Hot Chocolate bombs

[JeanneCake]

A friend showed me a video clip of a hot cocoa bomb early this week; I'd never seen one before.  And now it seems as if I'm seeing them all over social media.  Is this a relatively new gimmick?   It seems as if you just fill two half spheres with cocoa powder, flavoring and those tiny marshmallows then seal them .... maybe it's a thing for the upcoming winter months to keep people kids amused during a snow storm?  Does anyone make them?  What size are they?

[Kerry Beal]

It was a thing last winter - I know that @Alleguedemade some big ones last year. And Carl the Snowman - that Kate Weiser perfected last year is a hot chocolate bomb as I recall. 

[JeanneCake]

Would you make the half spheres in a solid plastic mold or a silicone one?  I have plenty of silicone molds (the flexi sheets that have 20 or 30 forms in them) from making mousse bombes; I have never tried to mold chocolate in one.  How would you keep the chocolate from cracking when you try to unmold it?  And not have a flat spot on the bottom from resting on a sheet pan while it sets up?

[Kerry Beal]

1 minute ago, JeanneCake said:

Would you make the half spheres in a solid plastic mold or a silicone one?  I have plenty of silicone molds (the flexi sheets that have 20 or 30 forms in them) from making mousse bombes; I have never tried to mold chocolate in one.  How would you keep the chocolate from cracking when you try to unmold it?  And not have a flat spot on the bottom from resting on a sheet pan while it sets up?

Sounds like a good reason to use solid plastic to me!

[pastrygirl]

4 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

Sounds like a good reason to use solid plastic to me!

 

[MokaPot]

IIRC, somebody did make these and did post photos of these (chocolate spheres, little marshmallows, etc., inside) on eGullet within the past few months. I've looked around on the threads and can't find the post now. I'll keep looking.

[Jonathan]

These things? Size can be whatever you want it to be. For a big mug I’d recommend at least 50mm diameter moulds. You can get polycarbonate moulds that size if you want a shiny finish but silicone will work too if visuals aren’t important. Fill one half, then heat the other to seal

[pastrygirl]

Kate's been killing it with Carl, had him in Nieman Marcus and an airport kiosk last year, there's also Carla, who is peppermint IIRC.

 

Inspired by Kate, I've made a single-serving version for a few years but am leaning heavily towards not this year.  It does seem like a few more people on Instagram are making them.  I use a 50 mm hemisphere mold, which is on the small side, 60+ mm might be easier to handle (and fit marshmallows in).  I don't use marshmallows but I'm probably weird that way.  I don't like them and my balls are too small.

 

Pros:  They're cute, fun for kids of all ages, highly giftable, and people love the idea

 

Cons: yes it's just 2 hemispheres filled with a dry mix and stuck together, but doing that neatly is apparently beyond me.  If one leaks then suddenly there's dust all over everything.  You need a good lip on both halves of the mold to get a full seal.  I solved that by sealing each half via some chocolate and acetate trickery, but that's an extra step.  They're fragile so not great for shipping, which I expect to do a lot of this year.  Finally, I feel like they don't actually work that well.  In some of the videos where they just pour hot milk over, you can see it takes a bit before it melts.   I've found you need to either do it on the stove-top or stir like crazy and get it super hot or you get sludgy bits in the bottom of the cup, which bugs me.  Carl/Carla is big enough that you'd have to do it stove-top but for single serving I think people want to make it in the mug.

 

If you can put together something that's easy to execute (and you're neater with the cocoa mix than me), people will love them and you too can be insta-famous!

 

edited to add - I also coated mine in white to cover my messy joins and called them snowballs, more unnecessary steps! 🤣

 

 

 

Edited October 26, 2020 by pastrygirl (log)

[JeanneCake]

I do like your snowballs.  I saw Ashley Vicos' chocolate bombs on her FB page (she's opened a confectionery shop in ATL) and she used chocolate scribbles on hers. 

 

Maybe I will just stick with marshmallows and leave well enough alone!

[Tri2Cook]

I'm giving them a shot. I'd never heard of them either until someone asked me if I make them. I had to admit not knowing what they were and did some googling. I ordered 2.5" (63.5 mm) polycarbonate half sphere molds for the shells. I started ordering things before thoroughly investigating what I was doing and got a bulk supply of the dehydrated mini marshmallows like come in the packets of hot cocoa mix assuming that was the thing to use. And then every video I watched showed using regular mini marshmallows. I'm going to go with the dehydrated I already ordered initially and see what the reaction is.

[Shelby]

Ok.  I must find an online source and buy.  I want!

 

And, nooooooo....making them myself is far beyond my pay grade.  I admire you all that can do stuff like this!

[kayb]

If any of our folk are making these for mail order, let me know. I'll buy.

 

[TdeV]

Me too.

[Dark side]

Ive just hopped on the bandwagon and started making them for our shop. We're using homemade marshmallows, which definitely adds to the workload. 

