Chocolate Replicas of Buildings and Landmarks

I saw this story about a father/daughter team in the UK that are making chocolate replicas of buildings and other landmarks. Their work is incredible.

Pictured: The intricate chocolate replicas of British landmarks and celebrity homes

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 5:41 PM on 24th July 2008

It's the perfect gift for the person who has everything - an edible replica of their home. But at £2,000 each they'll set you back a bit more than your average box of chocolates.

The intricate creations are being snapped up by the rich and famous with Prince Charles, Sting and Nicolas Cage among those who have commissioned carvings.

Chocolate artists Flo Broughton and her father Kerr Dunlop created this 'edible sculpture' of Highbury for Prince Charles. Prince Charles was so impressed with the replica he now sells them at The Highgrove Shop.


The replicas made by Father and daughter chocolatiers Kerr Dunlop and Flo Broughton , measure around 20cm x 10cm and take three weeks to make using intricate moulds. The pair spent five years perfecting their technique for making the 'edible architecture', which has also been used to recreate British landmarks.

Flo Broughton, and father Kerr Dunlop, spent five years perfecting a technique for the chocolate architecture. Now they have released pictures of their work for the first time, including the sculpture of Prince Charles' Highgrove country estate in Gloucestershire.

They also show Midford Castle near Bath, Somerset - recently bought by Nicholas Cage - and Stings's Lake House mansion at Wilsford-cum-Lake in Wiltshire.

Retired inventor Kerr, 64, said: 'It's very difficult to make them. We have to build them up in different stages as you would a model. 'There are different colours for different parts of the building. If there's a portice on the door we would do that separately then add other features like windows. 'It's neither a quick nor an easy process but we pride ourselves on offering beautiful and original chocolates for our consumers. 'A mould for something like a house can take two or three works and hard to do occasionally stopping for breaks.'

The family launched their company Chocolate on Chocolate five years ago and converted a barn at their home in Rode, Bath, into a chocolate factory. They started selling a range of just 12 chocolates at trade shows and quickly landed orders from upmarket shops such as Harrods.




Nicholas Cage commissioned a chocolate replica of his Somerset estate Midford Castle.

Inventor Kerr then designed a method of sculpting buildings using moulds made out of plastic.

He made replicas of the Town Bridge in Bradford-upon-Avon, Wiltshire, and the Devil's Bridge in Kendal, which were spotted by a member of Prince Charles' staff at a show three years ago.
Charles then commissioned a chocolate replica of Highgrove and his three-feathered Royal crest.



Landmark: Bristol shopping super centre Cribbs Causeway has been re-created in luxury chocolate.


He was so impressed he recently started selling them at The Highgrove Shop, which sells produce from the Prince's land near Tetbury and other local producers.

The Highgrove replica - 20cm x 10cm with 250g of chocolate - retails at £12 and the Royal crest - which is 10cm squared and uses 110g - is £6.

Making the chocolates takes up to three weeks starting with photographing the buildings and making several moulds and costs up to £2,000 per commission.



Intricate: Each replica takes three weeks to make using moulds with extra pieces intricately hand-carved for different parts of the building.

Giant machines spin gallons of different flavoured dark, milk, white and red chocolate which are poured into the moulds.

Extra pieces are then intricately hand-carved for different parts of the building.

The luxury treat business has boomed - now making 200 different products - and they now plan to expand into a factory four times the size including a chocolate cafe.

Graphic Designer Flo, 29, said: 'We started when I finished my degree and had a brief discussion about how cool it would be if I came up with some imaginative designs and then dad carved the moulds out of plaster. 'Dad has experience as an inventor and can carve amazingly intricate moulds and we just thought we'd give it a go.

'It's a dream come true to be surrounded by chocolate all the time. 'It's hard to resist eating the chocolate all the time because it smells so good, but I've got used to it.'

