Thursday, October 13, 2011

Baking: Three of a (Chocolate) Kind

What better way to kick off a trip to Atlantic City than with cards and dice? Made of chocolate, of course!

While preparing for the upcoming trip (with three boys nonetheless!) I knew munchies were an absolute must.  Luckily I stumbled upon a cards and dice-theme chocolate mold while browsing N.Y. Cake, a haven of all things baking-related.  It's a no-frills store and fairly reasonably priced given its NYC location.  The aisles are tightly lined with an overwhelming variety of baking and decorating tools.  Spare yourself the guilt and just resign all self-control at the door. At least that's what I do!  It's a family-run store and they even offer cake decorating classes. (More on that in posts to come, stay tuned!)

N.Y. Cake Storefront (Source: http://newyork.seriouseats.com)

Along with the chocolate mold, I also picked up a 1 pound bag of mixed colored chocolate melts.  Mine came with regular milk chocolate, white chocolate and orange chocolate melts.

Now let's get started! One color at a time, microwave the chocolate melts on 50% power for 1 minute in a microwavable bowl.  Stir and repeat until the chocolate is melted.  The consistency should be fluid, so that it easily dribbles off your spoon. Yummm, go ahead and lick that spoon, indulge yourself!


However if your chocolate doesn't seem to ever get liquidy (like mine), mix in 1 tsp of oil (I used vegetable oil).  This should help the consistency a lot.  Upon learning from a prior chocolate disaster and advice from Piggy KK: Water and chocolate do not mix.
No kidding!! Water will only make the chocolate thicker and clumpier.  I'm still shocked my fiasco did not scar me from chocolate forever, but here we go again - this time all the wiser!

Here is how my chocolate melts turned out:

Orange melts:  After microwaving it on 50% power for a total of 2 mins, I noticed it was not melting but just becoming drier.  Stirred in 1 tsp of vegetable oil which solved that problem.

White melts:  Microwaved on 50% power for 1 min, stirred.  Microwaved for 30 more seconds and then realized the chocolate was smoking. Yikes! Unfortunately it burnt through and I had to toss this batch.

Milk chocolate melts: These came out perfect and were the easiest to work with.  After microwaving it for a total of 2 mins, the consistency was perfect!

Once your chocolate is good to go, fill your mold using a spoon or icing bag.
Tap the mold against a flat surface to make the chocolate settle into the grooves of the mold.
Freeze for 5-10 mins.
To remove the chocolate from the mold, turn the mold upside down and gently tap it close to a flat surface to loosen the chocolates.

Easy peasy (so long as you remember *Water and chocolate do not mix!*)!!


Final product! Chocolate cards and dice

Give it a try and let me know how it goes!

Piggy KL

No comments:

Post a Comment