3D Hollow Chocolates
Most 3d moulds come in two parts, a front and a back. With household scissors, cut around the edge of the cavity leaving 2-3cm around the edge so the two halves can be clipped together.
Fill one half of the mould about three quarters full. Place the other half of the mould on top making sure you line up the edges accurately. Using many bulldog clips, clip around the edges so the two halves are firmly joined and no leakage can occur. Hold the moulds and turn around and around so the melted chocolate covers all areas of the mould evenly. After a few minutes of continually turning, place in the fridge for a minute to set, then turn it over and allow to set a bit longer. When there is no wet patches, unclip and remove the mould. If it doesn’t come out easily, return to the fridge for a few more minutes.
Making 3d chocolates is tricky and sometimes requires a bit of practice. However, should your 3d chocolate not work out how you want, simply re-melt and start again. That is the great thing about chocolate making that you do not have to waste chocolate, just recycle it!
Here is another method which is great to make 3d hollow pieces with objects inside (like lollies etc).
Fill both halves of the egg or mould cavities with melted compound buttons to the top and place in the fridge. You may need to prop up the mould to stop it from spilling. The chocolate will set on the outside first after a few minutes. When the desired thickness has been set, tip out the centre of the egg/mould that has not yet set. You will be left with a shell of each egg/mould half. Return to fridge for futher setting. To add items inside egg, when set and unmoulded, place smarties, lollies etc into one half of the egg. To join the other half on top, either use melted chocolate as glue or gently place it onto a warm oven tray until slightly melted then join together. Make sure it is lined up correctly. If you don’t get a clean join, you can decorate the join line with piped chocolate in a continuous small dot outline in a different coloured chocolate for extra effect.
Other Effects
You can get a marble effect with the eggs by splashing or painting white (or other coloured buttons) dots onto the mould. Allow to set then fill with a different colour, following the steps above. Another effect, is a lattice, pipe melted buttons onto the mould in diagonal lines and set. Fill with different colour buttons as per steps above.