Custom Chocolate Transfer Sheets and Dessert Wafers

Many people seem to be looking for a company or product to make custom chocolate transfer sheets, so I thought I would let you know about American Chocolate Designs of Atlanta. American Chocolate Designs® is a division of Gadoua Chocolate Designs and is a woman owned business. Gadoua Chocolate Designs prints designs, photographs, and logos directly onto a fine Belgian dark milk and white chocolate. If you want a chocolate transfer sheet or dessert wafer with a custom design or logo, I would refer you to them.

Ordering Custom Transfer Sheets

You will need camera-ready black and white artwork or a high resolution jpg file for a one-color-print. There may be additional requirements for multiple color artwork. There is a one case minimum (one hundred transfers) for custom chocolate transfer sheet orders. The set-up charge is $100 per color. For designs with more than one color, the price may vary due to the number of colors and design complexity. I am not sure of the case price for custom orders, but the case price for their standard designs are 10" x 11"

100 sheet case $195.00; 10" x 16" 100 sheet case $299.00. So, it would cost at minimum $295 for a one color custom chocolate transfer sheet.

Ordering Custom Dessert Wafers

The artwork, set-up charges, and ordering minimums for custom dessert wafers are pretty much the same as for the transfer sheets. They have several different shapes from which to choose including square, circle, oval, and heart. You can choose white chocolate or dark milk chocolate. Recommended colors for logos on white chocolate wafer include: brown, black, red, green, blue and burgundy. Recommended colors for logos on dark milk chocolate wafer are white and gold. The price for one color custom dessert wafers would be $100 plus -

30mm square 1232 per case $258.72

3 1/4" round 102 per case $96.90

2" round 506 per case $141.68

1 1/4" round 1008 per case $211.68

1 5/8" x 1" large oval 1056 per case $274.56

1" x 3/4" small oval 1936 per case $271.04

2" heart 500 per case $180.00

The ordering time is three weeks from finalization of the order and proof approval. Payment can be made by credit card.

Chocolate, Cocoa, and Confectionery Reference Book

Chocolate, Cocoa, and Confectionery : Science and Technology
By Bernard W. Minifie

If you are looking for an extremely complete reference book about the manufacture and production of chocolates and other confections, you may want invest in this book.  The 904 page book is written as a textbook about food science and technology.  It is considered by many to be the chocolate bible. 

You can preview some of the pages on Google Book Search.  Their description of the book is "Recognized as the industry standard, this definitive guide provides a comprehensive review of chocolate and confectionery production and processing operations. The technical and scientific aspects of the various manufacturing procedures are emphasized: formulations and recipes are used as needed to supplement explanations and to advance understanding of a particular process. Other areas include raw materials, emulsifiers, replacers and compounds, ingredients, sweeteners, starches and colors, applied methods, food value, packaging and entomology."

According to the table of contents, some of the chapters include:

Part 1:  Cocoa and Chocolate
Cocoa Processes
Chocolate Manufacture
Confectionery Coatings
Chocolate Bars and Covered Confectionery

Part 2:  Confectionery Ingredients and Processes
Sugars, Glucose Syrups
Milk and Milk Products
Aerating Agents
Gums, Glazes, and Waxes
Fruits and Jams
Nuts
Colors
Flavorings

Part 3:  General Technology
Quality Control
Packaging

The Appendix also includes a list of resources which many people report as being beneficial.  The book sells on Amazon for $190 new with free shipping or around $125 for a used version.  Below is a link to get to it.

Chocolate, Cocoa, and Confectionery : Science and Technology

Molded Chocolate Cupcake Bites

I was doing some searching and ran across a nifty litte dessert idea that I thought I would pass along.  It was a recipe and photos posted on a blog called Made by Melissa.  It could easily be used for other occassions/holidays just by changing the fillings and decorations.

Easy Cupcake Bites

1 box cake mix (cook as directed on box for 13 X 9 cake) (I used red velvet to keep with the theme)
1 can cream cheese frosting (16 oz.)
1 package chocolate bark (or candy melts for cupcake bottom)
Colored Candy Melts (for cupcake top)
Candy Cup Mold (She used a peanut butter cup mold)
Sprinkles and m&ms for decoration

After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl. (The texture should be fine/fluffy) Using the back of a large spoon, mix thoroughly with 1 can cream cheese frosting. (It may be easier to use fingers to mix together, but be warned it will get messy.)

