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Beginner home confectioners can experience great success with making their first chocolates using the pared down 8 Essential Tools for Homemade Confections.
However, for those feeling ready to create more advanced and decorated chocolates, you will have so much fun collecting the tools listed below that can immediately make your confections look and feel more artistic and expensive.
I ONLY recommend products that I have purchased and use myself, and include links to the exact items in my own kitchen, where applicable. For instance, you will find the below equipment throughout my videos and on social media.
The home confectioner's complete checklist
Now, I don't expect or advise you to run out and purchase all of this equipment at once. Rather, first identify a few goals that you would like to accomplish with your next batch of chocolates.
Perhaps you want to fill them with marshmallow, ganache, or other fillings. Or maybe you are looking to add some color, whether it be with stylish designs or completely coloring each bon bon. Or maybe you're looking to get better with framing or hand-dipping centers.
Whatever your goal, this post contains a COMPLETE list of tools and equipment that home confectioners can use to achieve a variety of delicious results.
Kitchen Equipment Essentials
- Stainless steel bowls -- For continued tempering success, I highly recommend investing in several stainless steel bowls in various sizes.
Stainless steel conducts and maintains heat more evenly than glass or plastic bowls, which means that your chocolate will stay at temperature for longer, giving you more time to fill or hand-dip chocolates. - Rubber spatulas -- melting chocolate, tempering chocolate, stirring fillings, mixing and spreading batter...rubber spatulas are ubiquitous kitchen tools. I ordered two sets of these particular spatulas because they come in so many different sizes and have already held up for a few years without any incident, including working with heavier batters that previously broke my grocery store spatulas.
- Infra-red food-grade thermometer -- you will find most chocolatiers work with an infrared thermometer for it's pinpoint-accuracy in a pinch, but any probe thermometer will work just as well. Plus, you can use a probe thermometer to make caramels and other delicious bon bon fillings without fear!
- Stand mixer -- I thought I could get away with using any off-brand stand mixer, but the two I used previously were loud and very cheaply-made. So I finally splurged on a KitchenAid, and let me tell you: it IS worth the hype and the investment. Sturdy, reliable, and even comes with a panning attachment for chocolate work, I would have purchased this forever ago to make cookies, breads, frosting, and just about anything else worth baking. 😋
Confectionary equipment Essentials
- Coverture chocolate -- if you want to make molded chocolates, then coverture chocolate should be your go-to chocolate of choice. Coverture chocolate contains a much higher amount of cocoa butter than regular tempered chocolate, making for a shiny bon bon with a creamy, luxurious texture.
- Polycarbonate chocolate molds -- for molded chocolates with a superior, professional finish, I strongly recommend using polycarbonate molds over silicone or metal molds. They are affordable, lightweight, easier to work with than silicone, and can last for many years with proper care.
- Silicone molds -- This isn't me immediately contradicting myself with the paragraph above! I recognize that not everyone has polycarbonate molds, but I'm sure a few of you already have some candy molds in your pantry.
Besides, it's still important to have silicone molds on hand for certainly chocolate candies, pastries, and desserts -- all of which I will include on this site. 🙂 Definitely have at least one silicone mold with candy bar cavities, since you can make snack bars and other simpler snacks and desserts to get used to how they move and feel.
I'm in the process of testing three silicone molds: one for peanut butter cups, one for keto fat bombs, and another for different chocolates--and yes, recipes are coming for all of these! If I like them, I will provide a recommendation here, so check back soon! - Chocolate scrapers -- I have three of these, and they are a lifesaver when you're working on a few batches of chocolate. A messy scraper gives imperfect results, and it wastes so much crucial time working with tempered chocolate to constantly stop and wipe the blade clean after each stroke. So it made my life easier when I finally invested in more of them.
Plus, you'll want at least two different ones if you often work with different types of chocolate at once (you don't want them bleeding together)!
These scrapers are large enough to fit over most polycarbonate molds in a single stroke, which greatly simplifies the molding process! They've held up for a year and a half and still going strong -- zero complaints here. - Piping bags -- I'd recommend two sizes: these smaller bags for light batches or for substituting a paper cone, and extra-large bags for when you're not here to P-L-A-Y. Ultimately, if you had to pick only one, go with the extra-large bags, as they will make filling molds so much easier and faster.
- Offset spatulas -- I have three of these sets, and get the most mileage out of the 4" and 6" varieties from testing tempering, spreading batter, and framing ganache. You'll also use these for layering and frosting chocolate cakes, swirling caramel or peanut butter throughout brownies, or really anything else you can imagine.
- Acrylic rods -- there is a lot of debate as to how chocolate molds should dry: upside down or on their sides. While there isn't much difference between the final results from either method, I see most professional chocolatiers recommend drying upside down and slightly elevated for full airflow.
Thus, each end of a polycarbonate mold fits neatly on either side of these types of bars. You will see me using these bars throughout this site and my videos. - Transfer sheets -- with literally thousands of designs to choose from, transfer sheets are a super easy way to print elegant and intricate patterns on your chocolates in bulk. Their designs range from cute, festive, and sophisticated options, and eliminate the need to hand-paint with various tools using colored cocoa butter.
- Dipping utensils -- you can use these two different ways! Not only are these great for dipping centers and other treats entirely in chocolate, but they make professional-looking designs when pressed into still-wet chocolate. Once you know what sorts of designs these utensils make (more on that in an upcoming post!), you'll start seeing them everywhere in chocolate shops around the world!
- Colored cocoa butter -- pigmented cocoa butter turns chocolate ANY color of the rainbow, so you can achieve dramatic results with minimal effort. Choose a monochrome effect for supreme shine, or hand-paint flecks and patterns with brushes and spray guns for a creative, personal touch.
- Heat gun -- if you only need to heat your chocolate a few degrees, then it is much safer to use a heat gun for a few seconds over possibly throwing your chocolate out of temper in the microwave or over a double-boiler, since these are far stronger heat sources.
Alternatively, you can use a (new, designated) hairdryer -- just be sure to keep this dedicated to your chocolate work to avoid cross-contamination! My $20 Revlon hairdryer from the grocery store has served me well all these years, so it's up to you as to which you'd prefer to use, as the cost comes out to be roughly the same. - Immersion blender -- an immersion blender is an essential tool to make silky ganache that won't split, so you can fill or enrobe tens or hundreds of chocolates with confidence. I bought this exact one two years ago, and it works just as well as when I first unwrapped it. Plus, you can use this for other sauces and dishes, so it's definitely worth the value.
While the above lists contain the daily tools and equipment you will need when making your own chocolate and chocolate desserts at home, I will continue to add products as we grow together in our pastry and confectionary journeys, so check back often for even more tips and recommendations!
