Discovery’s Shark Week starts next week (on Pete’s birthday!) and people go crazy for it. Better to meet a shark on your TV screen than in the ocean, right? If you’re looking for a snack for when you’re checking out Shark Week 2021, this Shark Candy Bark recipe is perfect.
What’s great about this Shark Week Candy Bark is it only takes three ingredients to make. You can add ocean-themed sprinkles if you want, but I don’t actually think they’re necessary. Plus, those come with sugar pearls. And those are adorable and look like bubbles in water, but they also are really hard to chew. They’re not inedible, but it’s close.
For that reason we suggest leaving out any edible accessories, but this is your Shark Week snack. Change it up however you want.
And if you do, be sure to tag us in a photo of it. We would love to see it.
Shark Candy Bark Recipe
Shark Candy Bark Ingredients:
- 12 oz. white almond bark
- 1 tablespoon royal blue decorating icing
- 6 oz. gummy shark candies
How To Make Shark Candy Bark:
Line a 11×9 baking pan with parchment paper.
Melt the white almond bark. Microwave it for one minute, then stir, then microwave at 30 second intervals as needed.
Pour the melted almond bark into the parchment paper-lined baking pan. Use the back of a spoon to spread the almond bark into an even layer.
Add six dots of the royal blue decorating icing throughout the melted almond bark.
Use a fork to spread the royal blue decorating icing around.
Just a small tip for how to swirl the icing: Go side to side in a constant motion as many times as you need in order to swirl the royal blue decorating icing into the almond bark. When you’ve finally achieved a great look, go in an up and down motion once.
If you try to go in a circular motion, or you don’t use a constant motion, you’ll end up making a really mess and potentially ceasing the whole almond bark, making it inedible. So be really intentional with your movements.
Stick the gummy shark candies throughout the almond bark. Make sure to push down on the gummy shark candies so they get stuck into the bark.
If you were planning on adding any ocean-themed sprinkles, now would be the time to add them. Make sure to push them down with a toothpick to assure they get stuck into the bark. If not, when you cut the bark, the sprinkles will fall off.
Put the whole baking pan in the fridge for at least two hours.
Remove the baking pan from the fridge, remove the parchment paper from the pan, and cut the Shark Candy Bark into bite-sized pieces. Be careful when you’re cutting to not cut any of the gummy shark candies into pieces.
Shark Candy Bark: Frequently Asked Questions
We use candy melts in some of our candy bark recipes. But the truth is, I don’t love the taste of candy melts. It’s just a big bite of waxy … pseudo-chocolate.
Because here’s the thing about candy melts. They’re not chocolate. Even though people will refer to them as chocolate. So you’re not getting a delicious bite of white chocolate when you use them. You’re getting a bite of whatever candy melts are made from.
Candy melts do melt really well and they’re really forgiving. If you take too long and candy melts start to harden, you can just melt it again in the microwave. The great thing about almond bark is that you can also melt it again in the microwave just as easily as candy melts, but it tastes better as a final product.
So can you use candy melts to make Shark Bark? Yes. Should you? No.
If you are opposed to almond bark, you can use white chocolate chips to make Shark Bark.
If you do, though, you have to be really careful of how you melt the white chocolate chips. If you microwave them for too long, the chocolate chips will cease and there’s basically no bringing them back. If that happens, you won’t be able to spread the white chocolate chips in the baking pan to actually make the Shark Bark.
If all want to use white chocolate chips, microwave them at 30 second intervals. Stir completely between microwaving. Use the residual heat to melt the chips while stirring. The key is to microwave them a little less than they need, and use the residual heat to complete the melting, to avoid ceasing the chocolate.
Also, make sure the spoon you’re stirring with is completely dry. Getting water into melted chocolate chips can ruin it.
Certain food coloring will ruin almond bark. There’s a whole science behind this (you can read all about it here), but the gist of it is that liquids turn almond bark into an unworkable clump.
Food colorings that are oil, paste, or powder are fine, but water-based food coloring won’t work.
This Shark Bark recipe calls for decorating icing, which is a good compromise because you most likely have it at home and it’s inexpensive. Gel icing would work as well, but that comes in such a small tube and is pretty expensive.
But, if you’re set on using food coloring, pick up an oil based food coloring set. You can use that any time you use almond bark or candy melts to dye the bark or melts your desired color.
Celebrate Shark Week 2021
Shark Week 2021 starts on July 11, 2021. Are you ready to celebrate? If you are excited about it, you might like this post too.
Want more beach-themed snacks?
If you want more beach-themed snacks to eat during Shark Week, we have a few other recipes you might enjoy.
Shark Candy Bark
Celebrate Shark Week with this super simple Shark Candy Bark (aka Shark Bark). It's made from three ingredients, including gummy sharks.
Ingredients
- 12 oz. white almond bark
- 1 tablespoon royal blue decorating icing
- 6 oz. gummy shark candies
Instructions
- Line a 11×9 baking pan with parchment paper.
- Melt the white almond bark. Microwave it for one minute, then stir, then microwave at 30 second intervals as needed. Pour the melted almond bark into the parchment paper-lined baking pan. Use the back of a spoon to spread the almond bark into an even layer.
- Add six dots of the royal blue decorating icing throughout the melted almond bark.
- Use a fork to spread the royal blue decorating icing around.
- Stick the gummy shark candies throughout the almond bark. Make sure to push down on the gummy shark candies so they get stuck into the bark.
- Put the whole baking pan in the fridge for at least two hours.
- Remove the baking pan from the fridge, remove the parchment paper from the pan, and cut the Shark Candy Bark into bite-sized pieces.
Nutrition Information
Yield
24Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 117Total Fat 8gSaturated Fat 1gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 7gCholesterol 0mgSodium 75mgCarbohydrates 11gFiber 2gSugar 6gProtein 3g
Have you tried this Shark Candy Bark? Let us know what you thought in the comments.