Mumbai-based chocolatier Sankesh Bangera created a four-foot-tall Ganesha idol weighing 75 kg entirely from chocolate without moulds or non-edible supports. The handmade sculpture took over 36 hours across three days. The idol was worshipped at a Pune outlet before immersion in milk, with plans to serve it as chocolate milkshake prasadam.

Mumbai Chef Creates 4-Foot, 75-Kg Chocolate Ganesha Idol Entirely By Hand Without Moulds Or Supports |

Mumbai: A four-foot-tall Ganesha weighing 75 kg was sculpted entirely from chocolate by Mumbai-based pastry chef and chocolatier Sankesh Bangera, who created the completely handmade idol without using moulds or non-edible internal supports.

Bangera said the sculpture took more than 36 hours to create over three days. The challenge, he said, was to make a structure of that scale stand entirely through chocolate craftsmanship while retaining the detailing, expression and elegance of Bappa.

Chocolate Sculpture Built Without Conventional Moulds

Unlike conventional large-format chocolate sculptures that rely on ready-made moulds, Bangera deliberately chose to sculpt the idol by hand, allowing him to control its features, proportions, posture and finer details.

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Another challenge was structural engineering. With no non-edible internal supports, the sculpture had to carry its own weight.

Structural Balance Was A Major Challenge

“Every section had to be planned, keeping balance, gravity and weight distribution in mind. If one area became too heavy, it could put pressure on another section or create a crack at the joints,” he said.

“The arms, crown, ornaments and extended elements were especially difficult because they create outward weight. Each piece had to be attached carefully and allowed to stabilise before the next detail could be added. Even a small change in angle could affect the balance of the whole sculpture.”

Temperature control was another critical challenge. Chocolate softens quickly with body heat and ambient temperature, yet had to remain strong enough to support both large forms and intricate details.

Face, Crown And Details Required Precision

“When you work without a mould, you are not restricted by a fixed shape. You can keep correcting, adding, carving and changing the piece until it starts feeling right. That freedom was very important to me, especially for the face, trunk, crown, jewellery, hands, drapery and Mushak,” he said.

As the sculpture grew, Bangera had to repeatedly reshape and rebuild sections as the proportions changed with its increasing scale.

“This was not simply moulding chocolate into a form. It was understanding the material, engineering the structure and sculpting it at the same time,” he said.

The idol was worshipped at an outlet in Pune before its visarjan in milk on the fifth day of the festival on Friday, 18 September. The plan was to immerse the Ganpati in hot milk and then serve it to visitors as prasadam in the form of a chocolate milkshake.

Bangera said the idea was to create something unique and different.

“Chocolate and other forms of Ganpati idols are made using internal and external moulds. I wanted to explore an opportunity of building a Ganpati sculpture only with bare hands,” he said.

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