DIY Chocolate Letters: Step-by-step Recipes And Photos

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 12:53

DIY chocolate letters - an original solution for any gift

Chocolate is not just a delicious and healthy treat. This is a whole field for activity and creativity. If on the eve of the holiday you are tormented by the question of what to give your friends, or how to decorate the table in an original way, then chocolate will become a real find for you. For example, you can make chocolate letters with your own hands and fold them into a congratulatory inscription. And how to make them correctly, you will learn from this article.

Content

• 1 Why you might need chocolate letters

• 2 Basic principles of DIY manufacturing

  • 2.1 Which chocolate to choose
  • 2.2 How to Melt a Chocolate Bar Correctly
  • 2.3 Preparation of chocolate
  • 2.4 How to make a chocolate fondant

• 3 Methods for making chocolate letters

  • 3.1 Silicone Candy Molds
  • 3.2 Video: silicone molds for making chocolate letters and other figures
  • 3.3 Making letters with cookie cutters
  • 3.4 How to make chocolate letters on a cake using a pastry syringe
• 4 Video recipe for making letters and numbers from chocolate

Why you might need chocolate letters

Confectionery - cakes, pastries, muffins - is an obligatory attribute of most holidays. The hostesses try to decorate them as beautifully and originally as possible. Flowers, various figurines and decorations made of mastic, candied fruits, cream are used … But recently congratulatory or romantic inscriptions made of chocolate letters are gaining more and more popularity.

Cake is an optional base for using chocolate letters. This original delicacy can be used as chocolates by folding them into a beautiful gift box in the right order. Just imagine: the birthday boy opens such a box, and there is an inscription of his favorite chocolates!

Chocolate letters can be used to make a romantic declaration of love

In general, letters made of chocolate are a great way to please loved ones with an original gift. Many confectionery firms are engaged in their manufacture, so it will not be difficult to order letters of any shape and size. But maybe it's better to make chocolate letters yourself? Manufacturing will cost you less than a purchase, and, moreover, you will be sure of the quality of the products used.

There are several ways to make chocolate letters. To do this, you can use:

• Silicone forms;
• cookie cutters;
• pastry syringe or bag;
• parchment paper.

The difficulty of creating letters depends on the chosen method. In any case, you need attention and accuracy.

Basic principles of DIY manufacturing

The first thing you need is good quality chocolate. It can be of any kind to your taste - black, milky or white. You can buy a couple of different types of chocolates in the store, melt them and pour them into molds; the main thing is that they are without fillers: nuts, raisins, candied fruits, jam.

Or you can make chocolate yourself. Moreover, this requires a minimum set of available products.

Which chocolate to choose

If you decide that it is easier and more convenient to use factory-made chocolates, then you should take into account the characteristics of each type of this delicacy. Both the process of making letters and the final result depend on them.

1. Melted dessert chocolate has a high viscosity, and after hardening it becomes dull.

   

   Dessert chocolate becomes dull after curing

2. White chocolate melts quickly (melting point is only 45 ° C) and can be very runny.

   

   White chocolate has a low melting point and quickly becomes liquid

3. Dark chocolate has a melting point of 55 ° C, so it is quite difficult to work with.

   

   Dark bitter chocolate is difficult to work with due to its high melting point

4. Chocolate fondant is easy to use and low cost. True, it loses in taste due to the low content of cocoa butter. But if you're new to chocolate lettering, fudge is just what you need to practice and get your hands on it.

How to melt a chocolate bar correctly

This can be done in several ways:

• in the microwave;
• in a water bath;
• in an oven or double boiler at low temperature.

1. Turn on the microwave to no more than half the power so that the temperature is not high. Put the broken chocolate into pieces in a suitable container and place in the oven for 1-2 minutes. Remove, mix thoroughly and return to microwave. Repeat the required number of times until the chocolate is evenly liquid. The sweet mass should not burn!

   

   The easiest way to melt a bar of chocolate is to break it into pieces and send it to the microwave.

2. To give the chocolate a water bath, use a small saucepan and a slightly larger bowl. Pour hot water (not boiling water) into a saucepan and put on low heat. Place a bowl of chocolate on top. Note that the bottom of the bowl must not touch the water. Stir the chocolate until it completely melts into a liquid mass. Make sure that the water in the pot does not boil.

   

   To melt chocolate in a water bath, you need to constantly stir it and make sure that the water does not boil

3. If you want to use the oven, turn it on to a maximum of 55 ° C, depending on the melting point of the selected chocolate (we wrote about this above). Place a bowl of chocolate pieces on the top wire rack and a mug of water on the bottom wire rack. This will help prevent the chocolate from burning while melting. Take out the bowl of chocolate every 5 minutes and stir the melting mixture. Do this until completely dissolved.

Cooking chocolate

Ordinary chocolate icing, which many decorate cakes, muffins, pastries, can also be used to prepare letters or other figures. It hardens well both in a thin layer and in bulk forms. For her you will need:

• 1.5 tbsp Sahara;
• 3 tbsp milk;
• 50 g butter;

• 2 tsp cocoa powder.

  

  Butter, sugar, milk and cocoa powder - products for making chocolate

Melt butter in an aluminum saucepan over low heat, add sugar. While stirring constantly, pour in the milk. When the sugar has dissolved, add the cocoa and stir until smooth. Boil for 5 minutes and cool slightly so that the chocolate thickens slightly, but does not harden. Then it can be poured into molds.

