Can I use foil to cover individual Christmas puddings during cooking?
I wouldn’t recommend cooking and storing the puddings in aluminium foil as the fruit reacts with the foil. It is far preferable to use greaseproof paper topped with a layer of foil. Take two sheets of greaseproof paper and top with one of foil, make a pleat in the middle to allow for expansion during cooking and cover the puddings, foil side uppermost, and tie securely with string. Q: When melting chocolate with a high cocoa content, why does it sometimes separate? Chocolate separating has nothing to do with the percentage of cocoa solids it contains – in fact, the purer the chocolate, the harder it is to split as there is no less or no additional fat beyond the existing cocoa butter specified in the cocoa solid volume. Most chocolate contains 35–75% cocoa solids. The two things that cause chocolate to separate are when water gets in to the chocolate being melted, which is why you have to be careful when melting chocolate over a pan of simmering water. However, butter, cream alcohol et
