I attempted to mold dark chocolate with mango crunchy pearl filling after learning it from a class.

Ingredients: Chocolate Couverture (milk, bitter, white), mango puree, butter, cream, valrhona crunchy pearls

Tools: Polycarbonate chocolate mold, offset spatula

Equipment: double boiler, very cold freezer

The chocolate couverture can be bought from Phoon Huat. They sell it in 250g, 500g or 1kg packages. I got the 1kg versions for $12 – $14. The 250g ones cost around $4.

The polycarbonate mold can be found at Phoon Huat for $13.40. It is very cheap, really. I got the above heart shaped one from Bake King for $25 and I thought it was a steal… not until I found that Phoon Huat sells it for $13.40! On the other hand, there wasn’t heart shaped ones at Phoon Huat so not all is lost. You definitely can’t find it for the price of $13.40 online even, so do not hesitate to get it at Phoon Huat if you intend to get one.

The offset spatula is necessary so get one from any baking store. I got mine from Phoon Huat some time ago.

I made mango filling using mango puree, cream, butter and white chocolate. The mango puree can be obtained from Bake King in a 300g jar. Phoon Huat sells imported ones in 1kg only. As this is not for baking, SCS butter isn’t necessary. I used Gold Tree butter, from Phoon Huat, which cost $2.40 per 250g, which is a steal. Many brands of whipping cream are available but I chose Lescure from Phoon Huat as it’s made in France. 1L cost around $7.

The valrhona dark chocolate crunchy pearls gave the filling the extra crunch, literally. It can be found at BIY for $11.80 per 250g. Sun Lik sells these too, but I don’t know the price. They have another brand called Callebaut Crispearls and the pearls are available in white and milk chocolate too.

Chocolate making is a very very very messy process. It requires patience. Sometimes when you are unlucky the chocolate just wouldn’t leave the mold. I conclude 2 possible reasons – freezer not cold enough and chocolate shell not thick enough. I amended both factors and I succeeded! The consequences are terrible if the chocolate fails to unmold – it means more than just the fact that you won’t get your chocolate. You have to remove all traces of chocolate the dirty way. Chocolate is very messy and when you melt it off, it will not come out of the mold nicely. I had to patiently wipe off everything! If it could unmold easily, it’ll come off with just a knock without leaving a trace of chocolate in the mold.

A lot of patience is required. You have to make sure the shell is really thick enough, and thoroughly frozen, before piping in the fillings. You got to slightly freeze the filling too, before “closing” up the mold with more chocolate. The chocolate has to be warm enough to not freeze on contact with the cold mold, yet not too hot that it’ll melt everything else. Patience is the key.

It came out of the mold perfectly! I love them! Can’t wait to experiment with different flavours, but for now, I need new recipes!