
Cadbury’s Dairy Milk to Marvellous Creations
Disclosure: I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This Cadbury’s Dairy Milk cooking project shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias and their client. #cbias #shop
Have you ever wanted to create your own custom created chocolate (candy) bar but have been intimidated by the fact that you have to temper chocolate?
Worry not, I’ve found a way to temper milk chocolate in the microwave that takes 5 minutes or less. Yes, I love you too! 🙂
But more on that process in a later post this week. I’m such a tease aren’t I? 😉 This post is primary focussing on a great recipe I’ll be sharing to create your own custom chocolate (candy) bars.
Have you heard about Cadbury’s new Dairy Milk Marvellous Creations bars? Specifically the one that has the popping candy, candy shells (like mini M&M’s) and little jelly sweets.
I bought a bar as soon as they hit the shops and it was love at first sight bite. The first thing that hits you is that tingly tongue sensation from the popping candy, discovering the candy shells and the jelly pieces was so much fun too.
I knew I had to do a copycat and re-create this chocolate bar for all my international readers that can’t readily pick up this product in their country.
I did this little project with my daughter over the weekend. I can’t even begin to tell you just how much fun we had creating this chocolate bar together. Not to mention the amount of fun eating it after too. Awesomesauce! Here’s the process in images on G+.
Shall we get started? 😉
You will need:
- Popping candy
- Chocolate beans (or mini M&M’s/Smarties)
- Jelly Tots or any small jelly sweets, chopped
- Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate (obviously). Or any good quality chocolate
- A chocolate mould with deep ridges
- Heat proof (or microwave proof) bowl and a spatula.
First of all, break off enough chocolate you feel will be enough to fill the chocolate mould. It’s better to have leftovers than not enough otherwise you won’t get a bar, only chunks.
Chop into segments using the ridges as guides and reserve slightly over a ¼ of the chocolate to set aside. Place the remaining ¾ into your heat proof bowl.
Melt the chocolate either over a double boiler or in the microwave on half power in 30 second blasts stirring between each. With both methods melt until approx. ¾ melted with small chunks left.
If you use the double boiler method, ensure that the water in the pan does not touch the bottom of the bowl, and ensure that no water gets into your chocolate – it will seize if it does resulting in unusable chocolate. 🙁 Ain’t no-one got time for that!
This is where your right hand, or left hand: if you’re left handed, turns body builder-esq overnight! 😆
With your spatula you need to stir, stir and stir some more until the chunks have melted. Once they’re completely melted start adding the chunks you set aside earlier one-by-one and stir until each one has melted, then add another until the last few remaining won’t melt any further.
Once you get to the point where the added chocolate won’t melt any further, this is the optimum temperature to stop stirring and start adding in your sweet extras. It also happens to be the most fun part of the entire process. 😀
First, I added the popping candy…
Then I added the chocolate beans (mini M&M’s, or mini Smarties, if you prefer)…
Then finally, the jelly sweets…
Gently mix together, but not too violently otherwise you’ll create air bubbles…
If you do get air bubbles, like in the photo above, try tapping the bowl down a few times on a sturdy surface so they rise to the top and move your spatula in a figure of 8 to pop them.
Working quickly, pour the chocolate mixture into the chocolate mould carefully ensuring that it’s evenly distributed. Lift the mould and tap quite harshly onto a sturdy surface (as you would with macarons) to make sure all the air bubbles rise to the surface, and to ensure that the chocolate fills all the chocolate mould crevices correctly.
If air bubbles do come to the surface, pop them using a toothpick then repeat the tapping action, and slightly shaking side to side until no more bubbles rise.
If you’re using popping candy the mixture will look lumpy, that’s normal. They’re not air bubbles. 🙂 But if you want to be sure, just push a toothpick into them.
Wipe the side of the mould so we don’t get any jagged edges. This step is completely optional, but looks more professional. I did this by scraping the sides with a toothpick as it was already setting by this point – a good indication that my tempering was done correctly. 🙂 Not to mention the fact that I could suck the scraped chocolate off. Chef perks FTW!
Now, all that’s left to do is place your chocolate mould in the refrigerator to set. If tempered correctly, this won’t take long at all, but the hardest part is waiting. Must. Have. My. Chocolate. Now. Cannot. Wait!
P.S. Don’t try to remove from the mould it at room temperature. I did this on my first attempt. Let’s just say it snaps where it’s supposed to snap anyway.
And voila!…
Beautiful isn’t it? And because it’s made with Cadbury’s Dairy Milk it tastes the same as their Dairy Milk Marvellous Creations bar.