Id like to start shipping them, but i do have packaging concerns. Any thoughts on best way to protect them?

@pastrygirl I like the white idea too, for a festive design. Is that white chocolate, or cocoa butter, or confectioners sugar? Your packaging looks great as well :)

Im also wondering about putting some booze in them. 

Can anyone comment on whether there is a trick, or considerations to be made, when housing straight liquor inside a tempered chocolate shell? Will a decent thickness be enough to prevent the liquid from softening or disintegrating the chocolate? 

 

 

 

 

[pastrygirl]

@Dark side thanks!   The white is white chocolate mixed with enough white cocoa butter to make it a brighter shade of white. 

 

Yours look great, I wouldn't  change them.  What size mold are you using?

 

I think the problem with adding liquid liquor would be the marshmallows and the dry mix soaking it up more than the chocolate shell.  Can you make a boozy marshmallow instead?

 

 

[Douglas K]

Funny that this became a thing.

 

8 years ago I went with my wife to Europe, and we spent a week in Amsterdam so she could learn where my family came from. One day we stopped in a bar/cafe and my wife wanted hot chocolate, and they came out with a hot cup of milk with a solid chocolate on a stick to stir in it. It was great, so I made hot chocolate on a stick for Christmas gifts that year for family, and it was amazingly well received. Fast forward to now, and it’s all about bombs. Go figure. The neat thing with the stick is you made it as strong as you wanted.

[teonzo]

14 hours ago, Dark side said:

Im also wondering about putting some booze in them. 

Can anyone comment on whether there is a trick, or considerations to be made, when housing straight liquor inside a tempered chocolate shell? Will a decent thickness be enough to prevent the liquid from softening or disintegrating the chocolate? 

 

You can make a jelly (booze + gelatin), cut it after gelled, then add it inside the sphere together with the marshmallows and the rest.

Since this sphere is going to be melted in hot milk, gelatin will melt too.

 

 

 

Teo

 

[pastrygirl]

Today Facebook suggested I join a private group dedicated to hot chocolate bombs with 21k members, so yes, they are a thing! (I didn't join)

 

 

[Kerry Beal]

One of the ward clerks in my ER is going to start making them today. She has a insulated cup business but all her stuff for that is stuck across the border.   
 

I suspect I’ll be answering a lot of questions if yesterday’s evenings discussion is anything to go by.

 

 

[Tri2Cook]

10 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

I suspect I’ll be answering a lot of questions if yesterday’s evenings discussion is anything to go by.

Maybe it'll be a refreshing change for you... at least it isn't me yet again. 

[Tri2Cook]

So my molds are in and they're gonna make bigger spheres than I was picturing in my head but they'll fit in even my smallest coffee mugs (according to my measuring tape anyway) so they should be fine. I have a happy young'un right now, not only because she's excited about the hot chocolate bombs but also because when I ordered the dehydrated mini marshmallows, they also had the colorful Lucky Charms style version so I ordered a bag of those too and told her to have at 'em.  

[Kerry Beal]

51 minutes ago, Tri2Cook said:

Maybe it'll be a refreshing change for you... at least it isn't me yet again. 

LOL - you are not a rank beginner! Mind you I really have no objection to questions from beginners - they are moldable.

[JeanneCake]

18 hours ago, pastrygirl said:

Today Facebook suggested I join a private group dedicated to hot chocolate bombs with 21k members, so yes, they are a thing! (I didn't join)

 

 

 

There are members posting pictures (not their own) and asking how to make them because they've posted said pictures to their pages and now need advice on fulfilling orders for hundreds..

[Dark side]

On 10/27/2020 at 4:26 PM, pastrygirl said:

@Dark side thanks!   The white is white chocolate mixed with enough white cocoa butter to make it a brighter shade of white. 

 

Yours look great, I wouldn't  change them.  What size mold are you using?

 

I think the problem with adding liquid liquor would be the marshmallows and the dry mix soaking it up more than the chocolate shell.  Can you make a boozy marshmallow instead?

 

 

Thanks! I think my mold is a 2.25"? 
Yeah, wasn't sure about including the mallows in with the liquor, but even a shell with just liquor seems like it'll eventually soften the integrity of the shell. From what I've been reading it seems most suggest to a sugary liqueur that will crystallize a layer inside the shell, but unless the bomb was full, i don't know how the layer would build up evenly around the inside of the shell, even with rotating it.... 

[Dark side]

On 10/28/2020 at 5:05 AM, teonzo said:

 

You can make a jelly (booze + gelatin), cut it after gelled, then add it inside the sphere together with the marshmallows and the rest.

Since this sphere is going to be melted in hot milk, gelatin will melt too.

 

 

 

Teo

 

That's an interesting idea.... I'll have to look into ratios of gelatin to booze, as I've never made a jelly before. Any recipe suggestions?
Don't think it'll make for as pretty a picture of the insides, lol, but it might do the trick! thank you!