How to Make Starfish Chocolate Covered Mini Cakes
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Let’s dive more into summer with this starfish-shaped chocolate treat filled with vanilla cake! With the sun shining and the days stretching longer, it's the ideal moment to fully embrace the sheer joy and playful spirit of summertime.
In this blog post, I’m going to explain how I created this beautiful Starfish Chocolate/Cake Treat from scratch, all the tools you need, as well as tips and tricks you can use to make the process easy and the outcome professional.
Tools you will need for this project:
Any cake flavour or leftover cake crumbs
Buttercream
Filling of your choice (Optional)
Candy Melts (Colour of your choice)
Spoon
Instructions:
Start by preparing your filling. For that you need to combine cake crumbs and buttercream, the perfect ratio is 1/4 cups of buttercream for each 3 cups of cake crumbs. You’re looking for a dough consistency so adjust as needed. Remember you can fill this with whatever you want!
Once the filling is all combined and smooth, set it aside at room temperature while we prepare our mold.
For the chocolate, pour some candy melts in a heat proof bowl and set in the microwave. You’re going to melt the chocolate at 30 seconds interval. To make sure not to burn the chocolate, remove the bowl every 30 seconds and stir. The whole process should take around a minute. If you have a strong microwave, opt for 20 seconds instead of 30.
Now that the chocolate is fully melted, pour between 2 or 3 spoons in the cavity of your mold. Use a brush to cover the sides. Next you’re going to shake and tap the mold to release air bubbles and to make sure everything is smooth.
If you poured a lot of chocolate and you can see a significant amount sitting at the bottom of the mold, you can flip over the mold, and shake it to remove any excess chocolate (this chocolate can be reused so don’t throw it away!).
Set the mold aside for the first layer to fully set. If you’re inpatient like me, pop it in the freezer for 1 to 2 minutes (make sure not to forget it so the chocolate doesn’t sweat!).
Once your first layer is fully set, use a brush to add a second layer. We do this in order to prevent cracking when removing the chocolate from the mold.
Pop back the mold in the freezer for a minute then add the cake filling you prepared at the beginning. Leave about 2 mm on the top so we have enough room to add chocolate without it spilling (and have a clean finish).
If you’re planning on adding some filling like caramel, Nutella, or anything runny, you can use a measuring spoon (or your finger, using gloves of course) to create a hole for the sauce you’re using.
Use the remaining melted chocolate to add on the top, and spread it to all the sides with the spoon or spatula. Gently shake to even out the chocolate.
Tip 💡 Before adding the melted chocolate, make sure the whole filling is not too cold. This will solidify the chocolate way too fast and will not allow you to have a clean finish.
Next, place your mold in the freezer for a maximum of 5 minutes. You need to make sure the chocolate is fully set but also need to prevent it from becoming too cold so the chocolate doesn’t sweat at room temperature.
Once everything is ready, remove your starfish from the mold. Start by pulling the sides, then press on the bottom to remove the whole starfish.
Totally optional, to decorate, I individually applied pearl sprinkles (dipped each in melted chocolate).
To finish, sprinkle some edible glitter.
Here’s a short video on how I made it!
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! If you try this, tag me on Instagram @buttercut_bakery!