Let’s make Valentine’s Day a little darker, a little creepier, and a little more personal. It’s time to swap the drugstore chocolates for Bugs and Bones. Yes, really! Chocolate bugs and bones! Nothing says I Love You like handmade Gothic Chocolates…. am I right?! I am. 🙂
I’m sure it’s no surprise that Valentine Chocolate Boxes and Flowers are the two most common gifts to give on Valentine’s Day. Ugh, did you read that word?…. Common! We can do so much better than common! Look, those pre-filled Valentine boxes are… fine. And I’m sure many would consider them to be a sweet gesture. There was a time when I loved the idea of receiving one. The reality is that I only liked 2 or 3 of the chocolates in that box… and the rest, including the box, were tossed. I know I am not alone. So, consider this gift that is so wildly popular ….. a sad cardboard box wrapped in too much cellophane and a handful of mystery truffles and creams….. all screaming “last minute gift panic”. Your Valentine deserves an upgrade.
Before we get into the chocolates, I should address the box itself. If you’ve read my blog or followed me on Instagram, you know that I am a huge proponent of Gothic Valentine Boxes. Eight years ago, in an effort to find one that suited my darker aesthetic, I decided to give several of those sad cardboard boxes a facelift…. and turn them into something beautiful and creepy. Since then, I’ve created a handful of tutorials on creating DIY gothic inspired heart boxes for those of you that want to try your hand at making your own. I also sell several styles every year in my Etsy Shop, for those of you that would prefer to buy one ready to be filled. I cannot encourage you enough to consider both the box and the chocolates!! If one is all that you can handle……. A beautiful gothic box with ordinary chocolates, or an ordinary box with gothic chocolates are both such a huge step up from being common!! But if you can muster the time or energy or money to do both…. talk about a wow moment when your Valentine opens the spectacularly spooky gift!!
OK… let’s talk homemade chocolates….. unexpected chocolates…. spooky skull chocolates…. curious insect chocolates! Same sweet gesture, way more allure! And we’re not just talking plain boring chocolate….. we’re making fruit filled chocolates, coconut almond chocolates, peanut butter filled chocolates, German Chocolates, and much more!! This is one of those DIYs that looks impressive but is actually shockingly easy— With a few molds and some melted chocolate, even a basic Valentine box can become not only truly thoughtful, but deliciously macabre.
Start by choosing your molds. Chocolate Skulls are an obvious go-to. They always look great sitting inside of a gothic box. Here’s a recipe I created for making Chocolate Skulls filled with oozing raspberry filling…. Bloody Raspberries. The Raspberry filling is such a fun surprise, adding a macabre twist to a plain chocolate skull. And the oozing red filling is so perfect for Valentine’s Day!!
Another popular choice that I’m seeing A LOT of are the Horror Movie Chocolates. Those are especially good if your recipient is a horror fan! The molds you need for both of these options are featured in the thumbnail images below.
Since the skulls and horror characters are such a popular choice, I wanted to go with something different and a bit more unexpected…. I went with insects. I literally collected molds that I thought would be disturbing to have food shaped as. Bugs seemed like the last things you’d expect in a Valentine’s box….. and the perfect hint/touch of something weird / element of twisted surprise!! It’s OK if bugs aren’t your thing! There are so many sets of Halloween molds that have various shapes that would work perfectly for this project. Choose the mold that suits your recipient best and let’s get to it!
Before we get started…. This post contains some affiliate links. If you buy something through one of those links, you won’t pay a penny more, but I’ll get a small commission, which helps keep the lights on. Thanks! Click HERE for more details.
Making the Chocolates
Making these chocolates can be as simple as melting some chocolate and filling a mold. In no time at all you’ll have a box full of them. But…. before you call it a day… I suggest we take it one step further. The plain chocolates will look amazing, but will your Valentine love eating every last one of them, or will we be right back to the original problem of most of them getting tossed in the trash? It is only a few extra steps to create chocolates that not only look incredible, but taste incredible, by adding some mix-ins or a filling.
