Compound chocolate is a product made from a combination of cocoa, vegetable fat, and sweeteners. It is used as a lower-cost alternative to true 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. It may also be known as ‘compound coating’ or ‘chocolatey coating’ when used as a coating for candy. Often used in lower-grade candy bars, compound chocolate is designed to simulate enrobed chocolate on a product. Cocoa butter must be tempered to maintain gloss and coating. A baker tempers chocolate by cooling the chocolate mass below its setting point, then rewarming the chocolate to between for milk chocolate, or between for semi-sweet chocolate. Compound coatings, however, do not need to be tempered. Instead, they are simply warmed to between above the coating’s melting point.
