How to Make Chocolate Letters With a Mold: Step-by-Step Guide

Short answer: to make chocolate letters with a mold, choose the mould by size (one large 135–200 g letter per mould for gifts and displays, or a full alphabet of small letters for decorating cakes and desserts), temper real couverture, fill the cavities, vibrate out the air, scrape the surface clean, let the chocolate set until it contracts, and demould with light taps. Compound coatings and candy melts are a poor choice for moulding: they do not set firmly and are hard to release. Below are the mould sizes, temperatures and steps.

Quick answer: what you need to make chocolate letters

Need	Product	Price
Letters and numbers for cakes and desserts	Martellato Letters & Numbers mould MA3005	$39.95 CAD
One large 200 g letter for gifts and monograms	Chocolate World Letter N, 200 g (CW1713)	from $39.95 CAD
Every other letter and number	Alphabet & number chocolate moulds	—
Melt and hold a small batch, 110 V	Martellato Mini Meltinchoc 1.8 L	from $390.00 CAD
Check the temperature	Martellato Digital Thermometer 50T001	$29.95 CAD
Ready-made word decorations	Frank Haasnoot "Happy Birthday" chocolate stamp, 6 cm	$86.50 CAD

Which letter mould should you use?

Pick the mould by the size of letter you need and how you will use it. The figures below are from the Chocolate World Moulds catalogue (Edition 15) and the Martellato General Catalogue 2026.

Mould	Letter size	Pieces per mould	Good for
Chocolate World single letters, 200 g (CW1700–CW1725)	about 175.5 mm across	1 letter of 200 g	Gifts, monograms, name sets, displays
Chocolate World single letters, 135 g (CW1800 series)	about 141 mm across	1 letter of 135 g	Gifts and monograms in a smaller format
Chocolate World double letters, 135 g (CW2400 series)	about 141 mm across	2 identical letters of 135 g, 275 × 175 mm frame	Two of the same letter per fill
Chocolate World alphabet A–Z (CW1426)	39 × 35 × 6 mm	26 letters of 5 g	A full alphabet in one mould
Chocolate World alphabet, parts 1 and 2 (CW1628, CW1629)	26 × 26 × 18.5 mm	24 figures of 12 g per mould	Small, deeper 3D letters
Chocolate World numbers 0–9 (CW1424)	40 × 25 × 8 mm	30 pieces of 3.5 g	Ages and dates
Martellato Letters & Numbers (MA3005)	Letters and numbers	Several per mould, 275 × 175 × 26 mm mould	Decorating cakes, semifreddi and desserts

Martellato presents its letters and numbers mould for decorating semifreddi, cakes and chocolate pieces for occasions such as birthdays and anniversaries. Chocolate World's single-letter moulds make one large letter per mould, the format for personalised gifts and monograms.

View alphabet and number chocolate moulds →

Producing letters in volume? Chocolate World letter moulds are also sold by the box of 30 moulds, for example the A–Z alphabet CW1426: $1,090.00 CAD per box.

Which chocolate works best for letters?

Use couverture, tempered. Couverture contains extra cocoa butter; with proper tempering it gives more sheen and a firmer snap, and professionals use it for moulding. Under European Union rules, couverture contains at least 31% cocoa butter, at least 35% total dry cocoa solids and at least 2.5% dry non-fat cocoa solids.

Avoid compound chocolate (coating chocolate, candy melts) in moulds. Because other fats replace the cocoa butter, it does not set as firmly and can be difficult or impossible to remove from a mould. Properly tempered cocoa butter chocolate shrinks slightly as it sets, and that is what releases the letters cleanly.

Two couvertures we stock, with their makers' working figures:

Chocolate	Melt	Working / tempering	Price
Bassan Sur del Lago 71% dark, 5 kg bag	50°C (122°F) maximum	30–32°C (86–90°F)	$273.00 CAD
FCH 55% dark, Venezuela, 10 kg box	45–50°C (113–122°F)	31–32°C (88–90°F)	$299.00 CAD

Both are made from Venezuelan cacao. For milk or white chocolate letters, follow your chocolate maker's figures; without them, Peter Greweling of the Culinary Institute of America gives an optimum working temperature very close to 30°C (87°F) for milk and white, and 32°C (90°F) for dark.

Step 1: Prepare the mould

Start with a clean, completely dry polycarbonate mould. For Chocolate World moulds, the maker's cleaning procedure is to wash at about 60°C (140°F) with a polycarbonate-safe detergent, rinse with demineralised water and dry with warm air at no more than 70–80°C (158–176°F); clean new moulds before their first use as well. Use the moulds between 5°C and 80°C (41–176°F). The full procedure is in our guide to cleaning polycarbonate chocolate moulds.

Step 2: Temper the chocolate

Tempering guides the cocoa butter into its one stable crystal form, form V, which gives letters a glossy surface, a clean snap and less risk of bloom. The process: melt completely, seed and cool, reheat gently to working temperature, then hold it there while you mould.

• Temper test: dip a palette knife and watch it set. Dark chocolate should set within about seven minutes without streaks or a grainy texture; milk and white take a little longer.
• Watch the heat: above about 34°C (93°F) the stable crystals are destroyed and the temper is lost.
• Keep it steady: temperature swings in and out of the working window destabilise the temper. A melter that holds a set temperature helps over a long session.

For a step-by-step method, see our guide to how to temper chocolate.