Personally, I love chocolate, but NOT plain chocolate. It must have nuts or caramel or peanut butter …. any kind of topping or filling really. Since I like toppings and fillings in my chocolate, especially nuts, I started with some of my favorites. For filling, I used Reese’s Creamy Peanut Butter and Nutella Hazelnut Spread. For toppings, I used pecans, almonds, hazelnuts, pistachios, dried cherries, and coconut.
What you’ll need:
- Silicone molds – Look for skulls, beetles, spiders, moths, bats, etc
- Chocolate Base – GHIRARDELLI White Melting Wafers, GHIRARDELLI Dark Melting Wafers, and I also used Peanut Butter Baking Chips
- Optional add-ins – Nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, pecans, walnuts, pistachios, etc), Dried Fruit, Candy Pieces, Peanut Butter, Caramel, Nutella, Flaked Coconut
- Microwave
- Microwave Safe Bowl
- Small Spoon or Pastry bag
For Chocolates with mix-ins –
1. Melt Chocolate by placing the wafers or baking chips in a small bowl. Microwave 30 seconds. Stir vigorously. Continue to microwave in 20-second intervals stirring between each interval, until completely smooth. If small pieces of chocolate remain, continue to microwave in 5-second intervals, stirring after each until smooth.
2. Place the chocolate filling in a pastry bag or use a small spoon and fill the molds 1/2 full.
3. Gently tap the mold on the counter until you remove all of the air bubbles.
4. Add toppings. While singular toppings were delicious…. don’t be afraid to mix toppings. I made my own version of a Cadbury Fruit & Nut Bar by combining dried cherries and almonds into dark chocolate. I also made a Coconut Almond version with white chocolate. My absolute favorite was the German Chocolate chocolate which combined coconut and pecans with dark chocolate. I honestly don’t think there’s a bad combination. Every chocolate I made was delicious.
5. Fill each mold cavity with the remaining melted chocolate until chocolate is level with the top of each opening.
6. Gently tap the mold on the counter until you remove all of the air bubbles.
7. Scrape excess chocolate from the mold by running a flat edge along the surface of your mold.
8. Let the molded chocolate set-up (harden) on a level surface. I recommend allowing the chocolate to harden at room temperature. If you are in a hurry, the mold can be placed in the refrigerator, but it is important to limit the time the chocolate spends in the refrigerator, as the cold, humid environment can ruin the texture, appearance, and flavor.
9. To remove the chocolate from the mold, gently separate the sides of the mold from the chocolate. Once the silicone is pulled away, the chocolate will pop out easily.
10. Store the molded chocolate in an airtight container and keep in a cool, dry place between 55° – 70° F.
For Chocolates with filling –
1. Melt Chocolate by placing the wafers or chips in a small bowl. Microwave 30 seconds. Stir vigorously. Continue to microwave in 20-second intervals stirring between each interval, until completely smooth. If small pieces of chocolate remain, continue to microwave in 5-second intervals, stirring after each until smooth.
2. Using a small spoon, add a thin layer to coat the inside of the mold cavity. Ensure the melted chocolate gets into every nook & cranny. Coat only the walls, leaving a cavity for the filling.
3. Let the molded chocolate set-up (harden) on a level surface. I recommend allowing the chocolate to harden at room temperature. If you are in a hurry, the mold can be placed in the refrigerator, but it is important to limit the time the chocolate spends in the refrigerator, as the cold, humid environment can ruin the texture, appearance, and flavor.
4. Fill the cavity with filling. Do not overfill
5. Repeat step 1 to melt more chocolate.
6. Fill each mold cavity with the remaining melted chocolate until chocolate is level with the top of each opening.
7. Scrape excess chocolate from the mold by running a flat edge along the surface of your mold.
8. Repeat step 3 to harden
9. To remove the chocolate from the mold, gently separate the sides of the mold from the chocolate. Once the silicone is pulled away, the chocolate will pop out easily.
10. Store the molded chocolate in an airtight container and keep in a cool, dry place between 55° – 70° F.
Assembling the Gothic Valentine Box
You have your box…. you have your chocolates….. Now you need a way to store the chocolates in the box. You have a few options depending on the size of the chocolates you make.
