Chilly days are easier to manage when you have a few cozy candles to light, and it’s always fun to carefully make a project by hand and then set it on fire. These hot cocoa candles are made with real cocoa, cinnamon, and vanilla. The scent is authentically cocoa, with a bit of that festive holiday spicy and sweetness mixed in.
Supplies:
– wax (paraffin works well)
– candle wick
– wax melting method (more below)
– mold pattern printed on cardstock, a manufactured candle mold, or a jar to fill
– white glue
– masking tape
– stir sticks
– surface protector (waxed paper)
– coconut oil
– cocoa powder
– ground cinnamon
– vanilla extract
Click here to download the printable pattern!
I melt my wax in a very clean re-used food can, but you can also use a can or pyrex glass container in a pot of simmering water on a stove, which is much faster. Whatever method you choose, melt it slowly and carefully, with your full attention during the melt time. The can or glass will be hot so use a hot pad or something to protect your hands.
These are made with paper molds, as were the geometric candles I posted previously. Some people mentioned having trouble with wax leaking on those, so with these I used cardstock, and I taped over the seams with masking tape to help stop the wax. A little wax did soak through my paper, but it set up without trouble. If you struggled with the paper forms before this method will probably work better for you.
Start off by making the scent oil. Mix together 1 tbsp of coconut oil…
1 tbsp of cocoa powder, and 1/4 tsp of cinnamon.
If it’s cold enough for the coconut oil to be solid where you’re working melt it, then mix it all together. Set it aside while you melt the wax.
Cut out and fold the pattern as shown. Scoring the fold lines lightly will help the creases turn out sharper.
Glue all of the flaps to the outside so they don’t leave marks in the finished wax. Start gluing the tabs onto the bottom with the white glue.
Wrap the tube around and glue the long flap – it will take a bit of tweaking to do it. Each panel will need to flex a bit in the center.
Glue down the remaining flaps.
I added masking tape over the glued areas for extra wax resistance.
That little rectangular strip is for the wick, fold it so it sits across the top as shown.
Cut or punch a hole in it and string the wick through.
Hang the wick in the center. Mine was wavy so I used a tiny drop of white glue to anchor it in the center bottom.
Place chunks of paraffin in the melter, each of the molds included use about 1 cup | 250ml of wax.
When the wax is melted mix a few drops of vanilla extract into the scent oil. I used about 1/3 of this mix in each candle, and my candles are very lightly scented when cold, and nicely fragrant when lit. They’ll probably not be as strong as candles made with commercial scent oils, but they do smell really authentic.
Pour the wax into the form and let it set up undisturbed.
A little wax will probably leach through, if you leave it alone it will set up. The picture above shows a little of it peeled off.
Tear the molds off the set candles and you’re ready to burn.