfeel.
Ganache cake and drip cakes
Use 70-30-38 (70.5% dark) for structure. Use 811 for a softer, more spreadable finish.
Ganache firmness comes from two things: the chocolate and the ratio. Getting the chocolate right first makes the ratio predictable.
70-30-38 has low fluidity, which is exactly what a ganache wants — it sets firm, holds a clean edge between cake layers, and survives being stacked. 811 gives a looser, glossier ganache that spreads more easily but will not hold as sharp a line.
Ganache ratios that actually work
| Chocolate | Chocolate : cream | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Dark (70-30-38) | 2 : 1 | Firm — layers, piping, truffle centres |
| Dark (811) | 1 : 1 | Soft — glaze, spreadable filling |
| Milk (823) | 2.5 : 1 | Firm enough to hold |
| White (W2) | 3 : 1 | Sets at all |
Milk and white need much more chocolate to the same weight of cream, because the milk fat softens the set. A 1:1 white ganache never firms up — this is the most common ganache failure in a bakery.
Avoid: using the same ratio across all three types. It works for dark and fails for everything else.
Brownies and baked goods
Use 811 in the batter. Use bake-stable chips or chunks for inclusions.
Melted into a batter, 811 gives depth without turning the crumb bitter. 70-30-38 works if you want an intense, almost savoury brownie, but reduce the sugar or it reads sharp.
For visible chunks that survive the oven, couverture is the wrong tool — it melts and disappears into the crumb. Bake-stable chips and chunks are formulated to hold their shape at oven temperature. That is what they are for.
Chocolate mousse
Use 70-30-38 for dark, 823 for milk, W2 for white.
Mousse is aerated, and air dilutes flavour. You need more intensity than the finished taste suggests, which is why 70-30-38 works better here than 811 — the same reasoning applies to anything you whip.
For white mousse, expect to use noticeably more chocolate than a dark recipe calls for. W2 at 28% simply carries less flavour per gram.
Enrobing and dipping
Use 811 as a minimum; more fluid is better.
Coating wants thin. A fluid chocolate leaves a delicate shell with a sharper snap and does not drown whatever you dipped in it.
For dipped fruit specifically, dry the fruit thoroughly first. Any surface moisture will seize the chocolate on contact.
Ice cream and gelato
Use 70-30-38.
Cold mutes flavour perception. A chocolate that tastes balanced at room temperature tastes thin at −12 °C, which is why so much homemade chocolate ice cream disappoints.
Go higher than instinct suggests. 70-30-38 at 70.5% lands about right once frozen. 811 will read weak.
Hot chocolate and beverages
Use 823 for a classic milk drink, 811 for a dark one.
Real couverture makes a better drink than cocoa powder because the cocoa butter gives body. Melt it into a little hot milk first to make a smooth base, then thin to the consistency you want.
Cocoa powder still has a place: use Dutch-process cocoa for dusting the top, where you want colour and bitterness without added fat.
Mirror glaze
Use W2 as the base for coloured glazes, 811 for dark.
Coloured mirror glazes start white because pigment reads true on a pale base. W2 gives a neutral canvas.
Glazes need gelatine and a precise pouring temperature — usually 30–35 °C. The chocolate choice matters less here than the technique, but a fluid chocolate pours more evenly.
Everything on one page
| What you are making | Use |
|---|---|
| San Sebastián, chocolate | 811 |
| San Sebastián, white | W2, lower the oven 10 °C |
| Bonbon shells | 811 / 823 / W2 / Ruby RB2 |
| Bonbon ganache centres | 70-30-38 |
| Ganache for layer cakes | 70-30-38 |
| Ganache for glazing, spreading | 811 |
| Brownie batter | 811 |
| Visible chunks in baking | Bake-stable chips or chunks |
| Mousse | 70-30-38 / 823 / W2 |
| Enrobing, dipping | 811 or more fluid |
| Ice cream, gelato | 70-30-38 |
| Hot chocolate | 823 or 811 |
| Mirror glaze, coloured | W2 |
If you only stock two
811 and 823. Between them they cover the majority of a bakery’s work — dark and milk, both at medium fluidity, both forgiving.
Add 70-30-38 third if you make ganache or mousse regularly. Add W2 fourth if you do colour work or white desserts.
Ruby is a specialist — buy it when you have a specific plan for it, not to have it on the shelf.
Related reading
- Which Callebaut recipe for which job — the same question from the product’s side
- How much chocolate do you need? — working quantities for a production run
- How to temper chocolate — the 45–27–31 method
Not sure which one your recipe needs? Tell us what you are making and we will point you at the right chocolate. Antalia Wholesale is an authorized Canadian distributor of the Barry Callebaut Group — Callebaut, Cacao Barry and Van Leer. We hold couverture in Concord, Ontario, and ship across Canada.
