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Chef Christophe Rull shows us how to transform tempered chocolate into a 3D rocking horse showpiece! These are some of the techniques that a pastry chef needs to create strong and stable chocolate sculptures!

I was so excited to see how Christophe made this showpiece, I tried to make one of my own alongside his demonstration but I made mine into a rocking unicorn haha!

Chocolate Rocking Horse Ingredients

You want to start with tempered chocolate! This is super important for a strong and stable showpiece. So if you don't know how to temper chocolate, make sure you watch Christophe's tutorial on how to temper chocolate with cocoa butter or you can temper your own chocolate using a traditional seeding method or in a microwave.

Tools & Equipment

You can download your free horse template here.

Horse Template #1

Horse Template #2

Horse Template #3

Making The Chocolate Pieces

1. Lay your newsprint down onto the table and then place your large sheet of acetate over the top.
2. Arrange all your templates on top of the acetate to make sure you have enough space for all the pieces.
3. Make a border with your ¼" plexiglass spacers around the templates. Remove the templates and set them aside for now.
4. Fill your pastry bag with the tempered chocolate and glue the spacers down.
5. Fill the center of the square with tempered chocolate.
6. Use a ruler or straight edge to make the chocolate flat and even.
7. Once the chocolate starts to look slightly matte (after about 5 minutes) trace between the chocolate and the plexiglass border and remove the border.
8. Place the template on top of the chocolate and trace around it with your skewer to cut out the shapes. Work quickly before the chocolate fully sets.
9. You can make extra pieces just in case of breakage.
10. Remove the templates and discard them.
11. Place the chocolate pieces on top of a large sheet pan or plexiglass with parchment paper underneath. Put some parchment on top of the chocolate. Place a large piece of plexiglass or heavy sheet pan on top so as the chocolate sets in the cooler, it does not curl.
12. After 10 minutes you can take the chocolate out of the cooler.
13. Remove the chocolate pieces from the surrounding chocolate. If you have any cracked pieces watch the video to watch how Christophe fixes broken pieces.
14. Brush the chocolate pieces with a wire brush to create a wooden texture. Brush off the excess chocolate dust with a pastry brush.

Assembling The Chocolate Horse

1. Begin attaching the legs with tempered chocolate and set the pieces with cold spray. Pay close attention to making sure your pieces are straight. Turn the horse over and attach the legs to the other side.
2. Wipe off any excess chocolate with your fingers to keep the structure clean looking.
3. Attach the curved pieces of chocolate to the base with tempered chocolate and set with cold spray.
4. Attach all the cross pieces with tempered chocolate and set with cold spray.
5. Attach the horse to the base with tempered chocolate and cold spray, making sure the horse is straight up and down.
6. Attach the seat, rocking horse handles and tail and you're done! We used a food processor to blend the chocolate and form it into the handles, check out Christophe's chocolate flower for more information.

More Chocolate Recipes & Tutorials

Hot Chocolate Bombs

Chocolate Ganache 101

Water Ganache Drip

How To Temper Chocolate In The Microwave

Recipe

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5 from 2 votes

Chocolate Horse Showpiece

A chocolate horse showpiece makes a great centerpiece for a fun party or event. Chef Christophe Rull shows us how to transform tempered chocolate into a strong and stable chocolate horse! You can use these same techniques for many different types of projects.

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time10 minutes mins

Assembly30 minutes mins

Total Time50 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: French

Servings: 10 servings

Calories: 528kcal

Author: Elizabeth Marek

Equipment

• Newsprint
• Large and Small Acetate Sheets
• ¼" thick acrylic strips
• Horse Template
• Wire Brush
• EZ Temper Machine (optional)
• Cold Spray

Ingredients

For the tempered chocolate

• 1000 grams couverature chocolate
• 10 grams tempered cocoa butter paste (optional)

Instructions

Making the Chocolate Pieces

• Lay your newsprint down onto the table and then place your large sheet of acetate over the top.
• Arrange all your templates on top of the acetate to make sure you have enough space for all the pieces.
• Make a border with your ¼" plexiglass spacers around the templates. Remove the templates and set them aside for now.
• Fill your pastry bag with the tempered chocolate and glue the spacers down.
• Fill the center of the square with tempered chocolate.
• Use a ruler or straight edge to make the chocolate flat and even.
• Once the chocolate starts to look slightly matte (after about 5 minutes) and is slightly tacky but not fully set. You may need to start tracing in areas where it is set. The chocolate doesn't always set at the same time.
• Trace between the chocolate and the plexiglass border and remove the border.
• Place the template on top of the chocolate and trace around it with your skewer to cut out the shapes. Work quickly before the chocolate fully sets.
• You can make extra pieces just in case of breakage.
• Remove the templates and discard them.
• Place the chocolate pieces on top of a large sheet pan or plexiglass with parchment paper underneath. Put some parchment on top of the chocolate. Place a large piece of plexiglass or heavy sheet pan on top so as the chocolate sets in the cooler, it does not curl.
• After 10 minutes you can take the chocolate out of the cooler.
• Remove the chocolate pieces from the surrounding chocolate. If you have any cracked pieces watch the video to watch how Christophe fixes broken pieces.
• Brush the chocolate pieces with a wire brush to create a wooden texture. Brush off the excess chocolate dust with a pastry brush.

Assembling the Chocolate Horse

• Begin attaching the legs with tempered chocolate and set the pieces with cold spray. Pay close attention to making sure your pieces are straight.
• Wipe off any excess chocolate with your fingers to keep the structure clean looking.
• Attach the curved pieces of chocolate to the base with tempered chocolate and set with cold spray.
• Attach all the cross pieces with tempered chocolate and set with cold spray.
• Attach the horse to the base with tempered chocolate and cold spray, making sure the horse is straight up and down.
• Finally, attach the seat to the top of the horse.
• You can add more details like eyes, ears, handles or other decorations and details if you want.

Video

Notes

EZ Tempering Machine

Waring Chocolate Warmer

Cacao Barry Chocolate

Cocoa Butter Drops

Thermometer

If you haven't watched Christophe's video on how to temper chocolate with the EZ Temper machine, you'll want to watch that first.

No tempering machine? No problem! You can temper your chocolate in the microwave or use the traditional seeding method to get your chocolate tempered.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 528kcal | Carbohydrates: 49g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 43g | Saturated Fat: 26g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 14g | Sodium: 5mg | Fiber: 10g | Sugar: 34g

Chef Christophe Rull shows us some amazing chocolate techniques with this chocolate flower showpiece. Learn how to sculpt with tempered chocolate, assemble a chocolate flower and add color with cocoa butter. This chocolate flower makes an amazing topper for a wedding cake!

Chocolate flower tools & equipment

These are the tools that Christophe used very often for making not only a chocolate flower but a lot of types of chocolate sculptures. You can purchase the petal mold here if you want to use this exact mold. Any silicone or polycarbonate sphere mold will work for the base. Here are some options on Amazon.

Some other things you might not have on hand that Chef Christophe uses.

EZ Temper Machine - A fantastic tool for tempering chocolate easily and quickly. You simply add in some unmelted cocoa butter the day before, let the machine bring it to the perfect temperature for proper crystalization then you can add that pre-tempered cocoa butter paste to melted chocolate (1-2% of the total chocolate mass) at 34ºC and then voila, tempered chocolate!

Waring Chocolate Warmer - If you don't have a chocolate tempering machine, keeping your chocolate in temper can be a challenge. The Waring chocolate warmer keeps your tempered chocolate at the exact temperature it needs to be to stay in temper which allows you to work with your chocolate for longer without the need to re-temper.

Chocolate flower ingredients

We are using Zephyr white chocolate from Cocao Barry which is a fantastic chocolate to work with but any white chocolate couverture is going to work great.

You will also need some colored cocoa butter. I got this from Chef Rubber which has a very extensive inventory of colored cocoa butter products.

We are also using tempered cocoa butter paste from the EZ Temper machine but if you don't have the EZ temper you can temper your cocoa butter using the traditional tempering method.

How to make the flower petals

Begin by making sure your chocolate is in temper. Chef Christophe recommends you always do a test to make sure your chocolate is properly crystallizing. Better safe than sorry! If you need a refresher on how to temper chocolate using the EZ Temper machine you can watch this video or you can use my method for tempering in the microwave.

