Making Chocolates with Molds: don't fear the molds

Not only do some people fear the molds but they disdain them as well. How could you disdain a chocolate mold. That's like disdaining a screwdriver. For some, only slabbed ganache and dipped chocolates will do. (A ganache is a system of chocolate and a liquid, usually cream, sometimes butter but really any liquid.) Perhaps, if it is in the shape of a mouse or rabbit, piped ganache will be allowed. But mater, pater, no molded chocolates unless it's a holiday. Rubbish, I say. These are probably the same people that disdain milk chocolate and white chocolate. Double rubbish. All you milk chocolate bashers, can we talk? ;-)

It is easy to make molded chocolates. Well, sort of. Easier than brain surgery or even knee surgery. I'll let you be the judge of how easy it is. For me, at least, all confections and chocolates are easy.

Let's start. First temper your chocolate. That's a mouth full right there. I wont explain in this post how to temper chocolate. If anyone is interested in hand tempering, ask. I'll post a mini-tutorial, with, I hope, video. If not, buy a tempering machine. Chocovision has some great machines. They range from 5 lbs to 10 lbs. I think they have a 25 lb machine, too. Good people. Good machines.

First you must polish your mold. Not wash, not clean, but rather take a bed sheet, that's what I use, tear it up and wash it till it is super clean. Use the washing machine. Next, use the cloth to get out any residue in your molds. Don't wash your molds in the dishwasher or you will ruin them. Don't wet the cloth. Use it dry. It has to be soft or you will ruin your mold. After the mold is polished and you know it is dry, bone dry. Pour chocolate into the mold.



Use a spatula to get rid of the excess.





Put this on a sheet pan with parchment and bang it for many minutes. I tell my assistants that they must bang a mold every time they touch it, whether it means filling it or emptying it. After you bang the molds, empty the extra back into your tempering machine or bowl or what have you. I have another video of this. (Come on, blogger, get your video act together.) NB, milk chocolate takes longer to set or dry than dark. Much longer. Double the time.

Next, if you are making a shell, empty out the excess chocolate.





Then turn the now emptied mold onto forms or some sort of sticks to keep it off the parchment.

I use these great Plexiglas sticks. They make great forms as well for caramel. Much better than metal.



You may want to slam the mold down hard or rap its back to get the excess chocolate out. I'm using pictures from two different chocolate sessions. This one is from a milk chocolate cordial session. These will eventually become Milk Chocolate Irish Mist Apricot Cordials. The milk chocolate I use is the best I have ever eaten. Even better than Peters milk chocolate, and Peters invented it at Nestle.



Also, after about 10 minutes, before the chocolate sets and becomes had, you need to scrape away the excess chocolate.



Next fill the molds with whatever you want.



Here we are making my famous chili chocolates.

Finally, we need to cap these wonderful chocolates.



And in the end, you get beautifully molded chocolates that taste like heaven.

Can you make your own molded chocolates. Yes. Can you make my beautiful molded bits of heaven? No. If you would like to try my creations, please go to Life by Chocolate and order some online today. Or go to your local health food store or grocery store and buy some. We distribute to stores in five state. Click here for more information. Enjoy.