Every bon bon at Hanna’s Chocolates starts as a block of couverture chocolate and ends up as a glossy, handpainted shell with a specific flavor ganache inside. The process is more involved than most people expect — here’s exactly what goes into making each piece.
Step 1: Tempering the Chocolate
Before any chocolate is poured into a mold, it has to be tempered. Tempering is the process of heating and cooling chocolate to precise temperatures to stabilize the cocoa butter crystals inside it. Properly tempered chocolate has a glossy finish, makes a clean snap when you break it, releases cleanly from the mold, and has a longer shelf life.
Tempering is unforgiving — even a degree or two off and the chocolate will “bloom,” developing gray streaks or a matte, waxy finish. It’s one of the first skills taught at pastry school, and one that requires constant attention in the kitchen.
At Hanna’s, we work with Valrhona, Felchin, and Callebaut couverture chocolate — high-quality professional-grade chocolate with excellent tempering properties and complex flavor.
Step 2: Painting the Molds
The colors you see on artisan bon bons — the deep reds, metallic golds, vibrant greens — aren’t applied after the fact. They’re painted directly into the chocolate mold before the chocolate goes in.
We use cocoa butter mixed with food-grade colorants, applied by hand with a brush, airbrush, or both. The cocoa butter bonds directly to the chocolate shell as it sets, becoming part of the piece itself. This is why artisan bon bons have that distinctive deep shine — it’s not a coating, it’s the chocolate itself.
No two bon bons are exactly alike. Small variations in brushstroke, temperature, and humidity mean every piece has its own character.
Step 3: Pouring the Shell
Once the mold is painted and the colorant has set, we pour in the tempered chocolate, tap the mold to remove air bubbles, then flip it over and tap again to drain the excess — leaving just a thin shell on the inside of each cavity. That shell needs to be thick enough to hold the filling, but thin enough to give cleanly when you bite into it.
The shell goes into the refrigerator to set fully before anything else happens.
Step 4: Making the Ganache
While the shells set, we make the fillings. Each flavor requires its own ganache — a mixture of chocolate and cream (and often butter, liqueur, fruit purées, or other flavoring) cooked and cooled to the right consistency.
Ganache-making is where the most recipe development happens. Getting a lemon cheesecake ganache to taste bright and creamy without being cloyingly sweet, or making a passionfruit dark chocolate that’s tropical without overwhelming the chocolate — that’s the craft part.
Some of our more complex flavors, like the Tennessee Whiskey or Fig & Goat Cheese Walnut, require multiple components made separately before they’re layered into the shell.
Step 5: Filling and Sealing
The ganache is piped into each shell and left to crystallize, which can take anywhere from a few hours to overnight depending on the recipe. Once set, we pour another layer of tempered chocolate over the top to seal each piece — this becomes the flat “bottom” of the bon bon when it’s unmolded.
Step 6: Unmolding
When everything has set completely, we flex the mold and the bon bons release. A good temper means they pop right out with a clean click and a mirror finish. A bad temper means they stick, crack, or come out streaky — which is why tempering is always the first thing you check when something goes wrong.
How Long Does It Take?
A full batch of bon bons — from tempering through unmolding — typically takes 2–3 days. That’s not including the time spent developing the ganache recipe, sourcing ingredients, and packaging. It’s a labor-intensive process, which is why artisan chocolates cost more than commercial candy and why they taste so different.
Visit Us in Pleasanton
We make everything fresh in our Pleasanton studio and rotate our menu seasonally. Come see the case in person — we’re happy to talk through the flavors and help you put together a box.
Hanna’s Chocolates
4825 Hopyard Road, Pleasanton, CA 94588
Tue–Fri 12–6 PM · Sat 11 AM–4 PM
(925) 587-8050
Hanna’s Chocolates is an artisan chocolatier in Pleasanton, CA. Hanna trained at the Chicago French Pastry School under World Champions and MOF winners in the art of French Pastry.