1. Cut your acetate to be just a bit bigger than the petal mold
2. Fill your piping bag with some tempered chocolate and tie the opening to work clean.
3. Use the pinch and release method to fill the petal cavities with white chocolate.
4. Place the sheet of acetate on top of the mold and press to make sure your petals are completely filled.
5. Use your bench scraper to press the the chocolate flat and remove the excess chocolate from the mold.
6. Place the piping bag into the chocolate warmer to keep it at the proper temperature to use later.
7. Set the mold in the fridge to crystalize.

How to make the flower base

1. Use your piping bag to fill your 2" sphere mold (you only need 2 half) but you can make extras just in case.
2. Fill your 1.5" sphere mold to make two full spheres.
3. Place the spheres into the fridge to set while you work on the tendrils.

Making the chocolate tendrils

Did you know you can sculpt with tempered chocolate? I was amazed by this technique.

1. Start by adding your unmelted chocolate pieces into a food processor.
2. Turn the food processor on and blend until the chocolate forms a ball. Do not over-mix it. Now it's ready to sculpt.
3. Use your hands and your cake board to roll out some long tendrils.
4. Cut the end to the length you want it to be.
5. sharpen the tip and bend it into a nice artistic shape.
6. The chocolate will set as it cools and be very strong.

Assembling the chocolate flower

1. Turn your petal mold over (opening side down) and pull the mold off the petals so they don't break.
2. Unmold your spheres.
3. Use your spatula and kitchen torch to melt the top of the half sphere just a bit.
4. Place the second sphere on top and use the cold spray to set the sphere.
5. Working quickly, dip the rounded tip of the flower petal into the tempered chocolate, lay the petal against the base of the chocolate sphere and use the cold spray to set it. Arrange the petals at a slight angle to create movement.
6. Continue adding petals around until you have a few layers of petals.
7. You can pipe a little tempered chocolate in the center of the flower and use the airbrush to add texture to the center of the flower.
8. Glue another sphere on top of the 2" base at a 45" angle as we did before with the spatula and kitchen torch.
9. Attach you tendrils to the back of the base with some more tempered chocolate and set with the cold spray.
10. Attach the chocolate flower to the front of the sphere with melted chocolate and set with cold spray.

How to color the flower with cocoa butter

1. Melt your colored cocoa butter in the microwave. Cool to 30ºC.
2. Add your tempered cocoa butter paste at 29ºC to your melted colored cocoa butter.
3. Add the melted cocoa butter to your airbrush and you can color the flower.
4. Start with yellow and then add highlights with red.

Now your chocolate flower is complete! It can be attached to the cake with a little melted chocolate.

Chef Christophe uses a Waring dehydrator to store his airbrush and cocoa butter to keep it at the correct temperature for airbrushing.

Recipe

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5 from 2 votes

Chocolate Flower Cake Topper

Chef Christophe Rull shows us some amazing chocolate techniques with this chocolate flower showpiece. Learn how to sculpt with tempered chocolate, assemble a chocolate flower and add color with cocoa butter. This chocolate flower makes an amazing topper for a wedding cake!

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

cooling20 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: French

Servings: 1 flower

Calories: 2271kcal

Author: Elizabeth Marek

Equipment

• Sphere Molds
• Petal Mold
• Acetate
• Bench scraper
• infrared thermometer
• Piping Bag
• Air Brush
• EZ Temper Machine (optional)
• Waring Chocolate Warmer (optional)

Ingredients

• 200 grams tempered white chocolate https://sugargeekshow.com/recipe/how-to-temper-chocolate-with-cocoa-butter/
• 200 grams white chocolate couverature
• 2 Tablespoons red cocoa butter
• 1 Tablespoon yellow cocoa butter
• 2 Tablespoons tempered cocoa butter paste optional, if you don't have the EZ temper then you will have to temper the colored cocoa butter and chocolate using either the microwave or traditional seeding method

Instructions

How to Make the Flower Petals

• Cut your acetate to be just a bit bigger than the petal mold.
• Fill your piping bag with some tempered chocolate and tie the opening to work clean.
• Use the pinch and release method to fill the petal cavities with white chocolate.
• Place the sheet of acetate on top of the mold and press to make sure your petals are completely filled.
• Use your bench scraper to press the the chocolate flat and remove the excess chocolate from the mold.
• Place the piping bag into the chocolate warmer to keep it at the proper temperature to use later.
• Set the mold in the fridge to crystalize.

How to Make the Flower Base

• Use your piping bag to fill your 2″ sphere mold (you only need 2 half) but you can make extras just in case.
• Fill your 1.5″ sphere mold to make two full spheres.
• Place the spheres into the fridge to set while you work on the tendrils.

Making the Chocolate Tendrils

• Start by adding your unmelted chocolate pieces into a food processor.
• Turn the food processor on and blend until the chocolate forms a ball. Do not over-mix it. Now it’s ready to sculpt.
• Use your hands and your cake board to roll out some long tendrils.
• Cut the end to the length you want it to be.
• Sharpen the tip and bend it into a nice artistic shape.
• The chocolate will set as it cools and be very strong.

Assembling the Chocolate Flower

• Turn your petal mold over (opening side down) and pull the mold off the petals so they don’t break.
• Unmold your spheres.
• Use your spatula and kitchen torch to melt the top of the half sphere just a bit.
• Place the second sphere on top and use the cold spray to set the sphere.
• Working quickly, dip the rounded tip of the flower petal into the tempered chocolate, lay the petal against the base of the chocolate sphere and use the cold spray to set it. Arrange the petals at a slight angle to create movement.
• Continue adding petals around until you have a few layers of petals.
• You can pipe a little tempered chocolate in the center of the flower and use the airbrush to add texture to the center of the flower.
• Glue another sphere on top of the 2″ base at a 45″ angle as we did before with the spatula and kitchen torch.
• Attach you tendrils to the back of the base with some more tempered chocolate and set with the cold spray.
• Attach the chocolate flower to the front of the sphere with melted chocolate and set with cold spray.

How to Color the Flower with Cocoa Butter

• Melt your colored cocoa butter in the microwave. Cool to 30ºC.
• Add your tempered cocoa butter paste at 29ºC to your melted colored cocoa butter.
• Add the melted cocoa butter to your airbrush and you can color the flower.
• Start with yellow and then add highlights with red.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 2271kcal | Carbohydrates: 248g | Protein: 28g | Fat: 137g | Saturated Fat: 84g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 37g | Cholesterol: 84mg | Sodium: 363mg | Potassium: 1372mg | Fiber: 8g | Sugar: 236g | Vitamin A: 120IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 815mg | Iron: 3mg

These bonbons have a thin and shiny chocolate shell filled with a truly amazing silky soft, white chocolate vanilla bean ganache. I actually thought I didn't like white chocolate until I tasted these bonbons! No joke!

Chef Christophe Rull shows us how to achieve the perfect chocolate bonbons step by step. If you're a novice chocolatier and want to move into making your own flavored bonbons and ganache fillings, you don't want to miss this valuable information! Keep reading to learn how!

What is a bonbon?

A bonbon is a small molded chocolate candy. They are usually filled with things like ganache, sauces, liqueurs, or other sweet fillings. Remember those chocolate-covered cherries from Christmas? That's a kind of bonbon. But in my opinion, the worst version.

In this blog post, Chef Christophe Rull is going to show you how to make your own bonbons! Never buy stale Valentine's day candy again or start selling your own custom bonbon flavors. Once you get the basics down, you'll be making bonbons like crazy!

Chocolate bonbon ingredients

Since the main ingredient to bonbons is chocolate, make sure you're using very high-quality couverature chocolate. The better the quality, the better the taste.

To make these chocolate bonbons we are using really high-quality white chocolate from Cacoa Barry. This chocolate is really nice and thin and perfect for making a shiny, delicious chocolate bonbon.

Since vanilla is our main flavor, we're going all out and using a very fat and juicy Tahitian vanilla bean or you can save some money by using vanilla bean paste or even a good vanilla extract. If you use extract you won't have the pretty specs of vanilla bean in your shell but it will still taste yummy!

Another ingredient you might not have on hand is trimoline which is a form of invert sugar much like corn syrup. Trimoline prevents crystalization, adds sweetness, and gives the ganache a very smooth texture. The best substitutions for trimoline are molasses, honey, corn syrup, or glucose syrup.

