My favorite way to make hot chocolate bombs is to use a 3 part mold. These molds are made of PET, which is a food safe, BPA-free recyclable plastic. Each hole is filled and pressed to create an even piece of chocolate every time, which gives a consistent look for your finished chocolate bombs.
Three part molds are fairly new for making hot chocolate bombs. Due to their design, they offer a high amount of precision, which is useful if you have to make lots of bombs. They do have a small learning curve, but I'll walk you through every step.
These molds can come in many different shapes to create hollow chocolate forms, and I am going to show you how to use the 70mm (2.75inch) size. This size refers to the diameter of the completed sphere and is perfect for fitting into a regular coffee me. I got mine from Amazon here (be sure to select 70mm).
Each mold also comes with 3 very thin inserts. The name "3 part" comes from a top piece, the inserts, and a bottom piece. Because they are made of plastic, they cannot be heated or placed in the dishwasher. It's recommended that between usages its wiped clean with a paper towel to remove residue.
Here's a video tutorial showing exactly what this mold is, how to fill it, and remove chocolate spheres to make the bombs.
If you're looking for tools you need to make the bombs, as well as chocolate types to use, or shipping questions, check out my "Hot chocolate bombs: your complete guide" post, which covers covers more of the basic questions around hot chocolate bombs.
First, let's go over some common questions Iget about using a 3 part mold.
When I heat my chocolate it's thick/clumpy/not fluid...what's going on?
Compound chocolate has this really interesting characteristic that when it gets really hot it thickens up. It sounds counter-intuitive, because I want to think that as we "melt" ingredients, they should get more runny. It's a pretty simple fix - you didn't burn your chocolate (until you see that it has black spots, in which you will have to throw it out.) You just have to let it cool down. The ideal working temperature for most compound chocolates is around 100F (32C). You don't need a thermometer at all to work with compound chocolate - but just wait until it cools by gently stirring it in your bowl. It will go back to it's fluid state, I promise.
If you really want to heat up your chocolate, you can caramelize your white chocolate, which is insanely yummy. Even though compound chocolate is not real chocolate, it still works! (Some people believe that caramelized white chocolate is dependent on the cocoa butter content, but it's really dependent on the presence of sugar ;) )
Why can't I get my chocolate out of the 3 part mold?
This is probably the number issue with these molds. As chocolate cools, it naturally contracts or shrinks as it hardens. This happens with real chocolate, and probably with compound chocolate as well. (Compound chocolate has different fats, so I'm not totally sure, but it acts similar to real chocolate)
If you have trouble removing the chocolate easily, it is because the chocolate has not set completely. The first time Iused these molds I could not, for the life of me, get them out. Turns out Iwasn't being patient enough in letting them set completely.
If all else fails put your molds with the compound chocolate in them in the freezer. It was almost comical how easy they were to take out when set completely.
My chocolate melts in my hands when I work with it! How do I fix this?
Warm hands, warm heart! But yeah, problematic when working with chocolate. Some people swear by keeping ice nearby to chill their hands when working with chocolate, some people wear gloves. Both those methods can help. You can also try to touch the chocolate as little as possible. Compound chocolate has a higher melting temp than real chocolate (which coincidentally melts at body temp - a key feature as to why it melts in your mouth so wonderfully when you eat it) so at least we have that to our advantage. So when you pop them out of the mold, do it onto the counter top and then use the silicone muffin cups to handle your chocolates.
Here's another tutorial using this mold to make a set of planet bombs:
These were probably my favorite ones of all the bombs I made.
