Real-Life Math -- Solution
Increasing or dividing recipes is not hard to do. But before you can get started, you have to decide how many times larger or smaller the recipe needs to be. In this case, you're increasing the size of the recipe. So your first step is to determine how many times you need to increase the recipe to make the desired yield.
This recipe makes 25 cream-filled hearts. Begin by dividing the number of hearts you need by the number of hearts the recipe makes.
125 / 25 = 5
So you're going to multiply your recipe by 5.
Start with the cocoa butter. It takes 3.5 cups of cocoa butter to make 25 hearts. To determine how much cocoa butter it takes to make 125 hearts, multiply 3.5 by 5.
3 1/2 x 5 = 17 1/2
It will take 17 1/2 cups of cocoa butter to make 125 hearts.
Now, multiply the amount of cocoa powder needed.
1 3/4 x 5 = 8 3/4
And multiply the amount of sugar needed.
3 1/3 x 5 = 16 2/3
To create 125 cream-filled hearts you'll need 17 1/2 cups of cocoa butter, 8 3/4 cups of cocoa powder, and 16 2/3 cups of sugar.
"Arithmetic is a skill you'll need for sure," says Michael Collins, a chocolatier. "Anyone who works in the food business should be able to convert a recipe. And we're constantly doing some kind of basic math and simple algebra."