Statue Of Liberty
Chocolate Making Project

By Bob Sherman

This intermediate level 3D chocolate project combines simple mold painting with hollow molding. The simplicity of this makes it perfect for beginners looking to progress to slightly more advanced techniques. These make great gifts, centerpieces, or cake toppers for your holiday party.

Although I've lived in New York City or just outside it for most of my life, the lady in the harbor never fails to be an inspiring sight. Oddly enough, I have only visited the Statue Of Liberty once, and it is one of the few New York landmarks I have ever taken the time to visit. Decades later I still remember the long climb up to the crown and the spectacular view from there. Sadly the crown has now been closed to visitors.

Most of the items you may need can be ordered directly from this page for your convenience.

PLEASE NOTE!! - Although chocolate making is relatively safe for the entire family to participate, adult supervision is required.

Chocolate
I prefer to use chocolate wafers designed for home molding chocolate. My preferred brand is Merckens which works well with all chocolate molding projects without tempering, and tastes great.

Melting Chocolate
For a small project like this either melting method may be used, but I prefer a double boiler for ease on control.

Double Boiler

1. Place chocolate in the pot.
2. Heat until creamy.
3. For best results, chocolate should be poured at 88 to 90 degrees F. Under no circumstances should chocolate ever be poured hotter than 160 degrees F. because this will destroy the mold.

A microwave may also be used but care must be taken not to overheat the chocolate.

1. Place the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl.
2. Heat for 30 seconds. Note: When heating small amounts of chocolate, reduce this to 10 second increments.
3. Remove and stir.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until the chocolate is creamy.
5. For best results, chocolate should be poured at 88 to 90 degrees F. Under no circumstances should chocolate ever be poured hotter than 160 degrees F. because this will destroy the mold.

1. To attain the correct green color one wafer of dark green and 6 wafers of light green were melted together.	2. Milk chocolate was used for the fill.
3. The mold is prepared by cutting out the two halves. Leave approximately 1/2 inch of the sheet around the mold cavity.	4. After it is melted, stir the green chocolate, but leave it a bit streaky for visual interest.
5. The statue stands on a stone building so begin painting the green at the base of the statue.	6. I prefer to paint the perimeter then fill in the center. Leaving it a bit streaky will provide additional visual interest.
7. Whenever painting molds, turn them over and inspect for air bubbles frequently. Any bubbles found must be corrected before the chocolate hardens.	8. Repeat the painting for the back half. Allow to harden.
9. Because the arm / torch area is so narrow it may cause problems when hollow molding. To counter this, a layer of the milk chocolate was brushed into this area on both halves to ensure enough thickness. Note: do not completely fill this area as some chocolate will need to flow in to enable the two halves to bond. Allow to fully harden before proceeding.	10. Fill the back half of the mold with melted chocolate.
11. Align the 2 halves and clip the mold together. Note: Although some molds have alignment tabs, always ignore these and visually align the two halves. Alignment pins are usually inaccurate. On larger molds I cut them off, but on this mold they were too close to the mold cavity so they were left in place.	12. Rotate the mold several times to flow chocolate over the entire mold interior. Inspect for any trapped air and tap the mold to dislodge any bubbles. Repeat this every minute for approximately ten minutes to build up a decent thickness of chocolate on the entire inside of the mold. Alternate leaving the mold face up / face down each time you rotate it. After ten minutes stand the mold upright in the refrigerator (freezer is not recommended for hollow molding).
13. When the mold has cooled enough the finished chocolate will remove easily.

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Disclaimer: The information presented here is accurate to the best of my knowledge and common chocolate molding practices as of the time of this writing - April 2006. The author and the publisher accept no liability for the use or misuse of any of the information presented in this article. This articles is presented for informational purposes and is used at your own risk.

Author: Bob Sherman

Publisher: Bobby's Craft Boutique Inc.

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