Chocolate bonbon equipment

Every chocolatier is going to be familiar with these tools but if you're new to chocolate work, make sure you get these basic chocolate-making supplies before you attempt to make molded chocolates.

• Bonbon mold
• Immersion blender
• Bench scraper
• Heat gun
• Infrared Thermometer
• Acetate
• Fine strainer
• Large piping bag

How to make white chocolate vanilla bean ganache

It's extremely important to make sure you have properly tempered chocolate before you begin the bonbon process. If you need to learn how to temper chocolate you can watch Chef Christophe's previous video on tempering chocolate using the EZ Temper Machine or you can use my easy chocolate tempering method.

First, we want to make our white chocolate ganache. This needs time to firm up so you want to make it at least 6 hours or a day in advance.

1. Melt your white chocolate in the microwave in 30 second increments to prevent burning or over a double boiler until it reaches 104ºF (40ºC). Set it aside.
2. Add your heavy cream and trimoline to a medium saucepan.
3. Scrape the vanilla bean seeds by cutting down the center of the bean first and then scraping the seeds with the flat side of a knife.
4. Add the vanilla bean seeds to the saucepan.
5. Bring your cream to a simmer over medium-high heat (stirring occasionally) and let it simmer for 1 minute and then remove it from the heat. Don't boil the cream.
6. Strain the mixture through a fine strainer to remove any bits of bean pod.
7. Add half of the cream mixture to your melted chocolate and stir until smooth. Starting with half will help prevent separation.
8. Then add in the rest of the cream and stir until smooth. It may look curdled before it looks smooth and that is normal. Just keep mixing.
9. Cool your ganache to around 104ºF (40ºC) so it doesn't melt your butter.
10. Pour your ganache into a tall measuring cup or glass and add in your softened butter.
11. Use an immersion blender to mix the butter with the ganache. Hold the immersion blender at a slight angle under the surface of the ganache to blend. Do not incorporate any air.
12. Cool your ganache to 34ºF and add in your tempered cocoa butter from the EZ Temper machine. If you don't have an EZ Temper you can skip this step. The tempered cocoa butter will help the ganache set up much faster than untempered cocoa butter.
13. Place some plastic wrap on top of the ganache and set it aside to firm up (make sure your room is below 70ºF) or your ganache and chocolate may not set up. If your room is too warm you can place the ganache in the fridge but your room should be below 70ºF anyway to be working with chocolate.

How to temper the chocolate

Once again, we are using the EZ temper machine to temper our chocolate. If you do not have an EZ temper machine then follow the instructions for tempering in the microwave or the seeding method for white chocolate.

1. Melt 1000 grams couverature white chocolate to 100ºF-114ºF (45ºC) either in the microwave or on a double boiler.
2. Add the seeds of one vanilla bean pod (optional but looks and tastes amazing!)
3. Strain the melted chocolate to remove any large fibers
4. Cool the chocolate to 95ºF (34ºC) by adding small amounts of un-melted chocolate and stirring.
5. At 34ºC, add 10 grams of your pre-crystalized cocoa butter from the EZ temper machine.
6. Stir your chocolate continuously until it reaches 84ºF (29ºC). Stirring helps distribute the crystals and makes a stronger final product.
7. Test your chocolate by dipping a piece of parchment paper into the tempered chocolate and set it on the table. Your room should be colder than 70ºF.
8. If the chocolate contracts and sets within 5 minutes and has a nice shine and snap, your chocolate is tempered and you can move forward. If your chocolate is not tempered then add another 5 grams of tempered cocoa butter and stir until well combined and re-do the test.
9. It's helpful to have a Waring chocolate warmer to keep your chocolate tempered while you work on your bonbons, otherwise you will have to keep an eye on the temperature of your chocolate and warm it when necessary. Be careful not to over-heat it or you can break the temper.

How to make chocolate bonbon shells

1. Place some parchment paper onto your work surface to catch the chocolate and get your bench scraper ready.
2. Fill a large piping bag with your tempered chocolate and twist the top closed so the chocolate doesn't spill out.
3. Cut a small hole (⅛") in the tip for the chocolate.
4. Begin filling each bonbon cavity all the way to the top with the chocolate by pinching and releasing the opening of the piping bag. Watch the video to see Chef Christophe demonstrate this technique. This takes practice to be consistent with each mold.
5. Pick the mold up by holding the edges and try not to put your hands agains the cavities directly or the heat from your hands can ruin the temper of the chocolate shells. Tap the edge of the mold with your bench scraper to release any air bubbles.
6. Turn the mold over and tap out the excess chocolate to create a nice thin shell.
7. Scrape off the excess chocolate from the surface of the mold with your bench scraper.
8. Set your mold on its side for five minutes to help the chocolate to set evenly. You can see in this photo how even the chocolate is on all sides.
9. Place the mold cavity side opening down onto parchment paper for 20 minutes to crystalize. You can also scrape up your excess chocolate to use another time.

How to fill and close your chocolate bonbon

1. Fill your piping bag with your ganache and twist the top to make sure it doesn't spill out the top. Cut ⅛" off the tip of the piping bag.
2. Fill your bonbon shells with your ganache filling just shy (⅛") of the top of the shell using the same pinching and release method used earlier. This space is left so you can close the bonbon. The goal is to have the bottom of the shell the same thickness as the sides.
3. Let your bonbons crystalize at room temperature until the ganache has firmed up. It helps if your room is colder than 70ºF. You can put the bonbons in the fridge but you can risk adding condensation to the ganache which can compromise the integrity of the bonbon and mold can grow.
4. Once the ganache has set, pipe the tempered chocolate onto the back of the bonbon until it's ¾ covered using the pinching technique.
5. Place your acetate onto the back of the mold and use the bench scraper to scrape away the excess chocolate.
6. Place the bonbons into the fridge for 10 minutes. You will see the chocolate pull away from the mold as it contracts.
7. De-mold your bonbons by quickly turning the mold over onto parchment paper to release them from the mold.

Recipe

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4.67 from 3 votes

White Chocolate Bonbons with Vanilla Bean Ganache

Learn to make shiny and professional-looking white chocolate bonbons with vanilla bean ganache with celebrity pastry chef, Christophe Rull. Christophe teaches us how to prepare a delicious ganache, how to make beautiful bonbon shells, and how to fill and close your bonbons.

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time2 minutes mins

Cooling30 minutes mins

Total Time52 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: French

Servings: 100 bonbons

Calories: 15kcal

Author: Elizabeth Marek

Equipment

• bonbon mold
• heatgun
• acetate sheets
• Bench scraper
• fine mesh strainer
• infrared thermometer

Ingredients

For the white chocolate vanilla bean ganache

• 263 grams cream
• 67 grams trimoline
• 1 grade A vanilla bean
• 500 grams couverture white chocolate
• 100 grams white chocolate

For the bonbon shells

• 1000 grams couverture white chocolate
• 1 grade A vanilla bean
• 10 grams pre-tempered cocoa butter optional (see blog post)

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

For the ganache

• Melt your white chocolate in the microwave in 30 second increments to prevent burning or over a double boiler until it reaches 104ºF (40ºC). Set it aside.
• Add your heavy cream and trimoline to a medium saucepan.
• Scrape the vanilla bean seeds by cutting down the center of the bean first and then scraping the seeds with the flat side of a knife.
• Add the vanilla bean seeds to the saucepan.
• Bring your cream to a simmer over medium-high heat (stirring occasionally) and let it simmer for 1 minute and then remove it from the heat. Don't boil the cream.
• Strain the mixture through a fine strainer to remove any bits of bean pod.
• Add half of the cream mixture to your melted chocolate and stir until smooth. Starting with half will help prevent separation.
• Then add in the rest of the cream and stir until smooth. It may look curdled before it looks smooth and that is normal. Just keep mixing.
• Cool your ganache to around 104ºF (40ºC) so it doesn't melt your butter.
• Pour your ganache into a tall measuring cup or glass and add in your softened butter.
• Use an immersion blender to mix the butter with the ganache. Hold the immersion blender at a slight angle under the surface of the ganache to blend. Do not incorporate any air.
• Cool your ganache to 34ºF and add in your tempered cocoa butter from the EZ Temper machine. If you don't have an EZ Temper you can skip this step. The tempered cocoa butter will help the ganache set up much faster than untempered cocoa butter.
• Place some plastic wrap on top of the ganache and set it aside to firm up (make sure your room is below 70ºF) or your ganache and chocolate may not set up. If your room is too warm you can place the ganache in the fridge but your room should be below 70ºF anyway to be working with chocolate.