Totally worth the stirring, baby. 😉
Printable and saveable recipe summary below. 🙂

Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Marvellous Creations Recipe
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 3 minutes
Yield: 160g (5.6oz) chocolate candy bar
Want to create your own custom chocolate (candy) bars but don’t know where to start? This copycat/homemade/DIY Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Marvellous Creations recipe is a great place to start.
Ingredients:
- approx. 160g (5.6oz) cadbury dairy milk chocolate, chopped and divided into ¾ and ¼
- 1 tsp popping candy
- approx. 5 tbsp candy beans (mini smarties or M&M’s)
- 4 jelly tots, chopped into quarters
Directions:
- Melt ¾ of the chocolate either over a double boiler or in the microwave on half power in 30 second bursts until approx. ¾ melted with small lumps remaining. Stir continuously with a rubber spatula until completely melted.
- With the remaining ¼ chopped chocolate, place one chunk at a time into the melted chocolate and continue stirring until melted. Repeat this process until the chocolate chunks added get to a point where they won’t melt any further. Remove the chunk [and eat it].
- Add the popping candy, candy beans and jellies to the chocolate and mix in gently until completely coated in the chocolate. If air bubbles appear, tap the bowl onto a sturdy surface allowing them to raise to the top and gently swirl your spatula in a figure of 8 motion to pop them.
- Working quickly, pour the chocolate mixture evenly into the chocolate mould. Tap the mould down quite harshly so the chocolate fills the corners and crevices of the mould evenly. If any further air bubbles rise, pop them with a toothpick.
- Remove any access chocolate from the side of the mould with a dry paper if still molten, or scrape with a toothpick if set.
- Transfer the chocolate mould to the refrigerator and allow to set completely.
- Remove the chocolate from the mould when the chocolate is still refrigerator cold.
- Enjoy cold or allow to reach room temperature.
Want the full instructions on tempering chocolate? See my in-depth chocolate termpering guide.
Full instructions on tempering chocolate. If you don’t have time to read that, just follow the steps above with good quality chocolate you should end up with tempered chocolate too, and without the need for a thermometer.
Enjoy!

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What a fun idea! I love adding popping candy to desserts to give people a little surprise. Great recipe 🙂
Happy Blogging!
Happy Valley Chow
What a fun idea! I love adding popping candy to desserts to give people a little surprise. Great recipe 🙂
Happy Blogging!
Happy Valley Chow
Look at the gorgeous shine on that chocolate! Way to go, girl! I have never seen that kind of popping candy before. Here in the States we have Pop Rocks; comes in all sorts of fruity flavors. I’m sure it’s about the same thing. I’m loving the other candies, too, especially their funny-sounding names (jelly tots, how cute!). Thanks for the great tutorial; now I don’t have to be afraid of tempering chocolate any more!
How cool!!!! I love how easy this is, and I love Cadbury chocolate 😀
How cool!!!! I love how easy this is, and I love Cadbury chocolate 😀
It looks amazing Lisa!! I have to try this as well 🙂 Great idea, I am only worried where to get the popping candy from? :S Don’t have a tesco aroud here 😛
take care 😀
Try local sweet stores or perhaps eBay? The American version is called Pop Rocks. You should be able to find it somewhere, but it might take a little hunting. It’s pretty new to Tesco’s. Just keep an eye out I guess?
Thanks for stopping by.
This is genius , love it! Fab pics too..
This is genius , love it! Fab pics too..
Just tweeted out this great post from @NewMumOnline.
Beautifully structured post – love it.
Liska xx
Thank you for visiting my blog and leaving such a lovely long interesting comment.
Did you notice that when I tweeted out your post, @DairyMilk RT it?
Take care,
Liska x
I didn’t, but I went and had a peek and saw their RT. Thanks so much for tweeting it. I’m glad Dairy Milk saw it, I didn’t even think to tweet it to them myself, so thanks so much for doing that.
And thanks for stopping by too. 🙂
Just tweeted out this great post from @NewMumOnline.
Beautifully structured post – love it.
Liska xx
Thank you for visiting my blog and leaving such a lovely long interesting comment.
Did you notice that when I tweeted out your post, @DairyMilk RT it?
Take care,
Liska x
I didn’t, but I went and had a peek and saw their RT. Thanks so much for tweeting it. I’m glad Dairy Milk saw it, I didn’t even think to tweet it to them myself, so thanks so much for doing that.
