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A Guide to Moulding & Filling

Posted: 03 Sep 2013

Moulding & Filling

As with all aspects of chocolate making, there are certain techniques to follow when moulding, filling and closing to ensure your chocolates turn out perfectly each time. The books we have recommended below contain useful guidelines on these techniques but remember that there is no substitute for the hands-on experience you can get during a course!

Making Chocolate Figures & Bars

Making hollow or solid chocolate figures or bars also requires the use of a mould.  We offer a great selection of praline, figure, relief and lollipop moulds from Cacao Barry as well as a variety of decorated bar moulds and a luxuriously thick slab mould ideal for adding inclusions, (available in 40g or 100g sizes) exclusive to Keylink. Making Chocolate Figures & Bars

For more information, click through to our Working with Moulds and Filling & Closing instructional videos.

Making Pralines & Truffles

Pralines and Truffles differ from chocolate figures and bars as they require an outer shell as well as a filling. The quickest and easiest way to make truffles is to use pre-formed truffle shells, ensuring quick and convenient filling. We offer a wide range of truffle spheres and delicate hollow cups ready for you to fill.

As the filling is the most important component of your moulded chocolates and will ultimately determine how good they taste, it is vital to get this part right! There are a number of options available to you depending on your time and skill level:

  • You can use a ready-made and flavoured filling such as a hazelnut Praline, Crème a la Carte or a Tintoretto – see our instructional video: A Guide to Fillings for additional guidance.
  • You could use any of our ready-made ganaches or truffle masses, flavouring with a fruit puree, flavour paste, essential oil or one of our weird and wonderful flavour drops.
  • Or if you’re feeling adventurous, you can make your own ganache from scratch using chocolate and cream - for assistance see our Making a Ganache instructional video.

Simply pipe your filling into pre-formed truffle spheres or hand moulded chocolate shells using a piping bag, closing with a small amount of tempered chocolate and decorating as you wish! For more guidance on these techniques watch our Filling & Closing instructional video.

The only additional equipment you may find useful when making truffles or pralines is a trigger/piston funnel, PVC sheets and dipping forks to help with dipping and decorating your truffles. You can also use one of our pretty transfer sheets to decorate the base of your praline or filled chocolate – for tips on how to use our transfer and texture sheets take a look at our instructional video: Using Transfer/Texture Sheets.

All of the instructional modules featured in this article are showcased in our ‘Working with Chocolate’ DVD, created by Keylink Ltd.