Hand Painting Chocolate

April 27th, 2009
Cocoa Butter Warmer and Painted Hexagon Mold

Cocoa Butter Warmer and Painted Hexagon Mold

Painting chocolate with colored cocoa butter requires great patience and skill. Patience I was blessed with, skill I am still learning. The cocoa butter it self can be messy, and don’t get it on your clothes or it will never come out. I once spilled some all over a wall and it had to be re-painted, so be careful!

The colorant you can order from various websites, this one I like best: Chef Rubber. They have a great selection of which I like the Jewel Collection best for its sparkly shine. I have also tried the pearl collection which I would not recommend. Although I am willing to give it a shot once I get and airbrush, it just did not  go over well with the brushes. I have also tried a spray form that they carry and I have had no luck with it. Its nothing but a big mess and is full of air bubbles. Please let me know if you have experience with this and have any pointers.

The cocoa butter colors them selves come out differently on milk and dark chocolates. Generally the darker colors look better on the milk chocolate and bright colors look best on darker chocolates. There are two ways to go about painting: 1.) You can paint directly on the finished pieces and you will create and added texture along with color. But this also seems to smudge or rub off easier. 2.) You can paint the already polished molds. And I like this option best because it creates a more even and smooth look, giving the chocolate an excellent sheen.

Good brushes are very important so the bristles don’t shed while painting. I find that the smaller brushes work best giving you more control. If I am going to cover a larger area like the one in that of the hexagon,  I glob small amounts to the brush and spread it around to avoid noticeable brush strokes in the finished product. Some molds are easier to paint than others. Simpler shapes seem to work best, with out too much detail. The paint globs thick in small nooks of intricate designs and tends to stick to the mold instead of adhere to the chocolate. So don’t layer that stuff on too thick in other areas either or it wont come off! While it is still wet you can use cotton swabs to clean up unwanted marks and/or  cotton balls to start a cavity over again if you mess up.

Temperature is the biggest  factor in working with this medium. I have tried to melt it down using the microwave method and boiling water. Both are very inconsistent and make it difficult to keep the colorant at a constant temperature. It quickly cools down and becomes thick and impossible to work with. If  it becomes too hot it spreads very thin, uneven and can be hard to control. Resulting in a sloppy and barely noticeable design. I discovered at Chef Rubber they also have what they call a Cocoa Butter Warmer. (This is what is pictured above with my colorant in it.) At first I was skeptical because of the time it takes to melt the cocoa butter.  I soon learned  just to turn it on the night before I know I am going to use it.  And I now love the convenience  and cleanliness of the machine keeping the colorant at a constant temperature and ready to use when I am.

8 Responses to “Hand Painting Chocolate”

  1. Brian says:

    I’ve gotta get you an airbrush… I think you would love the ease of painting with compared to the brushes. Each technique would give you different results obviously, with the airbrush being more suited to painting whole truffles one or two colors.

  2. Hannah large says:

    Really useful site, my daughter & i are looking into opening a high classed chocolate shop, with spray painting chocs as a real new concept, grateful for any advice you can give us.

  3. Esteban says:

    Hi! I’d like to know if it is possible to paint the chocolate already tempered, with brushes or the only way is tu paint the mold and the put the tempered chocolate?
    Thanks a lot!

    • It is possible and I have tried it but I thought it was undesirable for many reasons. The color goes on very dull and the brush strokes are highly defined so it adds a peculiar texture. The pretty high gloss sheen you get from tempering is ruined when you paint over it. Also the cocoa butter tends to rub off more on the hands when consuming the finished chocolate.

  4. sonia yates says:

    I would like to know how to paint the truffles to give the shinny look on top.

    thank you

  5. Hi Sonia,
    You actually paint the molds, not the chocolates to give them their shinny look. You can either hand paint them, or use an airbrush which gives a smoother finish.

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