Candy melts are essential when it comes to cookie and cake pop decorating. Here is how you can make your own candy melts to use for cake decorating or as an edible gift.
Until I was 9 years old I grew up in a place where things were not readily available. In East Germany one could not just go to the store to buy stuff. Sure, they had the very basics like milk, butter, bread, apples, cabbage but forget about more “fancy” things like chocolate, coffee, tea, bananas, oranges. Those things meant standing in line for hours, if they were available at all. It was the same with non food items. Around Christmas time my sister’s and my toys kept disappearing and our parents would rework and re-gift them to us on Christmas – I will never forget the joy I felt when I saw the dollhouse my dad made from our old 2 bedroom doll house. He remodeled it into a 2 story mansion with a bathroom, working lights and windows. It is safe to say I have DIY in my DNA. Yes, it’s contagious, watch out!
Anyway, sorry for this long excursion, but I wanted to share where my drive for do-it-yourself stems from. This will also explain why I bothered making my own candy melts when I could just order them online. Candy melts are not widely available in Germany. If you want to get them here, you have order from specialty stores and usually there are some hefty shipping costs involved. If I were to just order one bag of candy melts (ca. 370g) I’d end up paying 5 Euro for the candy and about 4 Euro for shipping, 9 Euro a pop. You know I make cake pops way too often to pay that price (yet not often enough to get wholesale discounts – though I dream of it regularly – I have no place to store 10 kg of candy melts – and really I should never be alone with that much chocolate.) So I started tinkering around and made my own candy melts. I have used them for my teal cake pops.
Ingredients
- 200g white chocolate (best quality if you can)
- gel food color (ca. 1/2 tsp. total)
Method
1. Break the chocolate into its pieces. Melt the white chocolate in the microwave (I needed ca. 1 minute for 200 g of broken down white chocolate). Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Add food color until you have the desired shade. A note about color: because white chocolate is not white, but really more yellow consider that in your color choices. It is easy to make teal and green tones that already have a hint of yellow in it. I tried purple and it turned out very dark because I needed a lot of food color to get out of the brown phase. Next time I will try to make pink ones.
3. Fill the colored chocolate into a one way piping bag. Once all the chocolate is filled in completely, cut the tip to make a small opening.
4. Start piping little dollops onto the parchment paper.
5. Wait until completely dry before moving them into an air tight container or gift bag.
For the total cost of 1,50 Euro for 200g I am very happy with the result. I manually stirred in the food color, so it is not 100% evenly spread out, and the result are some small specks where the color didn’t distribute evenly, but that is minimal in the grand scheme of things 🙂
Ok, now give this a try, maybe make some pink ones and tell me how they turn out. Or stick around and join me at marveling over how pretty they look. 😉
Hugs!
Dani!
Sandy says
I have never ever heard about candy melts until today! Thanks for explaining and your wonderful step-by-step tutorial. Like you I am born and raised in East Germany and DIY-Addiction is something we got with our mother’s milk (is there a better translation? please let me know ;-)). I love the shape of the candy melts and how can one resist not to try to make them – a pretty easter decoration as well!
Hugs, Sandy
Dani says
They are cute, aren’t they?! I like the chip shape too, makes it so much easier melting them 🙂 Can’t wait to see what your look like, my fellow Ossi Kind haha.
sarikelebeklerim says
İ ve heard that chocolate is heavier than Candy melts. Does it matter?
Dani says
Heavier how?
Linda Walsh says
I heard candy melts are like cooking chocolate and has vegetable oil in. Im from UK and never heard of them till I found a recipe that used them Blueberry and lemon truffles Still researching 🙂
Simone says
O wow Dani, you are so creative to make these yourself!! I’m impressed… I didn’t know they were so hard to find in Germany. Not that they are everywhere here but I never thought about it since I get them for my job and never really buy them myself. But I actually like making them with white chocolate more then the ones you get pre-colored. The consistency is different, which makes me like the chocolate ones better!