Chocolate bonbon shells

• Place some parchment paper onto your work surface to catch the chocolate and get your bench scraper ready.
• Fill your piping bag with your tempered chocolate and twist the ends so the chocolate doesn't spill out.
• Cut a small hole (⅛") in the tip for the chocolate.
• Begin filling each bonbon cavity all the way to the top with the chocolate by pinching and releasing the opening of the piping bag.
• Pick the mold up by holding the edges and try not to put your hands agains the cavities directly or the heat from your hands can ruin the temper of the chocolate shells. Tap the edge of the mold with your bench scraper to release any air bubbles.
• Turn the mold over and tap out the excess chocolate to create a nice thin shell.
• Scrape off the excess chocolate from the surface of the mold with your bench scraper.
• Set your mold on its side for five minutes to help the chocolate to set evenly.
• Place the mold cavity side opening down onto parchment paper for 20 minutes.

Filling and closing the bonbons

• Fill your bonbon shells just shy of the top of the shell to leave room to close the shell.
• Let your bonbons crystalize at room temperature until the ganache has firmed up. It helps if your room is colder than 70ºF. You can put the bonbons in the fridge but you can risk adding condensation to the ganache which can compromise the integrity of the bonbon and mold can grow.
• Pipe the tempered chocolate onto the back of the bonbon until it's halfway covered using the pinching technique.
• Place your acetate onto the back of the mold and use the bench scraper to scrape away the excess chocolate.
• Place the bonbons into the fridge for 10 minutes.
• De-mold your bonbons by quickly turning the mold over onto parchment paper to release them from the mold.

Video

Notes

EZ Tempering Machine

Waring Chocolate Warmer

Cacoa Barry Chocolate

Cocoa Butter Drops

Thermometer

• If you haven’t watched Christophe’s video on how to temper chocolate with the EZ Temper machine, you’ll want to watch that first.
• Also learn how to make beautiful chocolate decorations like curls, squares, discs, and a tiara in Christophe's easy decorations tutorial.
• No tempering machine? No problem! You can temper your chocolate in the microwave or use the traditional seeding method to get your chocolate tempered.

Nutrition

Serving: 1bonbon | Calories: 15kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 4mg | Sodium: 2mg | Potassium: 5mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 39IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 4mg | Iron: 1mg

Making caramel apples from scratch is way easier than you think! You only need green apples, brown sugar, corn syrup, heavy cream, butter, vanilla, salt, and 30 minutes! With my tips, tricks, and step-by-step video, you'll never have to worry about your caramel sliding or separating.

After I posted my candy apple recipe, I got so many requests for caramel apples. Not only are they a fun family project, but making them from scratch tastes so much better! The caramel is so rich, buttery, and smooth! You won't believe how tasty they are!

This sauce is similar to my salted caramel sauce recipe but much thicker which makes it perfect for dipping apples. You can even make this recipe into candies by pouring it into a candy mold, letting it fully harden, and then wrapping it in wax paper for some delicious homemade caramel candies!

Equipment you will need

These are all the tools and equipment you will need to make your homemade candy apples. Do you ABSOLUTELY have to have them? In my opinion, the only one you really need is the candy thermometer but the rest is just nice to have and will make life easier if you do have them on hand.

Candy thermometer - This handy dandy tool takes all the guesswork out of candy-making. Less stress, less mess, and more time for eating candy 😀

Heavy bottom saucepan - I prefer a saucepan with curved sides, makes dipping so much easier! The heavy bottom will help distribute heat more evenly and keep your caramel warmer for longer.

Wooden spoon - Wood is the perfect material for stirring hot ingredients because it does not conduct heat and will not shock your caramel which can sometimes cause crystalization.

Silicone mat - The best thing to place your apples onto after dipping. The apples will easily lift off. If you don't have a silicone mat you can use foil or parchment paper that has been lightly oiled to prevent sticking.

Caramel apple ingredients

You probably have everything you need in your pantry right now to make homemade caramel apples. All you need is butter, heavy cream, brown sugar, corn syrup, salt, and vanilla.

What's the best apple to use? In my opinion, a nice tart granny smith apple is the best apple to use because the tartness of the apple balances out the sweetness of the caramel so nicely! But honestly, use whatever apple you like!

The corn syrup is especially important because it not only keeps your caramel from crystalizing, it also makes the caramel stick to the apples. If you can't get your hands on corn syrup, glucose will also work.

I'm using vanilla to flavor my caramel but you can really use anything! Try adding in some pumpkin spice, cinnamon, almond extract, or even steep the heavy cream in some chai before adding it to the caramel. The possibilities are endless! You can even use browned butter in place of regular butter to add a richer depth.

How to prep your apples

I divide my work into two days. I prep my apples on day 1 and then dip them on day 2. This gives my apples time to dry fully after washing. Excess water can also cause bubbles in your caramel.

Day 1 - Wash your apples! The #1 problem people have is the caramel sliding off the apple after dipping. This is caused by the caramel melting the wax that apples are coated in when they are dipped and then the caramel has nothing to stick to.

1. Bring a large pot of water to almost boiling and then remove it from the heat.
2. Submerge your apples in the hot water for 1 minute, use a wooden spoon them to push them down or rotate them as needed.
3. Don't worry if your apples get discolored from the heat of the water. You won't be able to tell after you dip and they get discolored anyway from the hot caramel.
4. Remove the apples from the hot water and rub the surface with a clean towel to remove any wax residue. Pay special attention to the top and bottom stem area to remove water as well.
5. Twist off the stems from the apples.
6. Insert your candy apple sticks. I place my apple onto the work surface and then push the stick into the apple rather than holding the apple and pushing in the stick. This way you can make sure the sticks are all straight up and down. Make sure you are using apple sticks which are thicker and sturdier than wooden skewers which can break under the weight of the apple after dipping.
7. Place your apples onto a lined baking sheet (with a silicone mat or greased parchment paper) and then put them into the fridge to chill overnight.

How to make easy caramel apples step-by-step

1. In a heavy bottom saucepan, combine the brown sugar, corn syrup, cream, salt, and butter. Mix to combine.
2. Over medium-high heat, stir constantly until the butter has melted, and then continue to cook the mixture without any further stirring.
3. Use a clean pastry brush with water to wash down the sides of the saucepan to prevent crystalization. If you don't have a pastry brush, skip to the next step.
4. Place the lid on top of the mixture and continue letting your mixture cook for 5 minutes. The condensation also helps wash down the sides of the pot to prevent crystalization.
5. Attach your candy thermometer to the side of the pan and continue to cook the caramel until it reached 240-245ºF without stirring. Stirring can cause crystalization.
6. Remove the caramel from the heat and stir in the vanilla, taking care not to burn yourself as the caramel will bubble up when you add it.
7. Let the caramel cool down for 5-10 minutes. It will be ready to dip around 190-200º. If your caramel is too runny, allow it to cool for 5 more minutes, it will continue to firm up as the caramel cooled.
8. Use an oven mitt to hold your pot of caramel at an angle and gently roll your apple in the caramel until evenly coated. Make sure you go up to the stick or very close to the stick.
9. Let the excess caramel drip off the bottom and gently scrape the excess on the edge of the pan before placing the apple in caramel on the silicone mat to cool.
10. Let the dipped apples cool completely. Placing the apples in the fridge will speed up the cooling, however, you need to wrap them after coming out of the fridge or they will condensate. Apples will last in the fridge for a few days.
11. If you want to add toppings, immediately dip the apple into chopped nuts, candies, melted chocolate, or whatever you like before placing it onto the silicone mat to cool down.

FAQ

The best caramel apple garnishes

If you want to add a garnish to your caramel apple that also adds a new flavor, you can drizzle your caramel apples with tempered chocolate or even dip them! Believe it or not, you can easily temper chocolate at home in the microwave! Tempered chocolate will stay shiny and stable at room temperature and tastes MUCH better than almond bark or candy coating.

