Cadbury Milk Chocolate

The cocoa mass is sent to the Cadbury milk factory near Hereford. Here it is mixed with sugar and fresh full cream milk, which has already been condensed into a thick liquid. The mixture is dried in vacuum ovens to become milk chocolate ‘crumb’.

The milk chocolate crumb is taken to Cadbury chocolate factories and finely ground between enormous rollers before extra cocoa butter and special flavourings are added.

The amount of cocoa butter added depends on what the chocolate is for – bar chocolate needs to be thick, but if it’s to cover assortments and bars with different centres, thinner chocolate is used. In the UK up to 5% vegetable fat is added too – this stabilises the chocolate and gives the ideal texture to ensure that the melting properties of the chocolate are precise and preserve the taste and ideal texture of the chocolate.

Next, milk chocolate needs to be conched (rolled and kneaded so that it becomes silky smooth), and tempered (cooled to a particular temperature to make it more stable) – just like for dark chocolate.

Now the chocolate’s ready for its final destination – maybe it’ll be poured over a Crunchie, become a Cadbury Creme Egg, or end up as a lovely bar of Dairy Milk – find out what might happen to it on the next page.

Moulded chocolate, countlines and enrobing

So once we’ve made dark chocolate and milk chocolate, what happens to it? That depends on what we’re making.

Bars of chocolate, like Cadbury Dairy Milk, are called ‘moulded’ products – because chocolate is poured into a mould to make them. Liquid chocolate is poured in, it’s shaken (to make sure it fits the mould perfectly), and then cooled, before being wrapped at high speed.

‘Countline’ products are things like Crunchie and Double Decker, with a chocolate covering around a different centre. The centres of the bars are laid out on a conveyer belt, and they pass under an ‘enrobing’ machine, which covers each bar in a layer of liquid chocolate. Chocolate assortments like Milk Tray are made the same way.

As for Cadbury Creme Eggs, they’re made by a special process. They’re moulded in two halves, the fondant centre is dropped into one half, and then the two are put together very swiftly when the chocolate’s still soft so they stick together.