Mix all ingredients until smooth and boil, stirring constantly with a whisk

How to make chocolate fondant

If you want to make letters and patterns on parchment paper or write directly on the cake using a piping bag or syringe, chocolate fondant is the right product. For her you will need:

• 1 glass of milk;
• 1 bar of dark chocolate;
• 10 tbsp Sahara;
• 1 pinch of vanilla

The cooking process looks like this:

1. Pour milk into a saucepan, add sugar, stir and put on low heat. Heat until sugar is completely dissolved.
2. Do not crush the chocolate, but grate it. Pour the resulting flakes into a saucepan with milk and continue heating until the chocolate is completely dissolved.
3. Cook until the mass thickens evenly, then let cool. The temperature of the fondant should be comfortable for you, as you will need to hold the pastry bag filled with it in your hand.

Methods for making chocolate letters

We figured out the chocolate, it's time to learn how to make letters out of it. We offer you some interesting ways to make letters and inscriptions.

Silicone Candy Molds

You can use silicone molds. You can buy them at any kitchen supply store. The choice is very wide, and you can easily find the necessary form with the alphabet.

You can easily match the silicone mold with letters to your taste

The cooking process is very simple. Grease the cells of the mold with a small amount of butter (this is necessary to make the finished letters easier to extract) and pour melted chocolate mass or fudge into them. Place the mold in the refrigerator for 5-10 hours. When the letters are ready, remove them from the mold and place them on the sticky surface of the frosting or mastic cake so they will stick better.

Remove the frozen chocolate letters from the mold and decorate the cake with them

You probably noticed that some silicone molds have 2 levels: a base and a notch in the form of a letter. This will help you make two-tone figures

You can make bicolor letters from white and dark chocolate

For example, pour some white chocolate into the recess, wait until it hardens, and fill the remaining cell to the top with black or milk chocolate.

Video: silicone molds for making chocolate letters and other figures

Making letters with cookie cutters

This method may seem complicated, but with its help the letters are neat, thin. You will need:

• any chocolate bar;
• form for baking cakes;
• parchment paper;
• sharp knife;

• cookie cutters in the form of letters.

  

  Metal cookie cutters will help you cut straight letters out of chocolate

Instead of cookie cutters, you can use letters cut from thick cardboard.

1. Line the cake mold with parchment paper. Pour chocolate melted in a water bath there. Smooth carefully with a wide knife.
2. Now grab the parchment by the edges and shake gently. This will flatten the surface of the chocolate, releasing all the bubbles that have formed.

3. Wait for the chocolate to solidify. When it won't stick to your fingers, place another sheet of parchment on top. Flip the form over so that the top sheet of paper remains at the bottom. Carefully peel off the bottom sheet that covered the mold and return the chocolate bar to its original position.

   

   Start making letters after the chocolate has hardened enough

4. Place the cookie cutters firmly on the chocolate and press down to cut the letters. If you are using a cardboard stencil, use a sharp knife to carefully cut the figures in silhouette.

5. Place the cut letters in the refrigerator or other cool place to set them well. After that, you can lay out the inscriptions on the cake.

   

   With cookie cutters or cardboard stencils, you can easily cut letters out of chocolate

By the way, you can experiment and make the forms yourself from plasticine. This material is very malleable and you can easily give it the look you want. The larger the form, the easier it is to fill it with chocolate. The form must be covered with foil, gently smoothed, and then filled with melted chocolate. When it hardens, remove the letters from the workpiece and use as directed.

How to make chocolate letters on a cake using a pastry syringe

Confectioners have long used a pastry syringe or bag to decorate cakes. It sounds simple, but it takes some practice to learn how to create nice, clean letters. In addition, it is better to use not melted chocolate, but the fondant, which we wrote about above: it fits much better on the surface.

When the fondant has cooled down a bit, fold it into a pastry syringe and start writing letters.

Fill a pastry bag with chocolate fondant and label gently

You can write directly on the cake or do it differently. Brush a little butter on a parchment sheet and label. Then send the parchment to the refrigerator for several hours, placing it horizontally on a flat surface. When the labels are solidified, carefully separate them from the sheet.

You can write the letters on parchment paper, wait until they are completely solid, and transfer them to the cake

To make chocolate letters with a pastry syringe correctly, follow a few rules.

1. It is better to choose a font for the inscriptions simple, large and without curls. This will make it much easier for you to apply the fondant, and the inscription will turn out to be understandable and clear.

2. To decorate a cake or pastry, it is better to choose contrasting masses: letters made of white chocolate will look good on a dark glaze, and letters made of black on a light background.

   

   For an inscription in chocolate letters, it is better to choose a contrasting background.

3. Try to keep letters of the same size and avoid hyphenation.
4. The lettering should be applied to smooth surfaces. For example, glaze or mastic. Moreover, it should not be wet, but slightly sticky. After registration, the confection must be immediately placed in the refrigerator.

Video recipe for making letters and numbers from chocolate

The more you love sweets in your family, the more you want to diversify them, make them original and unusual. Chocolate letters are a great way to make familiar desserts creative and interesting. Plus, you can learn to make them all together, and eventually even start a family business! If you already know how to make letters out of chocolate, please share your experience with our readers in the comments. Bon Appetit!