For 100 filled bonbons in a standard 3 cm mould you will use roughly 1.3 kg of chocolate — about 600 g for the shells and 670 g for the ganache. But you need 2.5 to 3 kg on the bench to do it.
That gap between what you use and what you need is where most ordering mistakes happen. This guide covers both numbers for the work a bakery actually does.
Why you need more than you use
Moulded shells are made by flooding the cavities, letting the chocolate set briefly against the mould wall, then turning the mould over and letting the rest run out.
Only about a third of what you pour stays behind as shell. The rest returns to the bowl. It is not wasted — you use it on the next tray — but you cannot start with 600 g and expect to fill a mould properly. There has to be enough volume to flood the cavities in the first place.
Plan for roughly three times the shell weight in working stock.
Bonbons
Based on a standard 3 cm half-sphere or square cavity:
| Per bonbon | Per 100 | |
|---|---|---|
| Shell | 5–7 g | 500–700 g |
| Ganache filling | 8–10 g | 800–1000 g |
| Chocolate in that ganache (2:1) | — | ~670 g |
| Total chocolate used | — | ~1.3 kg |
| Working stock needed | — | 2.5–3 kg |
Larger cavities scale roughly with volume. A 4 cm bonbon is not 33% bigger than a 3 cm one — it is more than double the weight.
Enrobing and dipping
Coating weight depends almost entirely on fluidity and how well you tap off the excess.
- Small truffle or caramel: 8–12 g each
- Larger piece or dipped fruit: 12–18 g each
- 100 pieces: roughly 1–1.5 kg used, 2.5 kg on the bench
The same rule applies: you need a deep enough bath to dip into. Running an enrober or a dipping bowl too shallow gives uneven coating.
Ganache for cakes
For a 20 cm round cake, filled and covered:
- Ganache needed: ~500 g
- At 2:1 with dark: 335 g chocolate + 165 g cream
- At 1:1 for a softer finish: 250 g chocolate + 250 g cream
Milk chocolate needs 2.5:1 and white needs 3:1 to set at the same firmness, so a white ganache for the same cake uses closer to 375 g of chocolate. Full ratio table here.
A 2.5 kg bag covers roughly seven to eight 20 cm cakes in dark ganache.
Moulded bars and tablets
The most predictable of all: a 100 g mould takes 100 g. There is no loss beyond what sticks to the bowl.
A 2.5 kg bag makes 25 bars at 100 g, or 50 at 50 g.
Mirror glaze
For a 20 cm entremet you need roughly 600 g of glaze to pour generously and catch the runoff. The glaze itself is typically 25–30% chocolate, so about 180 g of chocolate per cake.
Pour with more than you need. A glaze poured thin streaks, and you cannot fix it halfway.
Mousse and desserts
- Chocolate mousse: ~25 g chocolate per portion. 200 g serves eight.
- Crémeux or ganache montée: ~30 g per portion
- Hot chocolate: 30–40 g per cup. A 2.5 kg bag makes about 70 cups.
Baking
Melted into batter, follow your recipe — there is no loss factor to account for.
For visible chunks, plan 15–20% of the dry weight of the batter. A 1 kg brownie batter takes 150–200 g of chunks. Use bake-stable chips or chunks rather than couverture, which melts away into the crumb.
What a 2.5 kg bag actually makes
| Product | From one 2.5 kg bag |
|---|---|
| Filled bonbons | ~180 pieces |
| Enrobed truffles | ~200 pieces |
| 100 g moulded bars | 25 bars |
| 20 cm ganache cakes | 7–8 cakes |
| Mirror-glazed entremets | ~14 cakes |
| Mousse portions | ~100 portions |
| Hot chocolate | ~70 cups |
These assume you recover and reuse the runoff, which any working kitchen does.
Ordering for a production run
Three habits worth building.
Add 15% to your calculation. Trimmings, tempering tests, the piece that sticks in the mould, the batch that goes wrong. Fifteen per cent covers a normal day.
Do not run the bowl low. Shell thickness gets uneven and dipping gets messy when there is not enough depth. Order enough to work comfortably, not the exact theoretical minimum.
Weigh your own first batch. Note what you started with and what came back. Every mould and every hand is slightly different, and after one run you will have a number that is right for your kitchen rather than an average.
A note on these figures
These are working estimates based on standard mould sizes and typical shell thickness. Deeper cavities, thicker shells and higher-fluidity chocolate all shift the numbers. Treat them as a starting point for your first order, then replace them with your own.
Related reading
- Which chocolate for which dessert — ganache ratios and what to use where
- Which Callebaut recipe for which job — picking the right recipe before you order
Planning a production run and not sure what to order? Tell us what you are making and how many, and we will work out the quantity with you. Antalia Wholesale is an authorized Canadian distributor of the Barry Callebaut Group — Callebaut, Cacao Barry and Van Leer. Case pricing applies automatically on eight bags or more.
