Chocolate and carob molding

[Sharon in Colorado]

I tried doing a mold but used honey, big mistake, because honey just gets gooey and never totally hardens up.

What I did was use my leftover cacao nibs and ground them up, then added some carob, then honey and a little bit of vanilla. For a hardener I used a bit of coconut oil then I poured them into molds and placed them in the freezer.

They never hardered up enough to "pop" out of the molds like normal chocolate does when molded. It was a big mess as they had to be pryed out with a metal baby spoon...it was the texture of a very thick dense fudge...sure...good for eating...but it just wouldn't mold.

I've seen these molded chocolates on Shazzie's site and knowing she's a vegan, she sure doesn't use honey, but I don't know if agave would work.

Has anyone tried doing this? Success? Failure?

[Sheryl]

Hi Sharon,

I've done chocolate in moulds using agave, cacao butter, cacao powder and fresh ground vanilla pod. If I'm too eager it's just like you described. But if I leave them overnight they harden and pop out like a charm. I think honey might be the ingredient keeping it sticky. Try using agave instead and see what happens.

Shazzie's recipe was similar for white chocolate, but just no cacao powder and some extra ingredients.

Cheers,
Sheryl

[rawpriestess]

I do what Sheryl does, I use cacao butter and cacao powder, a tad vanilla been, and agave, works beautifully, I used to use coconut butter, but I like the flavor of the cacao butter so much better.

[Oceana]

Hi Sharon,

I've done chocolate in moulds using agave, cacao butter, cacao powder and fresh ground vanilla pod. If I'm too eager it's just like you described. But if I leave them overnight they harden and pop out like a charm. I think honey might be the ingredient keeping it sticky. Try using agave instead and see what happens.





Where do you buy cocao butter and powder from?

[Sharon in Colorado]

Thanks ladies. I forgot to mention that I did use cocoa butter (I got the NOW brand from Vitamin Cottage), along with the coconut oil. I did have to blend it pretty well because it was a bit grainy.

Does anyone have measurements they could share?

[rome]

Hi I'm new here and have been browsing, I saw this thread and wondered what this is like ? and do you know the calorie count for making this recipe ?
thanks

[Sheryl]

This so reminds me of the fudge we used to make combining melted chocolate with sweetened condensed milk... rich, slightly chewly and amazing.

No measurements yet, but it's too good to hold back. Blend all ingredients in a high speed blender until smooth. I'm not sure you can do this without a high speed blender. Sorry! The mix before you add the chocolate is very sweet... but once it goes chocolate it's just perfect. Next time I try this I will measure and amend this recipe. It's good enough to do again and again. I cut it into teeny tiny squares to enjoy for days to come. I banned Piers... it's all mine!!! This is the last of the cacao powder until the new shipment arrives... so I'm feeling a little sensitive!

Here we go:
about 2 cups Cashews
about 1 cup Agave (or more to taste)
1 vanilla bean
about 1/2 cup Cacao butter, melted
Water (small anount if needed to blend)
Cacao powder (to taste)

Mix in your favourite chopped nuts, cacao nibs etc.

I sprinked in some carob powder in a glass pie plate and spread this out, then added more toppings.

Freeze until firm.

Eat!

[Sheryl]

We just tried SIX different chocolate recipes and came up with a few winners!!! I'll share the best of the best here!

For all recipes:
Mix all ingredients together well
REMELT (critical for texture)
Pour into mould/plate
Let set then eat!

The remelting stage is critical (as we discovered tonight) otherwise the chocolate is flakey. If you remelt then pour it's silky smooth and beautiful!

Ginger Chocolate
1 tbs cacao powder
1 tbs cacao butter
1 tsp grated ginger (very fine)
2 tsp agave

(next I'll try this with 1 tsp organic orange rind instead)

Pure Dark Chocolate
1 tbs cacao butter
1 tbs cacao powder
2 tsp agave

Sheryl - I thought this one was a little sweet, but Piers and Harley both loved it! In the previous recipe the bite of the ginger balanced out the sweetness. I would add less agave to this.

Coconut Dark Chocolate
1 tbs cacao butter
1 tbs cacao powder
1 tbs fresh grated coconut (fine)
2 tsp agave

Yummy!!!! Loved by all but especially Sheryl

There will be a taste test in Adelaide tomorrow at Harley's of the most loved dark chocolate recipe. He has only 10 chocolates in beautiful little chocolate cups, set in a asian case. First come first serve!

Cheers,
Sheryl

[Sheryl]

That ought to keep you going a while!! Enjoy!

Cheers,
Sheryl

[Sheryl]

Rome, I'd help if I could but very few poeple on raw count calories. You could enter then ingredients into a website that calculated that though quite easily.

Cheers,
Sheryl

[startootsie]

I have been trying to make a mold and actually made it well! I put a lot of coconut oil and some carob agave and almond butter, it freezes really good. It get's hard like REAL chocolate, and you can put it over banana ice cream for a hard shell!

I hope this helps!

[Sharon in Colorado]

Thank you all - I will never use honey in this kind of recipe again! :p

[Sharon in Colorado]

Okay *yum* the recipe you gave me was so good Sheryl, I used orange zest and it was fantastic, however they are still hard and gooey in the molds, now I'm wondering if it might be the vanilla extract I added. Reg vanilla extract contains alcohol which doesn't freeze well. Could that be it.

This is not good for me, I'm in the middle of a liquid diet and I'm supposed to be taking my cholesterol test tomorrow. :o