DIY figures made chocolate with their own hands in the 18th century. In those days, the cost of this sweetness was incredibly high, so the first copies of the confectioners were poured into wooden molds in the form of ingots. However, soon the competition between the masters led to the fact that the figures were already made according to unique sketches. For the first time, the Belgian company Berwaerts released metal molds for pouring hot molten chocolate in 1840.
Making chocolate figurines with your own hands has become a real art. In Cologne, there is the Schokoladenmuseum Museum, which contains a wonderful collection of works by masters. Often, confectioners of the world organize competitive competitions, where masterpieces appear to the surprised gaze of the audience. This is an interesting and creative work that can captivate anyone.
If you think that making chocolate figures with your own hands is an occupation inaccessible to a simple layman, then you are deeply mistaken. After familiarizing yourself with the principle of the work, you will radically change your mind. In order to pour simple products, such as leaves or a butterfly on a cake, you do not need to have the makings of a sculptor or artistic talents. The main thing is to find a suitable mold or pattern for openwork and flat products.
In the article, we will consider how to make figures from plastic chocolate with your own hands, how to melt material for crafts, which chocolate to choose, how to work with a white analogue, how to color it if necessary. We will explain in detail several ways of melting chocolate, give tips on using forms.
Belgian Chocolate Figurines
Chocolate from Belgium Barry Callebaut is replete with a variety of shapes. These are expensive souvenirs of the highest quality, made by the masters of an ancient enterprise with the latest production technologies.
A set of chocolate figures can be purchased as a gift to a person of any profession. So, the hairdresser will like the products depicted in the photograph above. For the locksmith, you can pick up pliers and screwdrivers. For an avid motorist, “buy” a car of your favorite brand, and an electrician - a light bulb. A military man will be delighted with a chocolate pistol, and a child with a figurine on a wooden stick.
You can pick up a souvenir with the image of the symbol of the New Year or in the form of an openwork frame for a photograph. Surprise your loved one with a heart-shaped chocolate box filled with sweets.
The use of chocolate products
The first samples of the pen can be done on homemade flat cookies. Place the melted chocolate according to the rules in a cooking syringe or bag and draw funny emoticons. Children will be delighted with such an experiment. Usually housewives do not stop at this stage, because you want to create more and more.
Using sketching drawings, you can make flat figures to decorate a cake or a serving of ice cream. It is interesting to draw a chocolate figure for each guest on parchment that would characterize him. This treat will be a great topic for a fun discussion with friends.
And how interesting it will be for children to participate in the work! Even a simple self-made drawing will be the pride of the baby. Both girls and boys will be enthusiastically working with plastic chocolate.
Hand-made chocolate figures will be a wonderful gift for the holiday, you just need to wrap the voluminous work in cellophane and tie a lush bow. You can make sweets by yourself, stuffing them with nuts or dried fruits. As you can see, the use of figures is quite extensive, so let's learn how to create them with our own hands.
What is necessary for work?
To create chocolate crafts, you must first buy it. Choose a tile with a cocoa content of at least 75%. This is a dark chocolate with a harder structure, it will retain its shape well at room temperature.
Prepare the following materials:
- If you will do volumetric figures, you will need molds. They can be metal or silicone, which are used for baking confectionery or sweets.
- If the crafts are flat, then you need a sheet of parchment.
- A small pot.
- Bowl.
- Capacity where the poured molds will fit. It should fit in the refrigerator.
- Knife for cutting (if necessary).
- If the work is done on a screen, then print or draw a picture by hand.
- A pastry bag for drawing with plastic chocolate or a spoon for filling the mold.
Next, we consider methods of melting bitter and white chocolate.
Three ways to melt chocolate
Depending on the equipment available in the kitchen, you can list several methods for preparing chocolate for work. Before you make a chocolate figurine with your own hands, you need to melt it.
If you have a microwave, then simply break the tile into small pieces and put it inside the oven in a plate. Set the heating time at medium power for only 1 minute. Periodically remove the plate and look at the condition of the chocolate, stir and make sure that it does not overheat and does not burn.
Chocolate is less likely to overheat when using a double boiler. It is enough to chop the tiles into small pieces and fill them in the bowl. Turn the mode to low power and stir constantly. This method is time consuming.
Most often, our housewives use the last of these methods, namely, heating chocolate in a water bath on the stove. Pour some water into the pan, place a container with crushed chocolate on top. Stir constantly with a spoon or wooden spatula and do not leave the stove. Make fire minimal. Turn off the gas immediately after all the chocolate has melted.
Work with white chocolate
Often when making chocolate figures with their own hands, for the cake, additional colors are needed to decorate the craft, to draw small details. For this purpose, you need to cook white chocolate and dyes. This can be natural strawberry or blackcurrant juice or food coloring, which can be purchased at any supermarket.
White chocolate is melted similarly to the dark ones described above, and at the very end add a few drops of the selected color, beat with a whisk until a homogeneous mass is formed and transfer to a pastry bag for easy drawing.
Easy work with molds
The easiest way is to perform volumetric figures, pouring melted chocolate into metal or silicone baking dishes. They can have the appearance of any animal, for example, a bunny, as in the photo below.
It is interesting to make a gift set for a child from figures made of black, milk and white chocolate. Before pouring the molten mass into the molds, lay them on a baking sheet or plate, so that then you can immediately lift everything up and evenly transfer it to the refrigerator shelf. During the rearrangement, make sure that the forms do not roll, otherwise the frozen figure will have sloppy edges.
Contour drawing
To create flat shapes for decorating cakes, baking and making candy on sticks, prepare parchment. If the crafts are even, lay the sheet immediately on the surface of the baking sheet or any board, so that it is convenient to expose it to the cold. Having laid the molten chocolate in a pastry bag, you can draw simple shapes yourself by hand.
If you want to make a complex figure, then on a parchment with a simple pencil, circle the pattern printed on the printer. The chocolate line is clearly placed along its contours.
Create rounded patterns
How to make chocolate figurines flat and rounded at the same time? It's simple. Wrap the rolling pin with parchment, fix its edges on a baking sheet and draw lines and leaflets on its convex surface.
In this way, you can even make an openwork figure in the shape of a tube, placing the pattern around the entire circumference. After hardening, remove the chocolate carefully. Pull the parchment from the rolling pin down and remove it from the inside. Handle the craft gently so that it does not break.
The roundness of the petals of a volumetric flower made of chocolate, as in the photo in the article earlier, was made using disposable plastic spoons. It is enough to dip the back side of the spoon into the molten chocolate and put it on the plate for cooling.
How to make a nest?
To create such an original chocolate craft, use a round dish, turning it upside down. Apply the lines in a chaotic manner to make the bird’s nest branches.
To make a chocolate leaf, pluck a real leaf with clear veins from the tree, wash it thoroughly and apply melted chocolate on its surface with a brush. The nest egg is poured into a mold of white chocolate.
As you can see, creating chocolate figures with your own hands (the photo you looked at in the article) is not difficult. This is a creative and very exciting process. Try it for sure! Good luck