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Making a 3D Chocolate Apple

By Bob Sherman

This is an intermediate level 3D chocolate project which may be made with or without mould painting. It makes a great teacher gift. The illustrations below show it painted, but this could easily be made using all milk or dark chocolate. Or using red chocolate - coloured chocolates are white chocolate flavour.

Most of the items you may need can be ordered directly from this page for your convenience.

PLEASE NOTE!! - Although chocolate making is relatively safe for the entire family to participate, adult supervision is required.

Chocolate
I prefer to use chocolate wafers designed for home moulding chocolate. My preferred brand is Merckens which works well with all chocolate moulding projects without tempering, and tastes great.

Melting Chocolate
For a small project like this either melting method may be used, but I prefer a double boiler for ease on control.

Double Boiler

1. Place chocolate in the pot.
2. Heat until creamy.
3. For best results, chocolate should be poured at 88 to 90 degrees F. Under no circumstances should chocolate ever be poured hotter than 160 degrees F. because this will destroy the mould.

A microwave may also be used but care must be taken not to overheat the chocolate.

1. Place the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl.
2. Heat for 30 seconds. Note: When heating small amounts of chocolate, reduce this to 10 second increments.
3. Remove and stir.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until the chocolate is creamy.
5. For best results, chocolate should be poured at 88 to 90 degrees F. Under no circumstances should chocolate ever be poured hotter than 160 degrees F. because this will destroy the mould.

1. Use scissors to cut the four sections of the mould apart.	2. Melt some red chocolate. Note if you are not painting the mould, skip steps 2 through 5.
3. Use a pastry brush to apply a thin layer of red to both halves of the apple mould. The first coat will be streaky, just make sure there are no air bubbles.	4. Set aside to harden.
5. Apply a second, thicker coat of red and set aside to cool. Holding the mould up to a light will show up any thin spots. I left some areas thin on this project to illustrate what happens if this step is skipped.	6. Melt a small amount of green chocolate and paint the leaf area on one half of the leaf mould only. Note: The leaf and stem are extremely fragile and difficult to make without breaking - you may want to consider using a paper leaf or making one with a decorating bag and icing.
7. Use milk chocolate to paint the stem. Place in the refrigerator until it de moulds easily.	8. Fill the bottom half of the apple with milk chocolate.
9. Align the top half and clamp the mould halves together.	10. Rotate the mould so the entire inside surface gets covered with chocolate. Repeat this every minute or so for about ten minutes. This process is a bit faster when placed in a refrigerator, but it is easy to lose track of the time and if you forget to rotate it you will need to start over.
11. Remove the leaf half from the mould when ready.	12. Paint the other half of the leaf mould with green and milk chocolate. I ran short of melted green so filled in the center with milk chocolate where it wouldn't show on the finished piece.
13. Immediately place the finished half from step 11 into the mould cavity. This creates a solid moulded 3d piece. Place in a refrigerator until it de moulds easily.	14. The apple after mould removal. Note how the milk chocolate is showing through the thin areas in the red. I like this look since it adds visual interest, however if you don't like this style avoid thin spots in the red.
15. The completed leaf and stem assembly.	16. The stem is attached with a dab of chocolate.
17. To make this gift worthy all that remains is a nice package such as our cello bags and twist ties.

Disclaimer: The information presented here is accurate to the best of my knowledge and common chocolate moulding practices as of the time of this writing - May 2006. The author and the publisher accept no liability for the use or misuse of any of the information presented in this article. This articles is presented for informational purposes and is used at your own risk.

Author: Bob Sherman

Publisher: Bobby's Craft Boutique Inc.