Swirl colorful chocolates together to create beautiful handmade Chocolate Shells. They will add a wonderful realistic look to your beach-themed cakes, cupcakes, and treats.
If you are hosting a beach-themed party, you can really impress your party guests by serving some of these chocolate sea shells.
Depending on the molds you use to create your shells, they can look so realistic that your guest will think you picked them up off the beach.
I created a lot of these swirled shells to serve at my nephew's beach-themed graduation party and used them to decorate mousse cups and Mini Chocolate Beach Pails.
The party guests were in awe of these seashell chocolates and beach-themed desserts and wanted to know how I made them.
Below you will find instructions to make your own chocolate seashells and links to all the other desserts I made for the party.
Ingredients
chocolate or candy melts - You can use melted and tempered pure chocolate to make your shells or melted confectionery coating (Candy Melts.)
I chose to use the Candy Melts (also known as compound chocolate, confectionery coating, melting wafers, and almond bark) because I only had a few sea shell candy molds to work with and I needed to keep the chocolate melted while I worked. I can keep candy melts melted all day in a water bath in an electric skillet. Plus they come in colors.
Check out my Chocolate Making Tips page for more information about working with chocolates.
Supplies
silicone sea shell molds - I used small fondant molds that made tiny little shells and some plastic candy molds to make larger shells.
You can find the products needed to create these chocolate sea shells on Amazon.com. I earn a small commission when you use the links in this post to make a purchase at no extra cost to you.
Sakolla Marine Theme Fondan...Shop on Amazon 
CK Products Assorted Seashe...Shop on Amazon 
Seashell assortmentShop on Amazon 
CK Products Assorted Deep S...Shop on Amazon 
Kitchen Supply Squeeze Bott...Shop on Amazon 
Wilton 12-Inch Disposable D...Shop on Amazon 
Wilton White Candy Melts, 1...Shop on Amazon 
Wilton Royal Blue Candy Mel...Shop on Amazon 
Wilton Bright Pink Candy Me...Shop on Amazon 
Wilton 12 oz. Light Cocoa C...Shop on Amazon 
Instructions
Melt the candy melts.
Fill jars or coffee mugs with your candy melt wafers and set them in an electric skillet. Fill the skillet with 2-3 inches of water, so it goes about halfway up the sides of the jars, and turn it on the lowest setting (warm).
Stir occasionally until the candy melts have completely melted.
Or, you can melt the candy melts in the microwave at high power for 30-second increments stirring after each until melted. Then, place the jars of chocolate into the water bath to keep them warm all day.
DO NOT get water in your chocolate or it will seize (harden).
Fill the molds with swirled chocolate.
You can use either a disposable pastry bag or a squeeze bottle to make the shells. In this example, I used the bag.
Brush a thin stripe of colored chocolate down one or two sides of your pastry bag. Then fill it with white chocolate.
Cut the tip off the bag, cutting a small opening. Pipe the chocolate into candy molds. As you pipe, the colors will swirl together.
Pop the mold in the freezer (if using pure chocolate, place them in the refrigerator) until the candy hardens, then remove and un-mold.
If using this silicone sea shell fondant mold to make the candy shells, they will take less than 5 minutes to harden. These shells are the perfect size to put into Mini Chocolate Beach Pails. The largest of these shells is about the size of a penny. They are small!
Tips
If you have filled all your candy molds and still have some chocolate in your pastry bag, fold over the tip, so the chocolate doesn't spill out, and snuggle it into an empty glass that is set in the warm water in your skillet.
This will keep the chocolate warm so that when your chocolates come out of the freezer and are un-molded, you can simply pull the pastry bag out of the glass, and pipe some more shells.
If the chocolate does harden, pop the entire bag in the microwave and heat on 50% power for 10-20 seconds.
Fill molds using a squeeze bottle.
If you prefer, you can create the same swirled effect using a squeeze bottle. Just note that it's a bit trickier to get a nice line of chocolate brushed down the size of the bottle.
Be sure to allow your candy molds to come to room temperature before filling them so that the chocolate flows easily and fills the mold fully.
You can set the squeeze bottle in the warm water in the skillet or reheat it in the microwave if the chocolate becomes too thick to pipe.
Storage
You can store your beautiful swirled chocolate seashells in an airtight container for up to 2 months.
Related Recipes
Make white chocolate peanut butter Beach Party Popcorn topped with sandy cookie crumbs and speckled with sea shells to give as a gift or to serve as dessert for a party.
You can make even more beach-themed summer recipes for your party.
Sugar Coated Sea Horse Cookies • Chocolate Beach Pails • Butterscotch Crunch Starfish
Sandcastle Lollipops • Caramel Rice Krispie Turtles • Beach Party Popcorn
Under the Sea Popcorn • Beach Ball Cheesecakes • Under the Sea Gumdrops
Caramel Rice Krispie Treat Starfish • Chocolate Sea Shells • Rice Kripie Treat Dolphins
Sugar Coated Sea Horse Cookies • Sugar Coated Sea Horse Cookies • Palm Tree Cookies
Recipe
Colorful swirled chocolate sea shells. They are great for a beach themed party or any ocean themed party you have!
- 1 ounce dark cocoa or colored candy melts, melted
- 10 ounces white candy melts, melted
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Brush a thin line or two of the dark cocoa candy melts or colored candy melts onto the sides of a disposable pastry bag.
