COCOA BOMBS
Making Cocoa Bombs is not for the faint of heart. It’s not difficult, but it is time consuming. Maybe that’s why I made these before Christmas and am just now blogging about them. And you might be thinking….well now I can’t make them for Christmas, but you CAN make them for Valentine’s Day!
These make GREAT gifts or can just be a little kitchen fun with the family. At Christmas, I made these for the staff at my son’s school, but for Valentine’s Day I’ll probably just make them for my boys and their teachers.
***I’ll link all of the items used throughout the post***
STEP 1: GATHER SUPPLIES
Melting Chocolates - I prefer the Wilton Candy Melts
Microwave Safe Bowl
Silicone Molds - In the video, I share how to use 2 different molds, the traditional silicone mold and the 3-piece mold.
Piping Bags
Sprinkles
Hot Chocolate and/or Coffee Creamer
Marshmallows
Parchment Paper
STEP 2: MELT CHOCOLATE
Pour the candy melts/melting chocolate in the microwave safe bowl and heat in the microwave in 30 second increments. Be sure to stir between each 30 seconds. Watch the chocolate carefully, as you do not want it to burn. Once the chocolate is fully melted and smooth, you are ready to fill the molds.
STEP 3: FILLING THE MOLDS
I used both molds in order to be able to give an honest review.
SILICONE MOLD: The mold was easy enough to work with. Using the cookie scoop, drop in a dollop of melting chocolate. Using a spoon, spread the chocolate around the entire mold cup, making sure to distribute evenly and pulling it all the way to the top. This was the part that was most time consuming because if the chocolate is too thin, it will break when you pop it out. Once the molds are filled, you will put them into the freezer until the chocolate has fully cooled and set. Once the chocolate has cooled, gently flip over the mold and push the hardened chocolate out.
3-PIECE MOLD: I prefer this mold over the silicone mold. Having 3 pieces sounds daunting, but it is very very easy to work with. Using the cookie scoop, you will drop in a dollop of melting chocolate to the bottom piece. Once all mold cups are filled, you will place the plastic insert on top of the chocolate dollop and begin to press down. The chocolate will spread evenly through the cup and up the side. If it spills over the edge, that’s ok. Finally you will place the top piece into the molds and press down to make sure there are no air bubbles before placing in the freezer.
Once the chocolate has cooled, remove the top plastic piece. Gently peel the insert from the bottom piece of the mold. The chocolate will be hardened on the removable insert. Gently peel the insert off of the chocolate. You can gently break off any chocolate that overflowed and hardened. These piece can be put in the middle of the cocoa bomb.
STEP 4: FILLING THE COCOA BOMBS
If you are making a large amount, I recommend using a mini cupcake pan to help hold the bottom of the cocoa bomb in place while you assemble them.
For Coffee Creamer Bombs I fill each mold with 4-5 marshmallows and approximately 2 tablespoons of coffee creamer. You can also add those little pieces of chocolate that broke off from the top.
For Cocoa Bombs I fill each mold with 4-5 marshmallows and approximately 2 tablespoons of hot chocolate mix. It’s also fun to add sprinkles to the inside of the cocoa bomb.
Once you have finished filling the bottom mold, you are ready to assemble the tops.
STEP 5: ASSEMBLING THE COCOA BOMBS
Place a small piece of parchment paper on top of the candle warming plate. You DO NOT want to place the chocolate mold directly on the warming plate, as that will ruin it.
Place the top piece of the chocolate mold on the warming plate, gentle wiggling it back and forth until the top ring is melted.
Piece the two chocolate molds together and hold securely for 5-10 seconds to let the chocolate cool and solidify. If there is any extra chocolate bubbling from the sides, simply swipe the chocolate around the seam.
STEP 6: DECORATING COCOA BOMBS
Wilton Candy Melts coming in so many colors, so you can use this same process for Valentine’s Day, Easter, etc. Really any holiday, although most people think of cold weather when they think of Cocoa Bombs. However, if you use the coffee creamer variation, you could make them year-round!
Now that your Cocoa Bombs are assembled and sealed, it’s time to decorate. There’s two ways to drizzle the chocolate on top of the cocoa bombs. The first, is by using a Melt-and-Decorate Bottle. The advantage to using a bottle like this is, you can melt the chocolate directly in the bottle and if you don’t use it all, you can store it in the bottle until you are ready to use it again. What I didn’t like about this bottle is that it is easy to get air bubbles, which you can see on the video.
The second way to drizzle chocolate on top of the cocoa bombs is using a traditional piping bag. Piping bags tend to be intimidating because we traditionally see them used on cake baking shows OR they come with 10 different metal tips that you have no idea what to do with. For our purposes, we aren’t creating a beautiful design on a cake and you don’t even need a metal tip. You will pour the melted chocolate into a piping bag and cut a very small hole in the bottom of the bag. Then twist the top, so that there are no air bubble in the bag and the melted chocolate will start to drizzle out. I prefer to use the piping bag because I can keep the twist tight and then don’t have air bubbles while I’m drizzling.
If you are adding sprinkles to the top, make sure to do so before the chocolate drizzle hardens or they won’t stick
YOU DID IT! You tackled making Cocoa Bombs and I bet that it wasn’t as hard as you thought it would be. Feel free to drop any questions you have in the comments so we can all learn from each other!