In addition to adding chocolate, one of the best and easiest garnishes to add to your caramel apples is nuts. Peanuts, pecans, and even toasted coconut flakes are all excellent add-ons to elevate your homemade caramel apples.

You can also add crushed-up pieces of your favorite candy to your caramel apple, like Oreo, Butterfinger, or even M&M's. Sprinkles are also an easy and low-maintenance garnish to add to your candy apples.

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Easy Caramel Apples

Rich, buttery, and soft caramel apples are so easy to make! All you need are a few ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry and 30 minutes! Easy caramel apples are great for serving as individual treats or during the holidays.

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Total Time30 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: 8 servings

Calories: 567kcal

Author: Elizabeth Marek

Equipment

• Candy Thermometer
• heavy bottom sauce pan
• Apple sticks
• silicone mat
• clean pastry brush
• wooden spoon

Ingredients

• 8-10 medium granny smith apples
• 15 ounces brown sugar
• 8 ounces corn syrup
• 2.5 ounces unsalted butter
• 10 ounces heavy cream
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Day 1 - Apple Preparation

• Bring a large pot of water to almost a boil then remove it from the heat
• Submerge your apples in the water for 1 minute to remove the wax from the apples.
• Dry the apples well, rubbing with pressure to make sure all the wax is removed.
• Remove the stems from the apples by twisting them off.
• Place your stick into apples, making sure the apple stands up straight up. Give your apple a little shake to make sure the stick is secure.
• Place all your apples onto a sheet pan lined with a silicone mat and put them into the fridge to chill overnight or until you are ready to dip your apples.

Day 2 - Making Caramel Apples

• In a heavy bottom sauce pan, combine the brown sugar, corn syrup, cream, salt, and butter.
• Over medium-high heat stir the mixture until butter has melted and then continue to cook the mixture without any further stirring.
• Use a clean pastry brush with water to wash down the sides of the pot to prevent crystalization.
• Place the lid on the saucepan and let the mixture boil for 5 minutes. The condensation will also wash down the sides of the pot to prevent crystalization.
• Attach your candy thermometer to the side of the pan and continue to cook the caramel until it reached 240-245ºF
• Remove the caramel from the heat and stir in the vanilla, taking care not to burn yourself as the caramel will bubble up when you add it.
• Let the caramel cool down for 5-10 minutes. It will be ready to dip around 190-200ºF. If your caramel is too runny, allow it to cool for 5 more minutes, it will continue to set up.
• Using an oven mitt to hold your pot of caramel at an angle, gently roll your apple in the caramel until evenly coated.
• Let the excess caramel drip off the bottom and gently scrap the excess on the edge of the pan before placing the apple on the silicone mat to cool.
• Let the apples cool completely. Placing the apples in the fridge will speed up the cooling, however you need to wrap them after coming out of the fridge or they will condensate. Apples will last in the fridge in an airtight container for a few days.

Video

Notes

Caramel cooked 240-245ºF will result in a nice firm caramel that will not slide down the apple but will also be soft enough to bite into. 

It is recommended that you slice your apples before eating them

You can pour excess caramel into candy molds and wrap them in wax paper to make soft caramel candies. 

If your caramel starts to get too thick while you are dipping it, return it to medium heat until it's softened again and begin dipping again. 

To clean your saucepan, fill your pot with hot water and bring it to a boil for 5 minutes. Set the pot aside and let it cool down then wash it as usual. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1apple | Calories: 567kcal | Carbohydrates: 100g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 68mg | Sodium: 194mg | Potassium: 297mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 92g | Vitamin A: 841IU | Vitamin C: 9mg | Calcium: 84mg | Iron: 1mg

Making simple chocolate decorations is one of the first things a pastry chef in training learns (right after learning how to properly temper chocolate). Today Chef Christophe is going to show us how to make simple chocolate shapes, chocolate curls, and a beautiful chocolate tiara!

Chef Christophe has so many great tips and tricks for you in this blog post like how to clean your surface without water, and the best way to get gold dust to stick to chocolate! I can't wait for you to see them! So let's get our tools together and let's get started!

Tools & Equipment Needed

• EZ Tempering Machine
• Chocolate Warmer
• Offset Spatula
• Acetate Sheets
• Tiara Template
• Circle Cutters
• Cake Comb With Teeth (for chocolate curls)
• Bench Scraper
• Small Paring Knife
• Piping Bag (for tiara)
• 6" cake dummy or coffee can
• Grand Marnier (alcohol)
• Gold Luster Dust
• Airbrush
• Tape

If you haven't watched Christophe's video on how to temper chocolate with the EZ Temper machine, you'll want to watch that first.

No tempering machine? No problem! You can temper your chocolate in the microwave or use the traditional seeding method to get your chocolate tempered.

How To Make Chocolate Circles

1. Prepare your tempered dark chocolate and keep it in the warmer at 89ºF (32ºC). The working temperature for both white chocolate and milk chocolate is between 82ºF and 86ºF (29ºC and 30ºC).
2. Place your acetate on top of your work surface.
3. Spread your tempered chocolate over your acetate sheet very thin and as evenly as possible with your offset spatula.
4. Pick the acetate up carefully and move it over to detach it from the chocolate that went over the edges.
5. After a few minutes, the chocolate will begin to lose it's shine and look matte but is still soft.
6. Now is the time to use your circle cutter to cut some shapes. Work quickly.
7. You can also use a knife to free-hand shapes or use different size cutters.
8. Place the acetate and chocolate in between two pieces of parchment paper and sandwich between two sheet pans to fully crystalize. (About 10 minutes in the refrigerator.) This is to prevent the chocolate from curling.
9. Clean your surface with a bench scraper, not water so you do not contaminate your surface.
10. Carefully peel the acetate off the back of the squares and handle them with gloved hands so that you avoid leaving fingerprints.

How To Make Chocolate Squares

1. Prepare your tempered chocolate and keep it in the warmer at 89ºF (32ºC)
2. Place your acetate on top of your work surface
3. Spread your tempered chocolate over your acetate sheet very thin and as evenly as possible with your offset spatula.
4. Pick the acetate up carefully and move it over to detach it from the chocolate that went over the edges.
5. After a few minutes, the chocolate will begin to lose it's shine and look matte but is still soft.
6. Use a ruler to cut the lines in the chocolate to make your squares.
7. Place the acetate and chocolate in between two pieces of parchment paper and sandwich between two sheet pans to fully crystalize. (About 10 minutes in the refrigerator.) This is to prevent the chocolate from curling.
8. Clean your surface with a bench scraper, not water so you do not contaminate your surface.
9. Carefully peel the acetate off the back of the squares and handle them with gloved hands so that you avoid leaving fingerprints.

How To Make Chocolate Curls

1. Prepare your tempered chocolate and keep it in the warmer at 89ºF (32ºC)
2. Place your acetate (6"X18") on top of your work surface
3. Spread your tempered chocolate over your acetate sheet very thin and as evenly as possible with your offset spatula.
4. Use your cake comb to remove some of the chocolate from the acetate and make lines.
5. Pick the acetate up carefully and move it over to detach it from the chocolate that went over the edges.
6. Wait for the chocolate to lose it's shine and look matte but still soft
7. Carefully twist the acetate over onto itself.
8. Let it fully crystalize (5-10 minutes)
9. Carefully peel off the acetate from the curls. Some will break and that is normal and to be expected.

Now you can add the curls to the top of your tarts or cakes!

How To Make A Chocolate Tiara

1. Prepare your tempered chocolate and keep it in the warmer at 89ºF (32ºC)
2. Place your acetate over your tiara template and tape it down so that it doesn't shift.
3. Pour your tempered chocolate into your piping bag and snip off the tip, not too big!
4. Pipe the chocolate onto the acetate, following the lines of the template.
5. After your chocolate loses it's shine but is still soft, you can tape the tiara to the styrofoam dummy to give it a curve.
6. Allow the tiara to fully crystalize in the fridge for 5 minutes.
7. Mix 1 Tablespoon Grand Marnier and 1 teaspoon super gold dust together. Grand Marnier makes the gold stick to the chocolate really well so that it doesn't rub off! So cool!
8. Add the gold mixture to your airbrush and spray your chocolate tiara.
9. Very carefully remove the styro from the paper by lifting the paper, not lifting the chocolate.
10. Bend the acetate off the back of the tiara carefully to release it from the acetate.
11. Now you can place the tiara on top of the cake!