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Fill the pastry bag with melted white chocolate.
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Snip tip off bag.
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Pipe into sea shell candy molds.
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Alternatively, you can swirl the chocolates together in a squeeze bottle and pipe them into the molds.
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Freeze for 5-10 minutes until the candy hardens.
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Remove and un-mold the candy shells.
Melting Candy Melts
You can melt the candy melts in the microwave for 3o-second bursts of high power, stirring after each until melted, or in a water bath in an electric skillet set at the lowest temperature.
Storage
Store your chocolate shells in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 months.
I serve my chocolate sea shells on this table along with lots of other fun beach-themed party food. The guests loved all the treats.
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Aishwarya
OMG these recipes are so useful! I love cooking and these recipes will be totally useful for parties! I love them all!
Carrie
Approximately how many shells are you able to make with the 10 ounces of melts using the molds you used?
Your pictures are very beautiful, by the way. Very inspiring to make these!
Thank you.
Beth
Hi Carrie,
Every mold and shell cavity was a different size so it's hard to give you an exact number. I can tell you that the pink silicone mold makes really tiny shells. It took 1/2 an ounce to fill all 10 shell cavities in that mold so you'd get about 200 tiny shells from a 10 ounce bag of candy melts. The mold with the medium sized shells (that is pictured in the step-by-step tutorial) will use about 3 ounces of chocolate and you'll get 20 shells per mold so you'd get about 70 medium shells. Also pictured (but the mold isn't shown in the tutorial) are some large shells and starfish which each took about 1/4 of an ounce each so you'd get about 40 larger shells.
I hope that helps.
Annette
Hi, you mentioned above confectionery coatings. What is the difference between confectionary coatings, white cholate, & chocolate melts. Thank you so much.
Beth
Pure chocolate is made using cocoa butter while confectionery coating (Merckens, Wilton's Candy Melts, Ghirardelli Melting Wafers, almond bark, Nestle Premier White Morsels) is made using vegetable oil, typically palm kernel oil.
Pure chocolate requires tempering (a process of heating and cooling the chocolate so that you get a good snap and shine) while confectionery coating can simply be melted. You can see really detailed information on my Chocolate Making Tips page.
Joan Eddins
You’re quite generous to share these imaginative and creative tips to the novice. I look forward to receiving more recipes and ideas from you.
Best regards, Joan Eddins, Jacksonville Beach Florida
Beth
That is so nice of you to say. I am so happy to share my knowledge and fun ideas with you. If you ever have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
Have a sweet day,
Beth
Stephanie
Thank You.......Thank You.......Thank You !!!!!
My cousin is having a beach theme wedding shower and I have been given the task of making the favors. I had no clue on how to make these and your post has saved me. I do have one question though.......Where did you find the silicone mold for the starfish ?? I have found a few in plastic but it makes me nervous because I have no clue how to get them out of the mold.
Any help or tips you could give me would be greatly appreciated 😁
Beth
What a wonderful wedding shower theme! I love it. The starfish mold I used was pretty old and it was plastic not silicone. I can't find the exact mold but there are several others available on amazon, here - http://amzn.to/2krwsPM You can find the silicone molds I used to make the tiny shells from amazon here -- http://amzn.to/2kpnWkh. That is an affiliate link so I earn a commission but it is how I bought my mold. It's very small but it makes the cutest little shells. Have fun!
Stephanie
Absolutely perfect ! I have learned so much for your website I just can't thank you enough. I do have 2 more questions then I promise I won't bug you again. How far in advance can I make candy from molds? ( If I keep it sealed in a cool place is that ok ). If I want to brush on a edible shimmer dust, does that naturally stick to candy pieces or does it have to be brushed on when it's still warm ?
Beth
If you are making the sea shells from confectionery coating or white chocolate they will keep for at least a month. Store them in an airtight container in a cool place, not in the refrigerator. If you brush on shimmer dust it will stick on it's own. Just pop the candy out of the molds, let it sit until it comes to room temperature, then brush on the dust. Have fun!!!
Summer
Once you make the chocolates, how long will they keep for. I've got a party next Saturday and I want to premake earlier in the week. Can I store in air tight container in fridge?
Beth
You can make them up to 3 weeks ahead of time. Store them in an airtight container at room temperature. If you refrigerate them, condensation from the refrigerator will develop on the candies and they will become sticky. Have fun!
Tavette
Oh yes - striping the bag will be much easier than using a squeeze bottle. You save us all the trial and error. Thanks for mentioning the size of the shells. My chocolate molds are much bigger, but then hey - I don't have to make as many 🙂 Just one shell per bucket. They look so realistic with the swirls.
Tell us again, please, how you made the backdrop. It looks great. It seems you said you used bubble wrap. Did you spray paint it from the underside?
Thanks
Tavette - S. Fla.
Beth
I too have some large sea shell candy molds and they look really great, but were way too big for what I wanted on my dessert table.
The backdrop in these picture were purchased at JoAnns. They come in a large roll, are made of paper, and are primarily used for classroom bulletin boards but also work great for backdrops in my photos. The sky and the bubbly water are both from the rolls.
Christine
These are adorable! Thanks for sharing.
Beth
Thank you Christine. I'm glad you like them.