Experiments In Chocolate Making (Part 3)

Posted by in Features on August 20 2014 | Leave A Comment

Experiments In Chocolate Making

Keep reading to find out how you can win your own chocolate making equipment from Lékué. You can read our previous experiments with chocolate making here and here.


From time to time, I like to get my hands dirty in the kitchen and have a go at making my own filled chocolates. I’m no chocolatier and I’ve no desire to be one (it’s an awful lot of work and requires a great deal of skill!), but it’s fun to play around in the kitchen and it does help give me a small insight into the challenges small scale chocolatiers face.

Moulding is one of the big issues and decent chocolate moulds are quite expensive. There are options for the home chocolatier though, and when Lékué offered to send me some silicon moulds to play with I jumped at the chance.

Lekue Chocolate Bowl

They also sent me a few other items, including this collapsable silicon chocolate bowl for melting chocolate – either in a double boiler or in the microwave. So as part of my latest experiment, I thought I’d give them a go.

Around the same time I was sent the Lékué products, I happened to be visiting the warehouse of HB Ingredients in East Sussex when I saw something on the shelves that caught my eye. Callebaut’s Mycryo is a product I heard about a while ago that intrigued me. Mycryo is simply cocoa butter in powdered form and it bills itself as an alternative form of fat for frying – one that doesn’t impart flavour into the food like oil or butter does.

Callebaut Mycryo

But what’s interesting about Mycryo for me is that the powder is actually pre-crystalised, or tempered. That means that you can use it to temper your chocolate, simply by stirring it in. This page has step by step instructions, but the process is incredibly simple. In my experiments, it proved to be by far the easiest way to temper small amounts of chocolate that I’ve come across.

So with my chocolate melting bowl, moulds and Mycryo, I decided to get to work in the kitchen. Thanks to Paul A Young, I also happened to have a jar of Rum Caramel hanging around, so I decided to use that as the filling for my chocolates.

I used Cacaosuyo’s fruity Peruvian bean-to-bar chocolate for the shells. I melted & tempered around half the chocolate using the chocolate bowl in a bain marie, allowing it to cool to 34C before stirring in a spoonful of Mycryo. Being a fine powder, the Mycro melts quickly and leaves the chocolate smooth, glossy and easy to work with.

Experiments In Chocolate Making

With the aid of a plastic spoon (metal conducts heat and can cool the chocolate too quickly), I filled the moulds, spreading the chocolate around the insides and tapping to get rid of any air bubbles. After filling each of the moulds, I went back and thickened up any areas where the red of the silicon was showing through. A chocolate maker with plenty of chocolate to work with would simply fill the moulds right up, then tip the excess chocolate out, but I found the spoon method to work well when you only have a small quantity.

After setting in the fridge for 20 minutes, I warmed the caramel in the microwave for 10 seconds to make it flow a little more easily, then spooned it into each chocolate mould. I left enough of a gap at the top to seal with chocolate later, then returned the chocolate to the fridge for the caramel to cool back down.

Finally, I melted and tempered the remaining half of the chocolate and spooned it on top of the caramel.. tapping the mould gently to encourage flat bottoms and to eliminate any air bubbles.

Once set, I simply pressed the chocolates out of the mould and voila! Delicious dark chocolate rum caramels with a lovely glossy finish.

Experiments In Chocolate Making

Win A Set Of Lekue Chocolate Moulds

Inspired to make your own chocolates? Head on over to our Facebook Page for your chance to win a set of chocolate making moulds and a chocolate bowl from Lékué.

To enter, all you need do is Like Chocablog and leave a comment on this photo telling us what combination of flavours you would use in your own chocolates if you win.

This competition is open to UK residents only, one entry per household. Entries close at midday on Friday 5th September.

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Comments On This Post

  1. miriam isaacs

    My flavour would be brandy and apple

  2. karen cowley

    Milk chocolate with honeycomb pieces

  3. emily jones

    Mini chocolate and Praline cups. Delicious.

  4. Laura

    I would use milk chocolate if I’m honest as that is my favourite and I could eat it all day long, also possibly white chocolate to!

  5. John Taggart

    Mint Chocolate is my favourite

  6. Mrs Ann Kelly

    I would love to make very very violet scrumpticious chocolate with a hint of vanilla ice cream. Delicious.

