Valentine's Day is just around the corner. It's the holiday dedicated to love and all things romance. The stores are full of flowers, cards...and chocolate! While there is good chocolate to be had from the store, wouldn't it be nice to present your sweetie with something more from the heart, something homemade?

It's really not difficult. It takes a little time and a little bit of patience. It also takes some good quality chocolate and a candy mold. If you have these things, you too can make can make some home made chocolate treats for your special someone.

I am going to guide you through the process step by step. We'll talk about candy molds, chocolate qualities and how to temper it, as well as some fillings and some ways to finish the candies. It's a fun project and a nice thing to surprise your baby with. Click the hearts to keep reading in order to find out all about making your own confectionary masterpiece.

Now I want to touch on tempering chocolate. You need to go through this process in order to get the chocolate to behave properly. I could take all day to explain about chocolate crystals and melting points, but I don't think anyone has all day anymore. This article does a great job of explaining the technicalities of tempering. So while all solid chocolate is in temper (as we say in the industry), you need to melt it to use it your own way. That means you have melted all the crystals and you need to get the chocolate back in temper for your chocolates to come out well.

There are two main methods for tempering chocolate: seeding and tabling. Tabling involves melting the chocolate, pouring two thirds of it onto a marble surface, and pushing it around until it thickens, then adding that back to the rest and stirring until it has returned to the proper temperature. Unless you have a marble surface to work on, I recommend the seeding method. It's cleaner and easier, in my opinion.

First melt the chocolate. You can either set up a double boiler system on the stove or you can use the microwave. I prefer the microwave. You have to be watch it more closely, but I think this is easier for melting chocolate. I set the timer for 30seconds to one minute initially, depending on how much chocolate I'm using. If you are tabling, melt it all. If you are seeding, you need to only melt one third of the chocolate. After the initial timer has stopped on the microwave, stir the chocolate. Continue heating at 10 second intervals, stirring between each, until it's melted but only slightly warmer than body temperature, about 105F to 110F. Now you need to get it back to working temperature, about 88F to 90F. For seeding, add the chocolate you saved earlier to your melted chocolate and stir until the "seeds" are all melted. Did I mention you need to chop the chocolate up into small pieces before adding it back to the melted quantity? Well, now I have. You should be at temper when everything is melted. To test it, dip a corner of parchment or wax paper into your chocolate and let it cool. If it cools relatively quickly and sets up shiny and streak free, then you're good. If not, stir some more and let the chocolate cool a bit more, then test it again. Now you should be ready to start.

White chocolate is a great choice for making chocolate decorations because it is easier to handle than dark or milk chocolates. It is mostly cocoa butter with milk solids and sugar. It doesn't have cocoa solids, and does not have the same problems with "blooming" as milk and dark chocolates. Blooming is when cocoa butter appears on the surface of chocolate, contrasting with the cocoa solids and giving the chocolate a whitish appearance. While I have seen a few mentions that white chocolate must be tempered, a technique used to stabilize other chocolates, I have never done so and have never had problems with it.
For the snowflake cake, you can make the whole vanilla cake or decorate the icing of another kind of cake. To make the snowflakes, simply chop white chocolate and seal it into a plastic bag. Place the bag in a bowl of hot, but not boiling, water, until it melts. Cut off one of the corners of the bag and pipe snowflakes onto a piece of parchment paper. The snowflakes can set up at room temperature or in the refrigerator. When they are set, gently press them into smooth, white icing for a beautifully wintry look. The cake will have a slight crunch from the snowflakes, followed by a melting creaminess as the chocolate warms in your mouth.

[Photo by Nicole Weston]