Dani says
You are so right, I like that fact that we can choose the quality of chocolate and so guide flavor and consistency, it’s a bit more freedom 🙂
Carey says
I was so excited to find this! I need red candy melts but the only ones I can find may contain traces of nuts and my 2 year old has a severe peanut allergy. We live in a pretty remote place and don’t have access to any specialty stores. I did however find red food coloring gel and came home excited to try it.. But it didn’t work!!!! Just like regular food coloring it didn’t work. The gel made the white chocolate seize!!!!!! Am I missing something? Is your gel water or oil based???? Please help..
Dani says
Hi Carey, so sorry to hear it didn’t work out. My food color is water based (Betty Crocker Gel Colors). Try a different type of white chocolate and make sure you don’t heat it too much that will also make it seize. I prefer the microwave compared to the bain marie method for melting the chocolate. You can also try to first mix the food color with a tsp of veggie oil and then mixing it in. I will experiment some more to see how to get to red…or pink 🙂
ilimo says
Hi Dani,
I had the same sort of problem as Carey did 🙁
Since I didn’t have plain chocolate but only couverture chocolate I used that to try making my very own chocolate melts. I used yellow food coloring as I have to make Manchaster United Cakepops.
But before I was able to stirr in the food coloring evenly, the chocolate mixture firmed up.
I won’t give up though. Maybe it really is the quality of chocolate. Will have to try again and hopefully next time it works.
I envy you big time for your results 😉
Dani says
I think couverture should work as well, try adding a tad of vegetable oil to the chocolate before you add the color and make sure you don’t over heat the chocolate in the microwave 🙂
ilimo says
Will definitely try that. Don’t think I overheated as I didn’t use the microwave but melted the couverture over a pot of hot water (not even boiling)
Anyways, thanks for advice and I will report back if my candy melts turn out to be a success 🙂
guest says
when you are using chocolate you can not use normal food color that is in the grocery store because it is water based. You need gel based food coloring which is made with oil and not water. Chocolate and water don’t go well and your chocolate may have seized (i think that is the right word).
guest
Dani says
That is true 🙂 However, the gel color I used I got from the supermarket (US) 🙂
Dani says
Please do 🙂 ! When I used the water bath method I always got the condensation of the water to make the chocolate size, so I switched to the microwave method 🙂
Hansy says
OMG you are my favorite person right now. I can’t find these where I live and this recipe saved my life. Thanks a lot.
Dani says
Hansy, glad this was helpful 🙂
Florencia says
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!! I was lusting for Candy melts (almost impossible to find in Buenos Aires) and your recipe is so simple! Thank you again!
Chiclet Santos says
Hi! Water based or gel based food color will cause melted chocolates to seize. Use oil based food color or better yet oil based CHOCOLATE food colors to tint your white chocolate. 🙂
Dani says
Great tip!
vidhoo says
Can I use milkybar for white chocolate?
Sarah says
Hi! Would you know where I could get powder or oil-based coloring that won’t cost a small fortune?? I live in New Zealand and candy melts and gel colors are very rare to find 🙁
Radhika says
Just found your blog, and am enjoying reading through! You are very creative!
Radhika
Dani says
Thanks Radhika 🙂
noneofyourbisuness says
I like chocolate
Samirah says
Hi thanks, i will definitely try this, since candy melts aren’t readily available here and when you do find then, they are super expensive. thanks again and will let you know how they come out. I want to make some cake pops.
elsa says
Thank you for this DIY,just asking could you use milk or dark chocolate if you plan on not using colour?
Dani says
Yes, I have made them with milk chocolate/couverture before!
Nataly says
Thank you so much sweetie for this! I am just getting into baking goodies from scratch and this is very helpful! Question: How many chocolate melts were you able to make with this? I am wondering if it will be worth making my own. They sell them at this store called Michaels for $3.00 for .12oz bag of candy melts approximately 120 wafers. I think that’s a bit pricey.
