Spring / Summer
Chocolate House Project

By Bob Sherman

Chocolate houses are very popular for the Winter Holidays, but can be made for any season. This simple version is great for a housewarming or mortgage burning gift / centerpiece. These look fairly complicated, but as you will see below they break down into very simple steps. Since this article is heavy with photos, I have spread it over several pages to speed load times. I have tried to keep this as simple as possible, however skilled cake decorators may opt for more embellishment with a decorating bag and tubes.

Although these could be embellished with paper, cardboard, and plastic items I try not to use anything that is not edible in my chocolate houses. This forces you to be more creative when decorating. Note that there are many edibles that make great embellishments, and a visit to your local candy store will supply lots of ideas. I was on a tight timeframe with this and used only items I had laying around, but you could be as creative as you like when decorating. Another decorating option is the use of complementary chocolate molds such as trees or animals to add more decor if desired.

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
I use a combination of two melting methods. For the walls and roof I prefer a double boiler. For the lesser colors requiring small quantities, I used the microwave method.

Double Boiler

1. Place chocolate in the pot.
2. Heat until creamy.
3. For best results, chocolate should be used 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 used 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.

Icing
For best results I highly recommend using Royal icing. Although the appearance will be much the same with any type of icing or frosting, it will be much more fragile. Royal icing dries very hard and will increase the durability of your project - especially if you need to transport it.

1. The molds are used without modification. To make a complete house, the molds need to be poured twice with the exception of the chimney which we only need one of.	2. Pour the picket fence. Use a squeeze bottle to paint the trellises on both mold halves. A minimal amount of mold painting was used on this project, but if desired you could paint these quite elaborately.
3. Optional - paint the shutters.	4. Fill the shrubs with green chocolate.
5. Finish filling the mold cavities.	6. Place in freezer until the parts de mold easily. Repeat steps 2 through 6 so that you have two of each wall and roof and two sets of shrubs and fence. If desired you can make additional shrubs and fences, but two sets were used here.
7. A squeeze bottle with green chocolate is used to make the vines on the trellises.	8. Edible confetti flowers are added before the green chocolate hardens.
9. Apply a dab of chocolate to one chimney half.	10. Press together and wipe off any excess that squeezes out. Try to handle all pieces by the edges to avoid fingerprints like those shown here.

Support Free Projects
You can help ensure the continued availabilty and production of free chocolate projects by telling your friends about them. The more popular they are the more we can produce so tell your friends, mention them on message boards, link to them from your web site, etc... More information is available here.

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 - June 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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