Breakable Chocolate Heart Tutorial

How to make those trendy breakable chocolate hearts. These are great for Valentines' day but you can make these hearts for any occasion just by switching up the colors and the design.

Breakable Chocolate Heart Ingredients

I decided to make my heart like you would make chocolate bark so it's really tasty to eat! I'm using Callebaut Belgian white chocolate and Callebaut semi-sweet Belgian chocolate. I'm going to temper this chocolate using the seeding method because I have to melt a lot but you could also temper it using the microwave method.

To temper our chocolate you will need a thermometer. I use an infrared thermometer but you could use any kind of instant-read thermometer.

I'm decorating my breakable heart with some melted gold drip but you could use water ganache, caramel, or even just more colored chocolate. The options are endless!

You will need a large heart mold. This geometric heart mold is pretty popular and super easy to use. If you're making these breakable hearts as kits that people can order, be sure to include those cute wooden mallets as well.

How To Temper Chocolate Step-By-Step

The first thing we need to do is temper our chocolate. Tempered chocolate is strong, has a nice shine, tastes delicious, and has a nice snap when you break into it. Every time you melt chocolate and it gets hotter than 90ºF, the temper is broken.

You can bring the temper back by heating and cooling your chocolate to specific temperatures and adding more tempered chocolate back into the melted chocolate. I have mine divided into two bowls, one to melt and one for "seeding." The second bowl of chocolate is chopped finely and we will use this to "seed" our melted chocolate so that it becomes tempered.

You can use candy melts or almond bark for this mold but just keep in mind the taste may suffer. Real chocolate is best! I recommend Callebaut, Guittard, or Ghirardelli.

Step 1 - Bring two inches of water to a simmer in a pot.

Step 2 - Add your chocolate into a wide, heatproof bowl, place it over the water, and begin stirring. Be careful not to get any water in your chocolate.

Step 3 - Once your chocolate is melted, take the temperature. You want it to reach between 110ºF - 120ºF (43ºC - 48ºC). I use an infrared thermometer but you could use any kind of instant-read thermometer.

Step 4 - Remove the chocolate from the heat and wipe off the excess water from the bottom of the bowl so it doesn't drip into your chocolate.

Step 5 - Transfer the chocolate to another bowl to start cooling it down immediately. It should drop about 10 degrees.

Step 6 - Add in about ½ cup of your chopped chocolate and stir. Each time you do this, the chocolate will cool down a bit. Continue doing this until your chocolate is at 90ºF.

Step 7 - Add in just 1-2 Tablespoons of your super finely chopped chocolate and stir.

Step 8 - Continue stirring occasionally until your chocolate reaches 79ºF.

Step 9 - Carefully re-heat your white chocolate on the pot of water for 1-2 seconds or in the microwave for 5 seconds until you reach 86º-88ºF. Never let your chocolate go above 88ºF for white chocolate or it will go out of temper again.

Working temperatures for different chocolate:

• White chocolate - Heat to 113ºF - cool to 79ºF - heat to 86º - 88ºF for working
• Milk chocolate - Heat to 113º F - cool to 79ºF - heat to 84º - 86ºF for working
• Semi-Sweet and Dark Chocolate - Heat to 113ºF - cool to 82ºF - heat to 88º-90ºF for working

Step 10 - Test your temper. Place a small amount of melted chocolate onto some parchment paper. Refrigerate it for 5 minutes or until it's set. Take it out and break it in half. If it's shiny and has a nice snap, it is in temper. If it bends or is floppy, you may have not tempered correctly. Heat it back up to 90ºF, add ½ cup more chopped chocolate, then repeat steps 7-10.

How To Make A Breakable Chocolate Heart Step-By-Step

Step 1 - Pour about ½ cup of tempered chocolate into your mold. Move your chocolate around the mold to make an even layer. You can use a paintbrush or spatula if you have problems getting good coverage, make sure to build up the center point of the heart. Dump out the excess chocolate back into your bowl.

At this step, my white chocolate was at about 82ºF. It was still melted, but when I worked with it at 88ºF, it was too liquidy and wouldn't build up on the edges. 

Step 2 - Scrape the upper edge to remove any excess chocolate.

Step 3 - Place the mold upside-down on a sheet pan with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat and place it into the fridge for 5 minutes.

Step 4 - Finely chop some semi-sweet chocolate (or any chocolate you want) and melt it in the microwave for 30 seconds. Then stir. Repeat in 15-second increments until the chocolate is 90% melted. Make sure the temperature never goes above 90ºF. Stir until it's fully melted. For more info on tempering in the microwave, follow this tutorial.

Step 5 - Brush the chocolate onto the white chocolate in an even layer, making sure to build up the edges of the heart.

Step 6 - Place the chocolate heart back into the fridge for 5 minutes, or until set.

Step 7 - De-mold the heart and repeat the process if you want to make a two-sided heart. You do not need to re-temper the chocolate, just slowly heat it in the microwave again until it's at the right temperature. 88ºF for white chocolate, 90ºF for semi-sweet chocolate.

Pro-Tip: Pour out the leftover chocolate onto plastic wrap, let it harden, and then wrap it up. Now you have tempered chocolate ready to be chopped and used again!

Step 8 - If your heart shells have rough edges, you can melt them down a bit and flatten them on a warm plate.

Step 9 - If you're making a two-sided heart box, place the top heart on top of the bottom heart and seal together with a thin line of melted chocolate. I like to use a piping bag for this, but you can also just seal it together by melting one side on the warm plate.

Step 10 - To decorate, melt your gold drip in the microwave in 15-second increments until it's liquid. I give the bottle a squeeze after each time in the microwave.

Step 11 - Let the drip cool down a bit so it's not super loose. You can do a test drip on the side of a glass to see if it's thick enough.

Step 12 - Drizzle the gold drip on top of the heart and while the drip is still wet, add some crushed up freeze-dried strawberries and sprinkles.

Step 13 - Place some Valentine's day candy in the heart and fill it with chocolate-covered strawberries or any kind of treat that you want!

What Do You Put Inside Breakable Chocolate Hearts?

You can put anything inside a breakable chocolate heart! You can do chocolate covered strawberries like I did, candy, money, jewelry, cake, heart hot chocolate bombs, cake pops, chocolate covered pretzels, cookies, toys, or other kinds of yummy baked goodies!

I decided to make my breakable heart double-sided but many people just lay the one chocolate heart over the top of the goodies inside a box with some colorful shredded paper. I love this version from Marble City Sweets!

How To Color Chocolate

There are a few ways to color chocolate. My favorite way is to add pre-colored cocoa butter from Chef Rubber to my melted chocolate. Just melt in the microwave and add to your tempered chocolate.

You can also use candy coloring which is oil-based and is sold at most places that cake decorating supplies are sold like Michaels. Just be careful not to add too much if you're making candy shells because it can mess with the stability of the chocolate.

You cannot add gel or liquid-based food coloring to the melted chocolate or it will get super thick and just seize up on you. The only way to use this chocolate after it has seized is to make it into a ganache.

The other option is you can use powdered food coloring that is oil soluble (meaning it will dissolve in oil-based foods). Just add a little to your chocolate, melt together and stir!

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