Hello Chocolate Collective,

I recently took over a business from a local chocolatier and have been asked to repeat job that the previous owner has done for the past 2 years. The company makes a widget, and has it recreated in molds (see attached). The molds come is two pieces and fit together. The previous owner had duck-taped a hinge along one side - which can't be hygienic, but while they fit together, they don't stay together (if that makes sense).

He has asked me to make a total of 3500 of these. What is the most efficient way to do this? Should I mold it separately and then and stick it together or try to mold it as a single unit? I have attached an image of the two pieces. Any thoughts would be great.

Thoughts?

Morag

Don't use duct tape.  There are clips that are a "O" shape that will hold them that are open and clip to the edges of the mold (I think all the chocolate mold companies sell these like chocolate world or tomric) or you can use the big black binder clips.  They can be washed and sanitized easily. 

Thank you Lynda. I know the clips of which you speak. So, in your opinion, I should just fill it enough for both sides and then clip the sides, as opposed to filling each side and then sticking it together? 

Did the last owner make them solid or partially hollow or hollow?  

For hollow--You could fill one side, clip the other side on and shake bubbles out and rotate to evenly coat the mold (much harder way to do this as you could get air bubbles that won't come out).

For partial air pockets in the piece--You could fill both sides with chocolate, shake the bubbles out, them put them together with clips.  You will still have a few air pockets but they should not surface to the top to been seen.  This is simpler than above but can be kind of messy if the chocolate starts to pour out when putting together.

Or to make them solid--you can fill both sides, let harden, take them out of the mold and "glue" them with chocolate to create the finished piece.  I use an angled icing knife from cake decorating to glue chocolate pieces together with tempered chocolates.

I think they were solid. I asked him to send me pictures from the last time. They were not well done I can tell you that. Thanks for your advice. Greatly appreciate it.