Imprinting 101
It is not always necessary to make a mold to personalize a chocolate product. Through a process called imprinting, also referred to as stamping and embossing, a freshly made chocolate can be formed with a customized design. This is the main method of producing foiled chocolate coins and squares.
Generally, to make a chocolate coin with images on both sides, the following process is completed:
A blank chocolate coin is made.
The blank coin is foil wrapped.
The coin is sandwiched between two embossing dies with the desired image for each side of the coin.
The dies are pressed against the foiled chocolate and the image is stamped into the foil and chocolate.
There are special chocolate coin imprinting machines that are made to stamp the chocolate or this process could be done on a hot stamping machine. The stamping must be done in a manner in which the pressure and temperature are controlled. The image will come out cleanest if it is stamped quickly. Some of the machines stamp one coin at a time, while others are completely automated and can imprint thousands of coins per hour.
The embossing dies are made of magensium. Please read our article on Hot Stamping Dies for more information.