Roll mixture into quarter size balls (make sure they are smaller in diameter than that of your candy mold) and lay on wax paper covered cookie sheet. Chill in the freezer for a few minutes, until they are slightly firm, not frozen.

Melt chocolate bark and candy melts in microwave per directions on package.

Using a spoon or squeeze bottle, fill each mold cavity with a small amount of chocolate. But as soon as you fill the cavity, go ahead and place one of your rolled balls into it. Carefully push it down until the force causes the chocolate to push up and fill in around the sides of the ball. You may have to experiment with a couple to get the right amount. Stop pushing once the chocolate reaches the top edge.

Place the mold tray filled with cupcakes in the freezer for just a few minutes to let the chocolate set. Remove and then gently pull up on the cake ball top to release from candy mold. Now, holding the bottom of the cupcake, dip the top in another color of melted chocolate. I found it was easier to stick a toothpick in the bottom and dip them that way. Decorate.
Makes about 50. Store in an airtight container and they will last for several days.

Thanks to Made by Melissa for passing this recipe on.

Chocolate Coin and Chocolate Mold Dies - Bauer Engraving Co.

If you are looking for a system to make chocolate coins, or want dies made for chocolate molds, you may want to contact Bill Bratt, owner of Bauer Engraving Co.  located in San Fransisco.  Bauer Engraving Co. makes many kinds of photoengraved dies, including those use for foil stamping, chocolate coin imprinting, and chocolate mold making.  In addition, you can buy a machine to make chocolate coins from Bauer Engraving Co.

Bratt, is part owner of a company called Image Development that manufactures machinery to imprint chocolate coins.  Bauer Engraving then can make the dies that go with the Image Development machine.  The lowest price machine (over $1,000), is a manually operated machine that stamps one coin at a time.  To make a custom chocolate coin, the dies are insterted into the machine, along with a blank foiled coin.  Using pressure, the machine will quickly press the die against the foiled chocolate.  As a result, the image is transferrred to the chocolate and foil.

Bauer Engraving can also make dies for use with making chocolate molds.  To make a chocolate mold, you must first have a model of what you want your chocolate to look like.  Then by various methods, including vacuum forming, silicone molding, plastic injection, and stamping, you can make a mold.  See the "How To" section on The Chocolate Mold Factory's main website for detailed information about these mold making methods.

To order dies is relatively simple.  You will need to send very clean black and white artwork to Bauer, or any other photoengraving company you want to use.  Any jagged edges will show up in the die.  As such, vector artwork is best.  Normally, anything black will be raised in your die, whereas, anything white will not.  Photoengraving is a chemical process whereby an image is transferred to a metal plate with a light sensitive coating.  Anything that is exposed to the light will harden.  The unexposed areas will wash away, leaving a plate with the image in relief.

Some other tips to consider if you are going to be making a mold from these dies (which I learned the hard way):

1. Make sure your lines are not close together. If your lines are not far enough a part, your mold making material will not be able to get down into the crevices.  This will cause a loss of your image in the mold.
2. If you want text to be recessed, it has to be quite large.  Otherwise, the metal etching will not be deep enough for the mold making material; also resulting in a loss of the image.
3. If you are going to be making a mold with multiple cavities, you may want to order all the dies at the same time.  Differences in the etching process can make significant changes in the final mold.  (For example, I had ordered one mold initially to test if an image would work because letters were very close together.  On first try it did work, and molded beautifully.  So I ordered the rest of the dies.  However, there was some minor change in the depth of the etching that made the new dies not work when I tried to mold them)
4. To save money, order multiple dies on one plate and cut them yourself.  If you have the photoengraving company cut them for you, you may lose the discount based on larger square inches.