Dani says
Hi Nataly, I am not sure how many this made, but around the content of a regular bag. If you can get them at Michael’s for 3 bucks, I would go for that. But if you had to pay 13 like some of us not in the US, making your own is worth it I think 🙂
Katrina says
Is there a particular trick to tempering the chocolate? It might just be Australian heat and humidity, But the white chocolate wont set hard at all, Not even in the fridge, its still kinda pliable. I’m in the same boat with candy melts costing an arm and a leg due to shipping.
Dani says
You should use a thermometer to do that and get 2/3 of the chocolate up to 27-28 C and then cool it down with the rest of the chocolate added…
Hollie says
Hi there, I don’t know how old this post is but really need some advice. I live in the U.K. Candy melts are expencive here and I am wanting to make chocolate Lollies using Lolly moulds. I melted chocolate in a bowl over a pan of boiling water. I added food colouring, everything was fine I froze my chocolate for an hour and then put then put it in the fridge over night, the next day I went to put the chocolate into cellophane bags and it was tacky and slowly melting in my hands and went all over the cellophane bags making a mess. I wanted them hard and crisp and not where they would melt so easily. My question is if I make my own melts am I not still going to have that same issue? I’m thinking I’m going to have to make my own chocolate? And dreading it already. Any advice is much appreacited. Thank you!!
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liyana says
tq for the tips. really appreciate it 🙂
Im from Malaysia. the candy melt here is so expensive.
Alma says
Iiyana! Were on the same boaaat! I’m from Indonesia and candy melts is very expensive here! It’s about 36.000 Rupiah a bag…. I don’t know how much that in ringgits but it is expensive for me!
Cdog says
In englandc its equivalent to 90000 rupiah
Cleo says
Where do you get that chocalate you used
Dani says
I got mine at Aldi here in Germany 🙂
samar says
thank you so much i thought when i used white chocolate that i was doing wrong but my only problem is the color shades i cant have a skyblue or any blue and i dont know how to solve this as i cant find any candy melts products here in egypt so please advise
thank you
Dani says
Hi Samar, I am not quite sure, what color do you want to achieve?
Emma says
Hello Dani, I was just wondering, if you want to make white candy melts, do you just use white chocolate?
Thanks x
Dani says
Hi Emma, yes I would just omit the food color and use the chocolate as it, though it will have a bit of a yellow tint 🙂
Emma says
So do I still have to wait for them to dry on the baking parchment, or can I use the chocolate straight away? I’m trying to make cake pops 😀
Thanks x
Dani says
Yes, use it right away to dip 🙂
Emma says
Sorry about all this, but if you do know anything about cake pops – do I have to use vanilla frosting to fix the cake crumbs together, or can I use something else?
Thanks x
Dani says
You could use just cream cheese if you want it not too sweet 🙂
Sarah says
Hi Dani,
I am making cake pops for my daughters birthday this weekend and very excited about it!! I tried making them last night and had a problem with the stick staying in the cake pop 🙁 Is there a secret or best pratice you use?!?! Or any other tips would be helpful! Thanks for all your knowledge above as well!
Dani says
Hi Sarah, the trick is to dip the stick in the chocolate first and then gently put the pop on, then let this dry and you are good to go for dipping the rest, I have written about it here (point 7): https://andcute.com/chocolate-cake-pops-from-scratch/ Hope this helps 🙂
2kadoor says
to make the stick stay on the cake pops, I usually bore a hole on the cake balls (about 5cm) using the stick itself, turning it several times in a cycling motion until I get the preferred hole size. It shouldn’t be too wide (just a little wider than the diameter of your lollipop stick) but enough space to stuff some melted chocolates in it then insert the stick less than halfway thru the cake ball. Let it sit for at least one minute and the melted chocolate will start hardening up as it cools. The hardened chocolate stuffed inside of the cake ball holds the stick better compared to just dipping the stick and inserting it. Every time I finish a batch, I put them in the frigde to cool further and take them out to thaw when ready for coating with candy melts. Works well for me…hope it does with yours.
Trisha says
What a great idea and a fantastic way of creating your own colors, especially the limited edition or hard to find colors =)
Vejdani says
Wow i love your recepie!
