70 replies to this topic

[pastrygirl]

Mmmm, purrrple...

What's the flavor?

[Kerry Beal]

Mmmm, purrrple...

What's the flavor?

Highly experimental - plum chutney!

[Kerry Beal]

Check out the chocolate on the right - it's my leftover that was supposedly in temper - I scraped out the stuff in the glass cup measure (that's on the bottom) then dumped the remainder of the stuff from the piping bag on top of it. Weirdly the chocolate from the piping bag that I used to decorate the pieces of licorice was fine.

[Mette]

A chocolate slug - how sweet

[pastrygirl]

Sooo, y'know how sometimes you have a nice cocoa butter swirl in your molds that seems to be in temper, but when you unmold the finished pieces half of them have spots where the color has flaked off? Do we know exactly why that happens? Cocoa butter too hot, too cold, too much agitation? Agitating when semi-set because you just can't leave well enough alone?

[pastrygirl]

There always seems to be a piece or two that gets in the way of the mold when I'm banging the last few stuck ones out....also known as samples for the chef

[DianaM]

There always seems to be a piece or two that gets in the way of the mold when I'm banging the last few stuck ones out....also known as samples for the chef

Lol, I do that too! Usually with me, it's just nicks, but I always catch more than just one under the mold.

[lebowits]

There always seems to be a piece or two that gets in the way of the mold when I'm banging the last few stuck ones out....also known as samples for the chef

I think we've all had that happen. I'm always a bit saddened when a piece suicides by dropping out of the mold just as I'm starting my down stroke to bang it out.

[Chris Hennes]

I think we've all had that happen. I'm always a bit saddened when a piece suicides by dropping out of the mold just as I'm starting my down stroke to bang it out.

I've developed something of a neuroses about it, in fact: I've fallen into a stupidly complicated sequence of unmolding steps to ensure that it happens as seldom as possible.

[pastrygirl]

I think we've all had that happen. I'm always a bit saddened when a piece suicides by dropping out of the mold just as I'm starting my down stroke to bang it out.

Bon bon suicides, so sad

I've developed something of a neuroses about it, in fact: I've fallen into a stupidly complicated sequence of unmolding steps to ensure that it happens as seldom as possible.

Do tell.... who doesn't love neurotic overly complicated confectionery? But I guess a sheet pan or something would save some losses...

[Kerry Beal]

The infamous Greweling Buckwheat Dog Turds! A classic.

Failure to table the ganache enough, failure to produce 25mm discs for the bottoms (these are more like 35 mm - so my ganache amounts are wrong) and failure to pipe evenly - which is pretty difficult when you are piping something this liquid.

Right at the bottom of the upslope on the learning curve!

[Chocolot]

Kerry,
Peter would be soooo disappointed:-)

[curls]

Kerry, Wow! So, were you able to salvage them and turn them into something beautiful and tasty?

[Kerry Beal]

Nah, took them to work just they way they were - they ate them!

[keychris]

I'm sure everyone has seen these before... ;)

Out of temper milk chocolate *sigh*

[Kerry Beal]

I'm sure everyone has seen these before... ;)

Out of temper milk chocolate *sigh*

I've seen that - perhaps a time or two!

[minas6907]

Yikes, what happened there? DId the top of the bonbon stick to the mold and the bottom break off? What a nightmare cleaning those molds!

[keychris]

exactly... There was a smear of milk (test looked OK, buta fter 20 minutes the test had bloomed) on the top of the chocolate (base of mold) and it didn't contract away from the surface, stuck, had to bash the bejeezus out of it to get them to come out... luckily there were plenty of people on hand willing to taste test those ones LOL

[pastrygirl]

exactly... There was a smear of milk (test looked OK, buta fter 20 minutes the test had bloomed) on the top of the chocolate (base of mold) and it didn't contract away from the surface, stuck, had to bash the bejeezus out of it to get them to come out... luckily there were plenty of people on hand willing to taste test those ones LOL

Some time, and sometimes some more time, in the freezer will usually help the more stubborn ones come out. Then even if they aren't pretty, they are more intact.

A different kind of disappointment: happily made three molds of bonbons on Tuesday for a catering order I had next week. Checked the banquet menus today, and no more chocolates on that party. Oh well, guess we'll see how well they freeze, and if nothing else they can be part of the spread at my brother's wedding in 6 weeks. That's what I get for trying to stay ahead.

[AnythingButPlainChocolate]

Fail. That'll teach me to work all day and forget to check my chocolate...

Attached Images

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[Kerry Beal]

Almost looks intentional.

[AnythingButPlainChocolate]

My moulds are driving me mad, my chocolate is in temper (I've checked) and moulding bonbon's isn't an issue, assumed it might be residual heat so moulded in layers (they're solids), made sure they weren't shocked by putting layers between the mould and the kitchen surface, made sure the mould's warm enough, that my colours are in temper (this occurs on non-coloured chocolates that are solids too) and keeping an eye on room temp and humidity. What am I doing wrong? I've even pre-sprayed the moulds with clear cocao butter.

[Kerry Beal]

How warm is the chocolate you are putting behind the colour?

[AnythingButPlainChocolate]

Calebaut milk chocolate at 30. Also having the same problem with dark, but not the white. Can, ironically, mould the lips fine though in any colour which is a rather large mould.

[Kerry Beal]

Calebaut milk chocolate at 30. Also having the same problem with dark, but not the white. Can, ironically, mould the lips fine though in any colour which is a rather large mould.

Try pushing it to 32 and see what happens.

[keychris]

it looks like (from that picture) the milk chocolate is OK - they're contracting away from the walls ok - but the colour isn't contracting away with the chocolate. I know most people around here say that the temperature of cocoa butter isn't important, but I've found it seems to be - if you airbrush it in, what temperature is it before you apply? It was recommended to us in class that you have it at 32-34C before spraying (after stirring it down from 45C).

Was there much time between applying the cocoa butter and the chocolate?

[Chocolot]

I find that if the chocolate is over, or under tempered, it will do this.

[AnythingButPlainChocolate]

I've been playing and think it's either an issue with the cocoa butter or adhesion between the chocolate and cocoa butter, tried plain choc in the moulds, all fine, sprayed half the frog in each mould with the coloured cocoa butter, it left most of the butter in the mould and the choc half was beautifully shiny, looked to be perfectly tempered on cutting, I'm still casting as a thin layer of choc, letting it set and then filling with inclusions and choc.

I took the chocolate up to 32, made sure it wasn't over stirred. I've tried spraying, leaving it for 5 minuted then casting, spraying, putting it in the fridge to set up then casting about 10 mins after, and I currently am testing with 1 I sprayed yesterday and will be casting today.

Is it because there is a lot of cocoa butter being used, or am I barking up the wrong tree?

(Please ignore the bubbles, this was just a test casting so didn't put it on the vibrating table.)



As you can see the highly decorated frog is most damaged, whereas the lesser decorated one has few imperfections, both only where the cocoa butter was...

[keychris]

how are you preparing your cocoa butter colours? (up to the point you spray)

Edited by keychris, 07 August 2012 - 01:39 PM.

[AnythingButPlainChocolate]

I've tempered the main bottles, and have transferred some into smaller jars which I put in a yoghurt maker to part melt and am using the solid core to seed by shaking it. When I check it before spraying it's about 30C, however I'm waiting for the delivery of a new IR thermometer to check in case my other one has gone funky.

It's possible the small pots might have gone out of temper I suppose.