Yesterday, made my second batch of chocolate molds using three pounds of dark chocolate. All the pieces came out of the molds perfectly, except for one peice. Even after staying in the refrigerator overnight, it remained stuck in the Belgium-made mold. Could someone give me an idea of what might have caused this, and how to prevent it in the future. Thank you so much, Beth.

updated by @beth-l-evard: 04/22/15 12:18:46

Sounds to me like it could have been one of a few things,

1) Has the chocolate been stirred sufficiently, if not there could be a spot of warm untempered chocolate which wouldn't release from the mould.

2) Is the mould totally dry, if there is moisture in the mould this will cause problems when demoulding.

3) Could the mould be warm on one impression, this could

detemper the chocolate when filling the mould.

My guess is it's no.1

Thanks, Mark. I used a tempering machine and all but that one piece came out easily. My guess is that that individual impression might have gotten warm from the way I was holding it as I filled all the other individual impressions. Next time, Ill try putting the molds on an elevated stand so I dont have to hold when filling.

The moulds should be just below the temperature of your tempered chocolate. If too cold it will crystallize in less stable forms. You can get the same thing if cooled too quickly. Skin temperatures are about 92F, making it hard to warm up too much in the time to fill.

Not only water in the moulds, but water spots will also make them stick.

Leave a cocoa butter film in the moulds, this will help not only with release but shine.

If the mold was dirty, or you did not remove all of the air bubbles sometimes the chocolate simply sticks.

Also how did you temper the chocolate. If you did not mix the chocolate sometimes the tempering does not remain stable and will stick to the mold. Lastly wipe down the mold with QTips to remove any dirt, dust, remaining chocolate. I agree with Mike Nolan. Most likely the chocolate was not stirred properly and untempered chocolate does not release from the mold.

Hope this helps

Jim

Mark, will a coca butter spray before molding work or is that overkill? Thanks.

James, I realize that I'm not as focused getting the air bubbles out, rather I rushed to chill them. Thank you for pointing that out to me.