CHOCOLATE HEART BOXES

Chocolate Chocolate Heart Heart Boxes Boxes

Such a sweet gift, these edible boxes can be filled with your favorite candies or small cookies.

BY SERI LOPEZ

After years of working in environmental engineering and education–IT careers and running her own Pampered Chef business, Seri Lopez took a cake-decorating class and her new career began. She was certified by taking classes at local cake-decorating supply shop in 2002, made her first wedding cake in 2004, and started her business in 2006. She honed her skills in sugar art through master classes under very well-known sugar artists over the years. She has been a Food Network competitor and a winner at both the Oklahoma State Sugar Art Show and Oregon State Fair. She loves making cakes and working with her hands to create.

LEVEL:

COMPONENTS

Edibles:

Ruby chocolate Couverture white chocolate Candy melts Oil-based food colors Various luster dusts Lemon extract or vodka

Equipment: Heart molds Paintbrushes

seriouscake.com facebook.com/SeriousCakecom-155812504431839 instagram.com/seriouscakecom/ CREATE THE BOXES

1. Heat your various chocolates.

I used ruby chocolate, couverture white chocolate, and candy melts. Microwave them in 30-second increments, stirring until melted and smooth. The chocolate should run off your spatula. Do not overheat the chocolate or it will burn.

2. Pour the chocolate into very clean molds. Tap them lightly on the counter until all air bubbles have come up. You can hold up your mold and see through the chocolate underneath a lamp to see if the chocolate has filled into all the crevices of your molds. 3. Place the molds onto a tray and place a small item under the lid side of the molds to keep them level on the tray.

Place them in the refrigerator

1

5 2

6a 3 4

6b

Tip: YOU CAN TEST YOUR COLORS ON THE BOTTOM SIDE OF YOUR BOX OR POUR EXTRA CHOCOLATE ONTO PARCHMENT PAPER, ALLOW IT TO DRY, AND THEN TEST YOUR COLOR SELECTION.

for 15 minutes, then place the molds into the freezer for 15 more minutes.

4. Once the chocolate has set, take the molds and gently flip them over onto a piece of parchment paper to release the hearts from the molds.

They should just fall out. If they don’t, you may have to put them back into the freezer. 5. Repeat Steps 1 through 4 with other colors. If you would like to color your chocolate, use oil-based colors so you do not seize the chocolate.

6. Using various luster dusts mixed with lemon extract or vodka, paint the lids of the boxes. Let dry. ACD