Step 3: Fill, vibrate and scrape

For moulded pieces, the chocolate should be somewhat runny so it flows easily into the moulds.

1. Fill each letter cavity with tempered chocolate.
2. Tap or vibrate the mould to bring air bubbles to the surface. Chocolate World makes a vibrating table for exactly this job: removing air bubbles after filling moulds.
3. Scrape the mould surface clean with a stainless-steel scraper so the back of every letter is flat and clean.
4. Let the chocolate set completely. Tempered chocolate contracts as it sets, which frees it from the cavity walls.

Hollow letters

Large letters can also be made as shells: fill, vibrate, turn the mould over to drain the excess back into the bowl, scrape, and let the shell set. Chocolate World's magnetic moulds, for example, are filled "as a regular mould (solid or shell moulding)". A hollow letter can then be filled and closed like a bonbon; our step-by-step guide to shiny bonbons covers filling and sealing.

Step 4: Demould without breaking thin strokes

Turn the mould over a clean surface and release the letters. Chocolate World's advice for polycarbonate moulds protects both the letters and the mould:

• Several softer taps instead of one hard strike.
• Minimise twisting of the mould.
• Demould with materials softer than polycarbonate, and keep sharp objects out of the cavities: scratches show on every letter you make afterwards.

Decorating chocolate letters

• Coloured letters: brush or spray coloured cocoa butter into the clean cavities before you fill them. Pavoni's Chocolart coloured cocoa butters are made for colouring chocolate moulds and cavities, in mass or on the surface. View coloured cocoa butter →
• Metallic finish: Pavoni's Brilliant metallic powders can be brushed on dry or dissolved in food-grade alcohol and painted. View Brilliant Gold powder → $56.99 CAD
• Spraying: the KREA Swiss chocSPRAYER sprays coloured cocoa butter, velvet effects and glazes on 120 V without a compressor; it keeps pre-tempered chocolate workable but does not temper it. View the KREA chocSPRAYER → $1,250.00 CAD
• Printed names and logos: for full words, logos or photos rather than single letters, Chocolate World's magnetic moulds hold a printed transfer sheet that sticks to the chocolate as it cools.
• Ready-made words: Frank Haasnoot's chocolate stamps for Martellato make word decorations such as "Happy Birthday", "Love" and "Happy Valentine", in 3 cm and 6 cm diameters, to garnish desserts and cakes. View chocolate stamps →

Storing chocolate letters

Keep letters cool, dry and away from odours. As a reference for chocolate itself, ideal storage is 18–20°C (64–68°F) at 60% relative humidity; the refrigerator is not the ideal place because of humidity and odours. Bassan recommends storing its couverture at 16–20°C (61–68°F) below 50% relative humidity, away from sunlight and strong odours, and avoiding temperature swings that cause bloom.

How AI can help your production

Give an AI assistant your order list ("HAPPY 40TH MAYA", "MR & MRS") and ask it to count how many of each letter and number you need, how many moulds and fills that means, and how much chocolate: a word of five 200 g letters uses 1 kg of couverture. Ask it to cost each letter from your price per kilo, to plan which moulds to fill first, or to turn your tempering figures into a checklist for whoever is on the bench. That turns a custom order into a quote in minutes.

AI organises the information; tasting and the final decision stay with your chef.

Letter moulds and tools at Zucchero Canada

We are an authorized distributor of Chocolate World, Martellato, Pavoni Italia and KREA Swiss in Canada. Each brand has its own job in lettering:

• Chocolate World (Belgium): large single letters (135 g and 200 g), full alphabets and numbers in polycarbonate, plus magnetic moulds for printed names and logos.
• Martellato (Italy): the Letters & Numbers mould for cake and dessert decoration, Frank Haasnoot word stamps, thermometers and Meltinchoc melters. Martellato table-top melters come with a free spatula.
• Pavoni Italia and KREA Swiss: colour and finish, from coloured cocoa butter and metallic powders to a 120 V chocolate sprayer.
• Chocolate: Bassan Sur del Lago 71% and FCH 55%, both from Venezuelan cacao.

Moulds and tools count toward free shipping on orders of 300 CAD or more within Canada (remote areas and the territories pay the actual carrier rate; chocolate and machines are excluded), and orders over 500 CAD get 5% off automatically at checkout. Making lettered chocolates for corporate or event orders? Contact us or call 587-774-8873 (toll free 877-741-8251).

Alphabet & number moulds | Chocolate World | Martellato chocolate moulds | Coloured cocoa butter | How to mould chocolate | Chocolate hearts with a mould

This article is for information only. Every business is different: draw your own conclusions based on your own expectations, budget and goals, and talk to qualified experts before you decide or invest.

Sources: Chocolate World Moulds catalogue, Edition 15 ("Letters & Numbers" and "Cleaning polycarbonate moulds"); Chocolate World Equipment catalogue, Edition 9 (vibrating table, magnetic moulds); Martellato General Catalogue 2026 (Letters & Numbers 21MA3005, Frank Haasnoot stamps); BC Cook Articulation Committee, Understanding Ingredients for the Canadian Baker, ch. 7 (BCcampus, CC BY 4.0); KREA Swiss, "Tempering, what it really is and where it goes wrong" (kreaswiss.com); Peter Greweling, "Tempering Chocolate", Pastry Arts Magazine (2024); product data from Bassan Chocolate, FCH Origins, Pavoni Italia and KREA Swiss.