And thanks for stopping by too. 🙂
I need to buy myself one of those molds and that spatula!!! Great looking bar 😉
I’m pretty sure the spatula was imported from the US anyway, so you should be able to find it locally or online for a better price than I paid. And the chocolate moulds seem to be everywhere these days too. I’ll be picking up some more silicone ones so they can go in the dishwasher too.
Thanks for stopping by, Paula.
That is a brilliant combination, I want a piece 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
That is a brilliant combination, I want a piece 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
This looks like so much fun!!
Um, how cool is this?! It’s like your homemade, one-of-a-kind dream chocolate bar. What’s not to love?! I wish we had those jelly popping thingies here!
I’ll send you a bar soon. 😉 But in the meantime why not create one yourself with pop rocks, mini M&M’s or Reeses Pieces and any type of chopped up jelly sweets. 🙂
Try local sweet stores or perhaps eBay? The American version is called Pop Rocks. You should be able to find it somewhere, but it might take a little hunting. It’s pretty new to Tesco’s. Just keep an eye out I guess?
Thanks for stopping by.
I’ll send you a bar soon. 😉 But in the meantime why not create one yourself with pop rocks, mini M&M’s or Reeses Pieces and any type of chopped up jelly sweets. 🙂
What a cool idea & fun, too 🙂
This looks so pretty Lisa 🙂 I haven’t tried the Cadbury version yet, but I like the look of yours better 🙂
This looks so pretty Lisa 🙂 I haven’t tried the Cadbury version yet, but I like the look of yours better 🙂
This looks awesome…I love making my own chocolates and fusion Indian desserts. Gotta get me a chocolate mould first!
This looks awesome…I love making my own chocolates and fusion Indian desserts. Gotta get me a chocolate mould first!
That is awesome Lisa!! Oh how I miss real Cadbury chocolate. The stuff they sell in the states just doesn’t taste the same….and no flakes. 🙁 I was just thinking about making chocolate frogs yesterday, and now I have the perfect tutorial to follow….thank you!! 🙂
Thanks Lisa. You would think that since Kraft took over Cadbury that the chocolate would taste the same there. But making your own chocolate bars is so much fun, and you can control whatever you want in there too! 🙂 Win, win.
There is a more in-depth chocolate tempering post. Do let me know how you get on with your chocolate frogs, I’d love to see them.
And no flakes? #shocking Looks like you might be in need of a care package. 😉
Thanks Lisa. You would think that since Kraft took over Cadbury that the chocolate would taste the same there. But making your own chocolate bars is so much fun, and you can control whatever you want in there too! 🙂 Win, win.
There is a more in-depth chocolate tempering post. Do let me know how you get on with your chocolate frogs, I’d love to see them.
And no flakes? #shocking Looks like you might be in need of a care package. 😉
I wonder, should the chocolate be eaten right away, or it can stay in fridge or on the counter for a while? I made some gifts today and I wonder how long they will stay fresh 🙂 Thanks for the tempering recipe, by the way! It’s perfect way to do it 🙂
Hi Beata, The gifts sound great!
I would treat the chocolate the same way as you would any bar form chocolate, unless you have put something in the chocolate that needs to be placed in the fridge/eaten quickly. Otherwise, chocolate will keep for quite some time, at least 6 months or longer. 🙂 Hope that helps? Thanks for stopping by.
Thanks! My chocolates were perfect! I did with white, black and milk chocolates, added raisins, nuts and candies. And it didn’t even melted in the room temperature, which was really amazing. Thanks again for your wonderful recipe 🙂
wow, you are a domestic queen! i love this so much.
2 questions: 1) what flavor pop rocks did you use…what do you recommend? and 2) where do i store the chocolate bar? would storing in the fridge make it last longer?
Hi Laura! Aww, thank you. This post took a heck of a lot of work, lol.
1). When I bought that popping candy years back, it was flavourless – so just an added sweet, textured crunch and popping in the mouth. That was my only choice, but if you can get flavoured popping candy, feel free to change it up to whatever you want or a themed flavour. 🙂
2). As long as the chocolate is tempered properly, you can store at room temperature, depending on what you put inside the chocolate. If it’s something that goes bad quickly, then you might need to pop in the fridge. As stated in the post, I’d recommend refrigerating to remove from the mould first. If your chocolate is tacky, streaky, starting to melt at room temperature, the chocolate isn’t tempered properly. You can re-use untempered chocolate to re-temper by adding in already tempered chocolate. There’s a more in-depth tutorial on how to temper chocolate in this post or… you can use compound chocolate instead. Compound chocolate isn’t really chocolate, but you can find it by looking at the ingredients; if it contains no cocoa/cacao butter, it’s compound chocolate.
I hope that helps? Happy creating!