While inventorying my molds last month, I had the opportunity to look at my Easter bunny trays more closely. It was then that I realized the PET molds were meant to be used to create 3D bunnies. The telltale sign was the combination of mirror-image bunnies and small divots for alignment on the sides of the mold.
But to use them that way, they required some surgery.
Now, I tend to be very reluctant to cut apart molds, even when doing so would make the molding process much easier. In fact, I've only done it once and under duress (one piece wouldn't mold evenly without doing so). I certainly wasn't thrilled, then, with the idea of violently cutting apart my bunnies. Nevertheless, armed with a pair of heavy duty scissors, I removed the edge of the mold and then carefully cut apart the bunnies, leaving enough around each shape to enable clipping the two sides together. (This results in some sharp edges, so caution is required when using them.)
I then polished the molds with cotton and alcohol to remove any fingerprints, before tempering some gold cocoa butter. With a new toothbrush and a pastry brush, I channeled Jackson Pollock and decorated the inside of the molds. I then set them aside to crystallize overnight at room temperature.
A day or two latter, I tempered some milk chocolate and poured it into one half of each bunny mold pair. Since the divots in the PET mold don't snap together or even fit snuggly (making their use in alignment more of a suggestion than anything), I lined up the pieces by eye as best I could and then secured them with binder clips. Then I rotated and tapped and rotated and tapped until the chocolate was evenly distributed. I let the chocolate crystallize in the fridge about twice as long as I normally would for bonbons to be certain they would unmold without cracking.
You can certainly see the seam where the two pieces of the mold joined, but this is unavoidable when working with a PET mold. The more expensive polycarbonate molds tend to have sharper edges and align more accurately -- and many are held together with built-in magnets. The result is a much more professional finish.
As for the gold splatter effect, it is reading more yellow than gold, but that still works with the season. It looks good against the milk chocolate finish. And the shine on the bunny confirms a perfect temper.
It's been a while since I made my own Easter bunny and I intend to enjoy it this morning -- Easter Sunday.
And later today, I may do a little research on polycarbonate 3D molds for next year.
Must. Resist. Temptation.
