There are lots of different types (shapes, sizes, etc.) of silicone molds you can use for hot chocolate bombs, but this recipe is specifically for a mold that creates spheres that are 2.75 in (67mm) diameter. I find that these fit into a standard sized mug really nicely and are big enough to fit lots of fillings.

These molds can come in different colors or have different descriptions, and we're going to use a pretty common size (sometimes referred to as "large" sized). I got mine from Amazon here.

They are the most inexpensive and (probably) most popular style mold for the home baker to to use for hot chocolate bombs. The molds are made of food safe silicone that is both heat and freezer safe. They are extremely flexible, which works to our benefit, but also makes it a little tricky for handling. Don't worry, we'll cover all that.

If you're looking for tools you need to make the bombs, as well as chocolate types to use, or shipping questions, check out my "Hot chocolate bombs: your complete guide" post, which covers covers more of the basic questions around hot chocolate bombs.

Before you get to your recipe, let's cover a few very common questions I get about using a silicone mold.

When I heat my chocolate it's thick/clumpy/not fluid...what's going on?

Compound chocolate has this really interesting characteristic that when it gets really hot it thickens up. It sounds counter-intuitive, because I want to think that as we "melt" ingredients, they should get more runny. It's a pretty simple fix - you didn't burn your chocolate (until you see that it has black spots, in which you will have to throw it out.) You just have to let it cool down. The ideal working temperature for most compound chocolates is around 100F (32C). You don't need a thermometer at all to work with compound chocolate - but just wait until it cools by gently stirring it in your bowl. It will go back to it's fluid state, I promise.

If you really want to heat up your chocolate, you can caramelize your white chocolate, which is insanely yummy. Even though compound chocolate is not real chocolate, it still works! (Some people believe that caramelized white chocolate is dependent on the cocoa butter content, but it's really dependent on the presence of sugar ;) )

Why does my chocolate crack when I remove it from the silicone?

For this tutorial we're using compound chocolate, which doesn't require tempering. What that means is that it should set once it cools down. The reason your compound chocolate is cracking when you take it out of the mold is most likely because it's too thin. Try to make sure that you use enough chocolate that I indicate in the tutorial above and make sure it's definitely set by allowing the mold to rest in the fridge for at least 10 minutes.

From there, it may be a removal issue. If you're drying them open side up, then it will usually be thicker on the bottom portion of the mold. Use this to your advantage and push up from the bottom. The chocolate should remove very easily if it's set.

My chocolate melts in my hands when I work with it! How do I fix this?

Warm hands, warm heart! But yeah, problematic when working with chocolate. Some people swear by keeping ice nearby to chill their hands when working with chocolate, some people wear gloves. Both those methods can help. You can also try to touch the chocolate as little as possible. Compound chocolate has a higher melting temp than real chocolate (which coincidentally melts at body temp - a key feature as to why it melts in your mouth so wonderfully when you eat it) so at least we have that to our advantage. So when you pop them out of the mold, do it onto the counter top and then use the silicone muffin cups to handle your chocolates.

If you're ready to get started, you can check out this video here, which goes through 3 different ways I use silicone to make various bombs:

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Here are some other videos that use differently shaped silicone molds:

If you'd like to see more, I've created over 15 tutorials on different ways to make hot chocolate bombs. You can check out those videos on my YouTube channel here.