In my family's shop a new employee is having trouble with our Easter hollow molds. Since my father's passing we are on a rapid learning curve since he knew everything and we just followed his instructions.

Anyway, as we are trying to do the hollow molds, the chocolate is cracking while setting up. It's is visible from the outside of the mold.

I'm thinking that it's too thin of a shell and/or the viscosity of the chocolate. We are using Broc 90 (?). Should we be using 125 for hollow molds?

Is this enough info for thoughts?

updated by @nicole5: 04/10/15 09:27:00

I have no experience with that type of mold but what I do know is thickness won't stop chocolate from cracking. The times I've seen cracking was with very thick chocolate, in fact. Due to uneven cooling, in that instance. So I'd be looking at cooling problems rather than viscosity. Molds can be really tricky and almost all the trouble comes from cooling and heat dispersal. Lots of folks will say to put a fan in your fridge haha.

Good on you for taking up your father's legacy!

Thank you, Lee, for your response! Your explanation could be the problem, and if I could inquire a little more, I'd be grateful. These molds are (big surprise!) bunnies. When you say uneven cooling, could it be that if our guy is putting more chocolate in the ears of the bunny mold, but less for the body, that that might be part of it? He hasn't told me where the molds are cracking, or if it's always in the same place, so I'll check on that. In the meantime, this is a major problem at this time of year!

I'd also find out how he's cooling them. How big is the cooling environment? How cold? How are the molds spaced in the fridge? How long is he cooling for? Heat dispersal in chocolate molds can be very tricky. Knowing where cracks are forming would be useful.I still hope your your sake someone with experience with this kind of mold weighs in. I mold lots of chocolate every day but I don't work with this particular type of hollow mold. So my advice is fairly general.Best of luck!

Nicole -

Clear photos would help!

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
clay - http://www.thechocolatelife.com/clay/

Removing a percentage of the clips early in the cooling can help a lot with cracking.

--
www.eztemper.com

www.thechocolatedoctor.ca