1. Use the plastic insert that comes with the original box of chocolates. These inserts have various cavities that are made to fit the chocolates that come with the box. While this is certainly the easiest method, you are at the mercy of the size of the cavities. You may want to choose the chocolate molds after you are able to measure the cavities of the insert to ensure everything will fit perfectly.
2. Use baking liners to secure the chocolates into the box. Again, the size and shape of your chocolates will determine if you can use these … Standard Black Cupcake Liners, Mini Black Cupcake Liners, Reusable Black Silicone Cupcake Liners, and if you want a pop of color, try the Standard Red Cupcake Liners.
3. The last option for filling your box with chocolates is to make your own cavities to fit your specific chocolates. I had no choice but to do option 3 because of the various shaped chocolates I had made.
What You’ll need:
- Heart Shaped Box base
- Optional Paint & Paintbrush (if you would like to paint the inside of the box)
- 2 sheets of paper or cardstock (as large or larger than the box base)
- 1 sheets of cardstock (as large or larger than the box base), in a coordinating color with the inside of the box. (This will be the inside base of your box)
- Several sheets of cardstock, in a coordinating color with the inside of the box. (this will be the segment walls)
- Pencil
- Scissors
- Ruler
- Gluestick
1. If you plan to paint the inside of your box, make sure it is fully painted and dry before beginning the next steps.
2. Using the bottom of the box, trace the shape of the heart box onto one of the papers.
3. Cut the heart from the paper, and trim to fit exactly inside the box
4. Use this to trace and cut the same heart from the other piece of paper as well as the single piece of cardstock.
5. Place a paper heart inside the box. Place the chocolates inside the box on top of the paper heart. Arrange them in a way that you would like for them to be presented when the box is opened.
6. Using a pencil, loosely draw segments around the chocolates. The lines do not need to be perfect … they will get cleaned up next. The chocolate must fit completely inside of the segment, but be sure not to make the area around each chocolate too big because they will move around too much once the box is closed.
7. Remove chocolates from the box, and set aside. Remove the paper heart.
8. Using the pencil markings on the first paper heart as a guide, use a ruler to re-draw the lines onto the second paper heart, creating straight-lined symmetrical segments. You will use this as your template. See white paper heart pictured in a previous image.
9. Place the cardstock heart inside the box.
10. Measure the height of the inside of the box. Cut strips of cardstock. These will be the segment walls. The width of the cardstock should be a bit less than the height of your box. My strips were 3/4″.
11. Using the template, find the longest straight line you drew…. probably one that goes from one side of the box to the other. Measure that line, and add about a 3/4″ allowance to either end. Cut a strip of cardstock to that length.
12. Again, using the template as a guide….. place the strip of cardstock (on it’s side, not flat) inside of your box. Where it hits the inside wall of the box, fold the end of the strip (or the allowance you added), dab some glue, and press against the wall. Repeat on the other side making sure the strip is taught.
13. Repeat for all strips that run from one side wall to another.
14. For strips that intersect, secure one of the strips to the box. Mark the spot on both strips where they will intersect. At that spot, cut a small vertical slit in the strip that is already glued into the box. DO NOT cut all the way through the strip. Cut a slightly longer vertical slit in the other strip. As you place the second strip into the box, with the slit side down, the two slits you just cut should line up, and allow you to slide one strip over the other. Fold the ends of the second strip (or the allowance you added), dab some glue, and press against the wall of the box to secure.
15. For strips that dead end at another strip, use the same method as intersecting strips…. Mark the point of intersection, which would be the spot where one runs into the other. Cut slits into both strips at that mark. Slide one strip over the other, with slits lining up. Dab glue onto the allowance, fold, and press it against the intersecting strip.
16. Continue cutting, folding, and gluing strips until you’ve created all of your segments.
17. Place your chocolates in their rightful places, and your gift is ready to go!
Anyone can buy chocolates. Making them yourself, especially when they’re this delicious, says so much more. So, whether you’re going all out on a unique heart box, or just want to add an element of surprise to a store bought box….. go ahead—replace the basic chocolates. Give bugs. Give bones. Give your Valentine something they’ll remember long after the sugar rush fades.
Leave a Reply