Shell/coral/beach wedding cakes are wildly popular here in San Diego, California, where the weather is spectacular all year round. I’m getting bored with the same-old beach cake design so here is a technique for making shells look a little more realistic.

Chocolate/candy molds are sold at most cake supply stores. I pick these up here and there but prefer to shop for them at Sugarcraft because they’ve got tons of options that you can browse by category.

The trick to making Sand Dollars look like they just washed up on shore is to start by painting a thin film of dark chocolate (melted semisweet chocolate chips work fine) into the cavities with a paint brush.

With a paper towel, wipe the chocolate almost clean so that it is only left clinging to the edges and in crevices.

Fill the molds with melted white chocolate. I use cookie scoops to do this, which helps maintain a clean work space. I like to add (unless the white chocolate already has a loose pour) about 5% powdered cocoa butter in with the chocolate before melting it. The below pic is more representative of a stiff pour but it still worked out:

Spread with an offset spatula to fill all the cavities:

Drop the mold from a short height onto the counter top a few times to help the chocolate settle. Then scrape the excess back into the main supply. Pop them in the freezer for a couple of minutes – not for too long – just long enough for the chocolate to set. Invert the frozen mold onto a piece of parchment paper and tap it’s edge. Most of the chocolates should fall right out. One or two may require a press of the thumb on the backside of their cavities to be released.

Brush the surfaces gently with blue luster dust and super pearl dust using a blush brush.

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