  7. Joy Portas

    Dark Chocolate with Lemon

  8. chilli and chocolate goes great together

  9. Heather

    I rather like raspberry, rose and white chocolate caramel

  10. samantha price

    i love caramal very tasty

  11. kim neville

    I love praline and crunchy macadamia nuts together would be delicious

  12. Jan

    What about the refreshing hint of lavender, memories of innocence and childhood. Or failing that orange and lemon oozing out from the rich chocolate.

  13. Graham Ross

    Chocolate with vanilla bean

  14. Rachel Butterworth

    I’d make salted caramel and pear chocolates.

  15. Sharon Terry

    It would have to be Summer Fruits – Strawberry, Raspberry, Blueberry and Blackcurrant.

  16. Stacy McBryde

    I’d love to experiment and make Baileys and Tia Maria chocolates

  17. Andy Kadir-Buxton

    Whisky flavoured has got to be good.

  18. greig spencer

    mint and white chociolate

  19. Elizabeth Evans

    I would make a dark chocolate truffle with a raspberry centre – yum!

  20. Julie Edwards

    I would love to make chocolates with a cherry filling.

  21. Michael Clyma

    Pear and Goats cheese chocolate bonbon

  22. it would be milk chocolate with popping candy x

  23. Kelly Hanson

    Sesame seed with a pinch of sea salt 🙂

  24. lorraine stone

    Toffee apple flavour would be fab, especially at this time of year with Autumn in the air.

  25. Victoria Savill

    Raspberry and shortbread

  26. Kathryn

    Chocolate with orange caramel and nut pieces

  27. vicki hennie

    chilli and chocolate

  28. Rebecca Cleary

    White Chocolate & Baileys or White Choc, Raspberry & Mango!

  29. joshua coman

    Violet flavour… Like the palmer violet sweets

  30. ann carline

    Coffee and Cream with milk chocolate

  31. Rebecca Gransden

    Would love to try spearmint chocolates

  32. laura hand

    white chocolate and rasberry

  33. Cherrie

    White. Chocolate and strawberry

  34. LEE HARDY

    dark chocolate with orange.

  35. Kate johnson

    Salted caramel white chocolate truffle

  36. Mike Marsh

    Beer and Steak

  37. Michelle Hughes

    Mint chocolate with honeycomb drizzle! x

  38. ray

    orange flavoured chocolate my fav

  39. Robby Price

    Coffee and Tia Maria

  40. Zoe Bryan

    salted caramel mmmmmmm

  41. donna jones

    maralade and chocolate

  42. Sheri Darby

    Ginger and almond

  43. Jennifer Toal

    Dark chocolate orange!!

  44. Lexy Law

    Cherry Bakewell flavour x

  45. jackie chapman

    Strawberry and vanilla

  46. Zoe Coen

    Mint chocolate

  47. gill colling

    coffee liquers

  48. Susan Hoggett

    salted caramel with cherry in centre

  49. Michelle Wild

    Blueberry/pomegranate

  50. Brenda Wilkes

    Would have to be Gooseberry Creams – Quality Street used to have them but stopped making them many years ago. They were so yummy!

  51. clair downham

    orange and cinnamon

  52. Kirsty Woods

    Plain dark chocolate, yum

  53. Jacqueline Roberts

    Peanut butter and toffee

  54. Sam P Toms

    Sea salt and caramel

  55. Adrian Clarke

    Apple and Raisen

  56. Elizabeth Kozak

    candy floss flavour

  57. julie daly

    white chocolate and almonds

  58. Natalie Gillham

    Champagne Truffles or Cherry Brandy Liqueur 🙂 x

  59. Sarah Huddlestone

    I would like to try a chocolate orange flavour or a white chocolate filling on the inside – mmm!

  60. Kirsty Greer

    Brandy ones for Christmas x

  61. catriona nation

    Strawberry creams

  62. tracey baker

    I would make some Coffee chocolates as they are my favorite!!!

  63. Victoria B

    Very simple, strawberry or orange. Classic.

  64. champaklal lad

    Vanilla / Strawberry flavour chocolate

  65. PinkFluffyUnicorn's

    We love choclate

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