{"id":1379,"date":"2017-09-07T14:07:05","date_gmt":"2017-09-07T21:07:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.coastalvectors.com\/blog\/?p=1379"},"modified":"2017-09-07T14:07:05","modified_gmt":"2017-09-07T21:07:05","slug":"chocolate-candy-cups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.coastalvectors.com\/blog\/2017\/09\/chocolate-candy-cups\/","title":{"rendered":"Chocolate Candy Cups"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a young person, I was quite enamored with Reese’s peanut butter cups. Those were one of my favorite candies to eat during the holidays. It’s now been over 5 years since I have tasted them. This isn’t due to amazing will power and good dieting, it’s due to the fact that those candies are lethal to my son. Yet, I still long for those treats.<\/p>\n

I decided to make my own that would be safe for my family. I figured I’d be able to find a candy mold for just such a project, but was unable to find any. I was able to make an approximation of a Reese’s peanut butter cup by using cup cake holders, but I still felt that having the correct type of mold would yield better results.<\/p>\n

I devised a plan for how I would do it, and then modeled the geometry in Autocad Inventor. The idea is to model the geometry I want (a positive) and use a CNC machine to carve this geometry. From the positive CNC generated shape, I will create a negative mold using a food-grade silicone rubber. Then, finally, I can make the chocolate treats using the silicone mold.<\/p>\n

Modeling<\/h2>\n

Modeling the shape was pretty easy. I figured out the basic dimensions I wanted and modeled accordingly. The final shape should be about 2 inches in diameter and .5 inches tall. Even though I have no intention of wrapping these in paper, I did some careful math to make sure the ridges were appropriately shaped to allow a circular piece of wrapping to be applied. This was done by making sure the perimeter of the ridged top was equal to the circumference of a circle whose radius is equal to the bottom’s radius plus the length of the side.<\/p>\n

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The goal is to have a void in the chocolate where anything can be put inside.<\/p>\n

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CNCing<\/h2>\n

With the model looking okay, I CNCed the geometry out of some scrap hardwood left over from another project.<\/p>\n

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After CNCing, I removed the positive geometry, and sanded and filled the wood as best I could.<\/p>\n

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I then put 4 of the positive carvings in a void made out of particle board. Once glued, the whole thing was coated with black enamel to fill the gaps and hopefully make the silicone not stick.<\/p>\n

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Casting<\/h2>\n

I ordered a small supply of silicone casting (Smooth-Sil 945<\/a>) from Smooth-On. This particular product is food-safe, and is activated using a 50:50 mixture of A and B parts, so it’s really easy to use.<\/p>\n

Using some simple geometry, I figured out exactly how much material I would need. I poured the correct amounts into disposable bowls and mixed thoroughly, then poured the material into my mold. 6 hours later, I was able to pull the mold out. It turned out very well!<\/p>\n

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Chocolate<\/h2>\n

The next step was to take chocolate, and lightly melt it. I used Guittard <\/a>chocolate, which is nut-safe. I tried different types, but liked the more milky flavors the best (Milk Chocolate 30% Cacoa). Not being a chocolateer, I have a bit to learn. From what I understand, the key to successfully making chocolate treats is to temper the chocolate by melting it at about 115 degrees, then letting it cool slowly at a temperature of 75 degrees. I could be wrong, but it did seem to work.<\/p>\n

I was left with things that look like Reese’s, but have an opening and a void on the bottom!<\/p>\n

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Soy Butter<\/h2>\n

The delicious insides is a combination of Wowbutter <\/a>brand soy butter, butter, brown sugar, and powdered sugar. The butter and soy butter are heated, then sugars are added, and then cooled.<\/p>\n

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It ends up as a dough that isn’t as sticky as the soy butter began. This allows it to be put into the chocolate shells rather easily.<\/p>\n

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Finishing it up<\/h2>\n

Now upside-down, additional chocolate is poured to cover the opening and seal in the delicious center.<\/p>\n

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Conclusion<\/h2>\n

The result was very tasty, and completely satisfactory. It’s time intensive. The chocolate takes a LONG time to harden. 4-6 hours at room temperature. This can be sped up by placing the chocolate int he refrigerator or the freezer, but cooling the chocolate too quickly can have negative results.<\/p>\n

The Reese’s company (Mars) clearly doesn’t make their cups in this manner. Since the paper liner appears to be the actual mold for the chocolate, I suspect they do it in the opposite fashion. They pour the chocolate into the cup with a removable core that leaves a void when removed. The insides get inserted via extrusion, and then the cup gets topped off with chocolate and packaged once solidified. Empty cups that popup online<\/a> from time<\/a> to time<\/a> seem to confirm this theory.<\/p>\n

No matter what, I am happy with the result, and my son can now know of the exquisiteness that is a Reese’s cup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a young person, I was quite enamored with Reese’s peanut butter cups. Those were one of my favorite candies to eat during the holidays. It’s now been over 5 years since I have tasted them. This isn’t due to amazing will power and good dieting, it’s due to the fact that those candies are … Continue reading Chocolate Candy Cups<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-engineering","category-projects"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coastalvectors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coastalvectors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coastalvectors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coastalvectors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coastalvectors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1379"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.coastalvectors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1504,"href":"https:\/\/www.coastalvectors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1379\/revisions\/1504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coastalvectors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coastalvectors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coastalvectors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}