There are so many fun ways to make tempered chocolate decorations and we're barely scratching the surface. we've got more fun chocolate projects coming to you from Chef Christophe so let us know in the comments what you want to learn!

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Easy Chocolate Decorations

Chef Christophe Rull shows us how to make easy chocolate decorations including chocolate curls, circles, squares, and a beautiful golden chocolate tiara!

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time0 minutes mins

Cooling30 minutes mins

Total Time45 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: 10 servings

Calories: 304kcal

Author: Elizabeth Marek

Equipment

• EZ Tempering Machine
• Waring Chocolate Warmer
• Thermometer
• Acetate strips and sheets
• Spatula
• Piping Bags

Ingredients

• 600 grams Chocolate https://www.cacao-barry.com/en-US/chocolate-couverture-cocoa/chd-p64ebpu/extra-bitter-guayaquil
• 6 grams Cocoa Butter https://ifigourmet.com/collections/chocolate-products/products/cocoa-butter-1

Instructions

How To Temper Chocolate

• Place your cocoa butter into the internal warmer of the EZ Tempering Machine the day before you need it. Let it warm overnight. If you don't have an EZ Tempering Machine, temper your chocolate using the traditional seeding method.
• Melt 600 grams of bittersweet chocolate in the microwave or over a double boiler to 113ºF (45ºC) It's important to melt the chocolate to this temperature so that all the crystals in the cocoa butter are broken down properly and new crystals can re-form successfully.
• Add in a few handfuls of tempered (chocolate comes tempered) chocolate to bring the temperature down. Stirring occasionally, cool your chocolate to 95ºF (35ºC).
• At 89ºF (32ºC) add in 6-7 grams (1-2% of total chocolate weight) of your tempered cocoa butter paste from the EZ temper machine to the melted chocolate.
• Stir and cool the mixture to 32ºF. At this point, the chocolate is tempered but make sure you do a test to make sure your chocolate is in temper before using it.
• Carefully warm your chocolate to the ideal working temperature (usually found on the side of the bag if your chocolate is from Cacoa Barry) before using.

How To Make Chocolate Decorations

• After you've tempered your chocolate, you can do almost anything with it! Make sure to keep it at the correct working temperatures for the type of chocolate you are using.

  Dark chocolate: 89ºF (32ºC)

  White and milk chocolate: 82ºF and 86ºF (29ºC and 30ºC)
• Watch the video tutorial or read the blog post above for steps on how to make chocolate circles, squares, curls, and a tiara.

Video

Notes

Chocolate Tiara Template

EZ Tempering Machine

Waring Chocolate Warmer

Cacoa Barry Chocolate

Cocoa Butter Drops

Thermometer

If you haven't watched Christophe's video on how to temper chocolate with the EZ Temper machine, you'll want to watch that first.

No tempering machine? No problem! You can temper your chocolate in the microwave or use the traditional seeding method to get your chocolate tempered.

 

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 304kcal | Carbohydrates: 36g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Sodium: 10mg | Potassium: 174mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 31g | Calcium: 14mg | Iron: 2mg

Chef Christophe Rull (former Executive Pastry Chef of the Park Hyatt Aviara and one of the stars of the Bake Squad) shows us his favorite chocolate tempering machine for making the perfect batch of tempered chocolate.

So if you're looking to take the leap into working with chocolate, you don't want to miss this blog post. We'll be going over the basics of chocolate composition, why we need to temper, and of course, HOW to temper with this amazing machine! You won't believe how easy it is (I know I was blown away!)

Ingredients & Equipment

When you need to make a lot of chocolate pieces at a time, you don't have time to melt small batches at a time like I do with the microwave method. But there are still some time-saving techniques you can adopt using the tools that Christophe uses.

EZ-Temper Machine: The EZ-Temper machine is a great little gadget that melts cocoa butter to the exact temperature it needs to be for the good crystals in cocoa butter to form. It can be held at that temperature indefinitely so that any time you need tempered chocolate, you just add it to your melted chocolate and you're good to go! Super duper easy and time-saving.

Cocoa Butter Drops: I love these small cocoa butter drops from IFI Gourmet because they are really small and able to be melted perfectly in the EZ Tempering Machine.

All you have to do is add 1-2% of this melted cocoa butter to your melted chocolate at 89ºF (32ºC), stir, and your chocolate is tempered!

Waring Chocolate Warmer: This is a must for big chocolate projects. After your chocolate is tempered, the waring chocolate warmer keeps your chocolate at the perfect temperature so that you don't have to worry about your chocolate getting too cold and falling out of temper before you can use it.

Thermometer: You simply cannot temper chocolate without a trusty thermometer! I love the infrared thermometer from Thermoworks because it's super accurate and you don't have to touch the chocolate to get a reading. Sometimes the difference between tempered and untempered is two degrees so it's important to always know the temperature of your chocolate.

Cold Spray: A good, food-safe cold spray is a must for quickly setting your chocolate pieces.

Why Do You Need To Temper Chocolate?

When you melt chocolate, you are breaking up all the components that make up chocolate (cocoa solids, cocoa butter, sugar, milk, etc). If you were to just let this chocolate solidify naturally, you will notice that the chocolate has some streaks in it (cocoa butter separation), it will not be shiny and will most likely have a grainy texture (untempered crystalline structure).

Tempering chocolate controls how the cocoa butter solidifies so that only the proper crystals form and all the components come back together to form a smooth, strong, and shiny chocolate once again.

When you're making gravity-defying showpieces, high-end chocolate pastries, and showpieces, your chocolate needs to be tempered to perfection.

Tempering is also important for when you're using chocolate in polycarbonate molds like you use to make shiny hot chocolate bombs or for making bonbons.

So we only need to temper "real" chocolate. Real chocolate contains cocoa butter and is derived from the cocoa pod, not imitation chocolate which may contain wax or palm kernel oil in place of cocoa butter which cannot be tempered.

What Chocolate Should I Use For Tempering?

Whenever you hear us talk about "real" chocolate, we're referring to chocolate that is derived from a cocoa pod and contains cocoa butter. If your chocolate doesn't have cocoa butter, tempering won't work.

Christophe and I both love to use Cacao Barry chocolate. The chocolate not only tastes delicious but there are SO many options for flavor and workability. The best part is, every bag says right on the side what the cocoa solid content is, the cocoa butter content and what temperatures it needs to be tempered to. So it's great for aspiring chocolatiers.

For today's lesson we are using Cacao Barry extra bitter, Guayaquil which has 64% cocoa and 40% fluidity which makes it perfect for making little toppers that need to be strong and shiny.

You, of course, can use any kind of chocolate that you like but just keep in mind that different chocolates will have different amounts of fluidity even if they do contain cocoa butter. You can add in more cocoa butter to get your chocolate more fluid but be careful, it is possible to add too much.

We also really love working with Cacoa Barry because they put a lot of effort into ethically sourcing their chocolate and paying their workers a fair wage. Learn more about how chocolate is made from bean to bar.

It is possible to use imitation chocolate for some projects but for our purposes, we will only be talking about using real chocolate.

How To Temper Chocolate With An EZ Temper Machine

Tempering chocolate can seem really complicated but it's pretty simple. We are heating and cooling the chocolate to specific temperatures to make the good, strong crystals in the cocoa butter form and for all the components to come back together. Most people's problems come from not using the right chocolate or not knowing what temperatures their specific chocolate needs to be tempered to.

If you're a beginner, I highly suggest using the same chocolate Christophe is using or at least real chocolate that is 60-70% cocoa content.

Remember to turn your EZ Temper on the day before you need to use it so that your cocoa butter has time to melt down to the correct temperature and be ready to use.

Step 1 - Melt 600 grams of bittersweet chocolate in the microwave or over a double boiler to 113ºF (45ºC) It's important to melt the chocolate to this temperature so that all the crystals in the cocoa butter are broken down properly and new crystals can re-form successfully.

Step 2 - Add in a few handfuls of tempered (chocolate comes tempered) chocolate to bring the temperature down. Stirring occasionally, cool your chocolate to 95ºF (35ºC).

Step 3 - When your chocolate is at 95ºF (35ºC) add in 6 grams (1-2% of total chocolate weight) of your tempered cocoa butter paste from the EZ temper machine to the melted chocolate.