I live in middle east and like you, things are not readily available here. I wanted to purchuase candy melts but shipping was so much.
Thank you very much
Ruth says
Hi, after reading all the posts and comments about white chocolate having a yellow tinge, i was wonderin if anyone had tried adding a little super white powder to the melted chocolate before colouring it or wouldn’t it work?
Golda says
Thank you for posting this!! I’ll try to make it!!
Anna says
OMG! Thank you so much!!!! now i can actually make cake pops!!!!!
Dani says
Glad I could help! 🙂
Elisa says
Hi, i am making cakepops for a peanut allergy child. I need pink coating but can only use log house almond bark as it is the only peanut free option. I am wondering if i can use kool ade dry powder without sugar ( the small packs that are 10/$1) to tint my almond bark. I tried the gel but could only find wilton gel color and it failed miserably. Any ideas?
Dani says
I haven’t tried working with KoolAid Powder or Almond Bark so I have no idea how the two will work together, but it’s worth a try. Give it a try in a small batch and see how it works. I’d be happy if you shared the results 🙂
Viky says
I need candy melts for modeling chocolate and I need to know if these will melt because they are not tempered.. :-\ Thnx 🙂
Melissa says
Most modeling chocolate recipes have you use real chocolate or white chocolate, add the color to the corn syrup or knead in the color after it sets. No need to make colored candy melts first. Check out Wickedgoodies.com. I have her book, and it works well.
jussi says
Das ist ja klasse.finde candy melt auch etwas teuer .danke für das tolle rezept dachte immer dass es mit den gelfarben klumpt aber das tut es wohl nicht wie es aussieht. Vielen dank werde jetzt etwas auf deinem blog rumstöbern 😉 . Glg aus ilsenburg ♥
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Thank you for sharing your info. I really appreciate your efforts and I am waiting for your next post thanks once again.
Neri says
Hi Dani. Thanks for sharing your wonderful idea on how to make your own candy melt, ill try them as well, i remember the last time i did making dip was really frustating as all my chocolate got thicken, dont know why? 🙁
Julie says
Hi Dani just found your site,Thanks for the recipe, saved me from sending for more expensive ones, doing some pops for a local fete, and didn’t know what candy melts consisted of, I can make my own now , cheers.
Cara W says
can you use liguidy food colouring instead of gel
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Aspiring Baker says
The small specks are is actually fat bloom in the white chocolate. It happens when chocolate is not tempered. Go and check out more on tempering chocolate. Hoped this helped.
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Alison says
Hi Dani,
Will this recipe work for pipping shapes? I don’t need food colouring so the white is perfect but thought I’d ask
Kind Regards,
Alison
Dani says
Hi Alison, I am not sure about shapes other than circles. Would also depend on the chocolate you begin with…
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kim taylor says
Yes can you mix it put it small ducks molds n let it dry i have a baby shower n its all about ducks which kind of white choc do i use never done this before
Harleen says
Is it compulsory to use a cookie and parchment sheet
Harleen says
Is it compulsory to use a cookie and parchment sheet
QueenPushyCat says
Hope I can get some expertise from you, I can’t get any vanilla Candy melts for Valentine’s Day chocolate I am going to make. Just wondering if you have any advice to make the Candy Melts whiter using the white chocolate?
Adriel Santos says
Hi, thanks for the recipe and the tutorial. I want to make cake pop, and i’m a bit lazy to make candy melt. BTW, i’m from Indonesia, and candy melt is not available here (and it’s my first time hear about candy melt). So can i just cut out my chocolate into small pieces and melt it, and use it to dip my cake pop? Or i should make candy melt?
What is the different between candy melt and chocolate?
Thank You
(sorry if u find my english is bad)
Kristy says
What kind of gel food coloring did u use? I just mixed gel food coloring to my melted white choco (bar) for my cakepops but it turned out unusable. It ‘seized’
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Kathy says
Thank you very much for the tutorial and recepie. It worked out very well in blue, yellow, orange, red and green :).
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Dani says
Sorry Kt, no French version yet…