Step 4 - Stir and cool the mixture to 32ºF. At this point, the chocolate is tempered but make sure you do a test to make sure your chocolate is in temper before using it.

How Do I Know If My Chocolate Is In Temper?

It's always a good idea to test your chocolate to see if its tempered properly before you start using it because it's easy to test, it's not easy to scrape untempered chocolate out of your mold and start all over.

To test your chocolate, dip a piece of parchment paper into your chocolate and lay it on the table. Your chocolate should solidify in about 5 minutes. The surface should look smooth, shiny. The chocolate should snap in half and not melt too easily in your hands.

Note: Your room should be between 64ºF (18ºC) - 68ºF (20ºC) for your chocolate to solidify properly. A warm room and chocolate do not mix.

If you see some streaks in your chocolate (blooming) a dull surface or the chocolate is not solidifying, you may need to add more tempered cocoa butter or re-temper your chocolate and pay closer attention to your temperatures and make sure you are stirring well to distribute the cocoa butter crystals evenly.

How To Store Tempered Chocolate

Now that our chocolate is tempered, you want to keep it that way! Christophe stores his tempered chocolate in a warming machine at exactly 89ºF (32ºC) so that it's ready to use at any moment.

You can leave the chocolate in the warmer as long as you need to.

Once you are done with your chocolate it's a good idea to pour it out onto parchment so it doesn't solidify into your warmer. Then you can chop it up and store it in a container to be used again later when you need some tempered chocolate.

How To Make A Chocolate Heart Topper With Tempered Chocolate

Making a simple chocolate cake topper is a great way to add detail to a cake that is really simple to reproduce, tastes amazing and looks amazing! All you need is a heart cookie cutter, a 3" circle cutter, some metallic dust, kitchen torch, brush and cold spray.

Step 1: Place the heart cutter and circle cutter on top of some parchment paper on a sheet pan. Pour the tempered chocolate into the mold until it's about ½" thick.

Step 2: Repeat the process with the round cutter.

Step 3: Place the sheet pan into the fridge for about 10 minutes. The cold causes the tempered chocolate to contract and pull away from the cutters.

Step 4: Remove the chocolate from the cookie cutters with gloved hands so you don't leave fingerprints.

Step 5: Use a paintbrush to cover the chocolate in the metallic dust.

Step 6: Use a toothpick or other sharp tool to write a word in the dust. I wrote the word "love".

Step 7: Use your kitchen torch to heat the tip of your offset spatula and melt the center of the chocolate circle slightly.

Step 8: Place the heart on top of the circle and use the cold spray to set the melted chocolate and it will hold the heart in place.

Step 9: Now you can place your heart topper on top of the cake!

So now you know the basics of how Christophe tempers his chocolate in large batches to create so many different things! As you can imagine, now that we have the basics down, we will be building upon these basic concepts for all our future chocolate projects.

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Chocolate Tempering With The EZ Tempering Machine

Chef Christophe Rull shows us how he tempers large amounts of chocolate easily and efficiently with the EZ Temper machine so he can create beautiful and shiny pastries, chocolates and showpieces.

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time0 minutes mins

Cooling30 minutes mins

Total Time45 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: 10 servings

Calories: 304kcal

Author: Elizabeth Marek

Equipment

• EZ Tempering Machine
• Waring Chocolate Warmer
• Thermometer

Ingredients

• 600 grams Chocolate https://www.cacao-barry.com/en-US/chocolate-couverture-cocoa/chd-p64ebpu/extra-bitter-guayaquil
• 6 grams Cocoa Butter https://ifigourmet.com/collections/chocolate-products/products/cocoa-butter-1

Instructions

• Place your cocoa butter into the internal warmer of the EZ Tempering Machine the day before you need it. Let it warm overnight.
• Melt 600 grams of bittersweet chocolate in the microwave or over a double boiler to 113ºF (45ºC) It's important to melt the chocolate to this temperature so that all the crystals in the cocoa butter are broken down properly and new crystals can re-form successfully.
• Add in a few handfuls of tempered (chocolate comes tempered) chocolate to bring the temperature down. Stirring occasionally, cool your chocolate to 95ºF (35ºC).
• At 89ºF (32ºC) add in 6-7 grams (1-2% of total chocolate weight) of your tempered cocoa butter paste from the EZ temper machine to the melted chocolate.
• Stir and cool the mixture to 32ºF. At this point, the chocolate is tempered but make sure you do a test to make sure your chocolate is in temper before using it.
• Carefully warm your chocolate to the ideal working temperature (usually found on the side of the bag if your chocolate is from Cacoa Barry) before using.

Video

Notes

EZ Tempering Machine

Waring Chocolate Warmer

Cacoa Barry Chocolate

Cocoa Butter Drops

Thermometer

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 304kcal | Carbohydrates: 36g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Sodium: 10mg | Potassium: 174mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 31g | Calcium: 14mg | Iron: 2mg

The perfect shiny red candy apples have a super thin layer of sweet candy coating with no bubbles and the perfect amount of cinnamon flavor. Not only is making your own candy apples from scratch incredibly easy (compared to unwrapping 100's of cinnamon candies and melting them) you won't believe how good they taste! Read on for all my tips and tricks for perfectly shiny and sparkly homemade candy apples. 

This perfect candy apple recipe is exactly what you need to wow at your next Halloween party or if you've had many fails before, this recipe will fix all your problems!

What's In This Blog Post

• Candy Apple Ingredients & Equipment Needed
• How To Make Candy Apples Step By Step
• What Ingredients Were Used To Make The First Candy Apple?
• Candy Apple FAQ

Candy Apple Ingredients & Equipment Needed

Candy Thermometer - The most important thing for this candy apple recipe is to use a candy thermometer to ensure you cook your sugar all the way to the hard crack stage. You can check your sugar the old fashioned way but its a risk and trust me you don't want to do all the work of boiling sugar only for it to fail.

Wooden Sticks - If you don't have any you can make your own by cutting a ¼" dowel into 5" long pieces and sharpening one end with a pencil sharpener or even use popsicle sticks or wooden skewers.

Silicone Mat - If you don't have a silicone mat you can use a sheet of aluminum foil to rest your candy apples on.

Light Corn Syrup - Corn syrup in this recipe keeps the candy from crystalizing and makes it extra shiny! If you don't have any corn syrup you can use glucose or just replace the corn syrup with more white sugar equal in weight.

Food Coloring - This is a must if you want the best candy apples that are a beautiful red color! You can use liquid or gel food coloring.

Edible Glitter - This is absolutely optional but you can get edible glitter at most craft stores like michales or JoAnn fabrics.Crisp Apples - I think the only way to make a true great candy apple is to use green granny smith apples. They are tart and not sweet and go perfectly with the sweetness of the cinnamon sugar coating.

Cinnamon Candy - I'm using cinnamon candy in my recipe because I could not find any cinnamon extract ANYWHERE! Maybe there is a shortage? If you don't have cinnamon candy, you can use ¼ teaspoon cinnamon extract instead or 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon which tastes SO GOOD but does leave some specs in the finish of the candy apple. If you're feeling really bougie, try adding a little nutmeg, clove, or pumpkin spice! Yum!

How To Make Candy Apples Step-By-Step

Making candy apples is really a two-day process. Not because it takes a long time but it's just easier. So here's my process. 

Day 1

1. WASH THEM APPLES! And I mean like wash them really really well. Apples come with this wax coating that causes annoying bubbles to appear under the sugar. The best way to wash your apples is to scrub every inch of them in hot hot water with a paper towel or to even heat some water until it just starts to steam (not boil) and dunk your apples in the water for 1 minute. Rose Bakes says to add some baking soda to the water too. Rotate them with a spoon to make sure you submerge the whole apple. 
   note* It will brown the apples but once you dip them in sugar, you won't be able to tell. 
2. Scoop them out with a slotted spoon and dry them well with paper towels and store the apples in the fridge overnight. Don't worry about removing the stems yet. Cold apples are the best apples for dipping.
3. You CAN dip the apples right away but you risk getting bubbles from leftover water on the apples so make sure you dry them really really well, especially the top and bottom.

Day 2

1. Gather all your pre-measured ingredients for the candy apples so you are prepared and not rushed. 
2. Place a silicone mat or a sheet of tinfoil sprayed with a little cooking spray onto a sheet pan for the dippled apples to go on. 
3. Keep a bowl of ice water nearby and wear some gloves for protection against hot sugar drips! If you do happen to get some sugar on your hand, you can quickly remove the glove and the sugar will come with it instead of burning your hand or you can quickly dip your hand in the ice water to harden the sugar and stop it from burning.
4. Remove the stems from your apples and insert the sticks. Make sure the apple is sitting on the work surface and then push the stick in, this will ensure your sticks are straight up and down. 
5. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine sugar, syrup, and water, and then mix it gently with a wooden spoon to combine.
6. Bring the sugar mixture to a boil over medium-high heat with the lid on the saucepan. Let it simmer for 5 minutes. This ensures all the sugar dissolves and your mixture does not crystalize.
7. Remove the lid and add in your cinnamon candies and your candy thermometer. 
8. Over medium heat, without any further stirring begin to heat the sugar mixture until it reaches 300ºF. The candy cooks slowly so it could take up to 30 minutes to reach this temperature. It could take more or less time, keep a close eye on your thermometer. Be patient, it will get there. You might notice your temperature hangs out for a while at 250ºF and that is normal because the water is still evaporating. Once all the water is gone, the temp will begin to rise again. 
9. Once your sugar has reached 300ºF, remove the pan from the heat. This is when you will add your food coloring and your edible glitter (if you want).
10. Let the candy cool slightly to about 270-280ºF before dipping your apples.
11. Now you can tilt the saucepan and roll your apples in the hot sugar to coat them. You only need a thin coat!
12. Lift the apple out and let the excess drip off. I even scrape the bottom of mine a bit on the edge of the pot so I don't get a bunch of excess sugar pooling around the bottom of the apple.
13. Place the apple onto the silicone mat and in about 10-15 minutes your candy apples will be ready to enjoy! So yummy!

Can you believe how GORGEOUS these candy apples turned out? So so shiny and really tasty! If you've never had a candy apple before, give it a try! You might be surprised how good they are. The perfect combination of a little tart and a little sweet with a little crunch! Definitely my favorite homemade dessert for the fall season.

What Ingredients Were Used To Make The First Candy Apple?

Candy Apple FAQ

Recipe

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4.91 from 11 votes

Shiny Candy Apple Recipe

Perfectly smooth and shiny candy apples with no bubbles! Follow all my tips and tricks for the BEST candy apple recipe!

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

cooling10 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: 8 apples

Calories: 549kcal

Author: Elizabeth Marek

Equipment

• heavy bottom saucepan
• Candy Thermometer
• silicone mat
• clean pastry brush
• Apple skewers
• nitrile gloves (optional for precaution while dipping)

Ingredients

• 8-10 small granny smith apples
• 30 ounces granulated sugar
• 12 ounces water
• 6 ounces corn syrup
• ¼ teaspoon food coloring, optional
• 8 ounces cinnamon hard candy
• ¼ teaspoon flash dust optional

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

• Soak your apples in very hot/boiling water for 10-15 seconds to melt wax coating off the skins. Rub and dry your apples well, placing them in the fridge to chill and dry overnight (or at least a few hours). Cold apples make for better candy apples.
• Remove the stems from the apples.
• Before you begin cooking the sugar, secure sticks into apples. Make sure the apple is sitting on the work surface and then push the stick in, this will ensure your sticks are straight up and down.

  Place the apples onto a sheet pan with a silicone mat on top and store them in the fridge until you're ready to dip them. (You can also use a sheet of aluminum foil greased with oil if you don't have a silicone mat.)
• In a heavy bottom saucepan, combine the sugar, syrup, and water. Mix gently to combine with a wooden spoon.
• Once the mixture begins to boil, cover the mixture with a lid for 5 minutes to ensure the sugar is all dissolved.
• After 5 minutes, remove the lid and wash down the sides of the pan with a clean pastry brush and water. This removes sugar crystals that could cause your candy to crystalize while it's cooking.
• Attach your candy thermometer to the pot and add in your cinnamon candy if you wish. If you're using extracts or food coloring, add it later when the sugar reaches 280ºF so the flavor and color don't cook out.
• Over medium-high heat, continue cooking the sugar until it reaches 300ºF without any further stirring. This could take up to 30 minutes to reach this temperature. It could take more or less time, keep a close eye on your thermometer. Be patient, it will get there.
• Once your sugar has reached 300ºF, remove the pan from the heat. Stir gently and let the candy cool slightly, to 280ºF so the bubbling calms down, or you will get bubbles in your apples.
• Using a hot pad, hold your pan at an angle and being to gently roll your apple into the candy. The less time the apple spends in the candy the thinner the coating will be on the apple. Try to dip your apple deep enough that the candy coats almost to the core, this will prevent it from sliding off your apple.
• Let the excess candy drip off of the apple before placing it on your silicone mat to cool completely.
• If your candy starts to get too thick, you can re-heat it on the stovetop for a few minutes until it's liquid again.
• Pour the leftover candy into silicone molds to use later or make little hard candies!

Video

Notes

Caramel Apple Recipe

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The cinnamon candy/flavor is optional, you can omit it or replace it with any flavor you like. If you don't have cinnamon candies you can use ¼ teaspoon of ground cinnamon or cinnamon extract, which is very potent so go easy with it. Cinnamon oil is very concentrated as well, so also go easy with that. 

Once the candy starts cooking the process goes fast, so make sure you have everything ready to go before you start. 

Sugar attracts moisture, so after your candy apple has had time to cool completely you can wrap it in a cellophane bag to give it a little longer shelf life before it gets sticky. If you choose to cool your apples in your refrigerator, wrap them immediately as they will begin to condensate as soon as you remove them from the fridge.  

Work cautiously with sugar, it can cause severe burns. Keep a bowl of ice water nearby in case of a burn, do not try to wipe the hot sugar from your skin. Working in gloves will allow an extra layer of protection, but you can still get burned through the glove. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1apple | Calories: 549kcal | Carbohydrates: 143g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 18mg | Potassium: 162mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 138g | Vitamin A: 80IU | Vitamin C: 7mg | Calcium: 14mg | Iron: 1mg

This is my favorite way to make gummy crystals that are super clear, sparkly and oh so beautiful on a geode cake!

Equipment & Ingredients

Crystal Molds

Flash Dust (10%) OFF

https://www.sugarartsupply.com/discount/SUGARGEEK2021

Recipe

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4.75 from 4 votes

Gummy Crystals

How to make beautiful gummy crystals that are super clear, sparkly and oh so yummy to eat!

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Cook Time1 minute min

Cooling6 hours hrs

Total Time6 hours hrs 6 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: 4 crystals

Calories: 2kcal

Author: Elizabeth Marek

Equipment

• crystal molds

Ingredients

• 16 ounces cool water
• 60 grams super clear bloom 300 gelatin
• ½ teaspoon strawberry extract clear
• ¼ teaspoon citric acid
• ¼ teaspoon flash dust
• 1-2 drops food coloring optional

Instructions

• Pour liquid into a microwave safe bowl or pouring vessel. Sprinkle gelatin over top of liquid and gently push and stir dry gelatin into liquid. Set aside for 5 minutes.
• Microwave the gelatin mixture at 100%, for 15 seconds. Stir, microwave again for 15 seconds stir. If gelatin still appears lumpy microwave again for 15 seconds and stir. Do not overheat or boil.
• Add the citric acid, stir.
• Set it aside for 10 minutes to allow gelatin to settle and foam to rise.
• Skim the foam off the gelatin and discard
• Add in your extract and flash dust and stir to combine
• Pour the gelatin into your desired molds. I'm using the crystal molds from simicakes.com
• Use a toothpick to add some swirls of color. Don't add too much.
• Place the molds on top of a sheet pan and refrigerate for a minimum of 6 hours
• Carefully remove the gummy crystals from the molds and place on top of your cake!

Notes

Buy clear gelatin: https://caljavaonline.com/products/clear-gelatin-300-bloom

Buy flash dust and get 10% off your order: https://www.sugarartsupply.com/discount/SUGARGEEK2021

 

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 2kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Sodium: 6mg | Potassium: 1mg | Sugar: 1g | Calcium: 3mg