cmflick

These days I put mine all on their sides, being careful the scrape the ones that aren't going to be filled in the molds (ie cups) much more thoroughly than the ones that are. ← I hadn't noticed putting the molds on the sides when I first looked at the pictures. Doesn't the chocolate settle to one side in the mold while it is crystallizing giving you a shell that is thicker on one side than the other? I usually invert mine onto parchment paper to crystallize, but I'll have to give this a try.

I have used Goya mango, blackberry, guanabana, strawberry, passion fruit, and guava purees to make pate de fruit. Just follow the Boiron recipes and they come out quite excellent. I especially like the guava pate de fruit.

I usually weigh the first batch of filled chocolates that I make from a mold. When I figure that about 70% of the weight of the chocolate is filling (came up with the 70% by trial and error), I can calculate how much filling that I need for each mold. When you know the weight per chocolate, then you can easily figure out how much filling you need to even make partial molds of a flavor (like if you want to make more than one flavor in a particular mold). It works well with me. I usually have very little ganache left over and that's usually eaten with a spoon!

← Count me in. I'll really try to be there. I would be a little hesistant about Memorial Day weekend. It can be a real pain to travel that weekend!

In answer to your question, I was not able to attend this year and and am definitely interested in being there next year. I would have been there this year, but had another trip already booked elswhere. Gaithersburg would be great for me. I would prefer somewhere on the East Coast that I could either drive to or get to by train (I live in CT).

I have also used Wagner paint sprayer quite a bit. I preheat my oven to "warm" and as soon as preheated, turn it off. Then put my Wagner sprayer in to warm it up (including the container) . I use the chocolate at 90-95F. I have done cakes and larger chocolate items (both frozen before spraying to get the velvety look) and never had any problems with clogging. The spray seemed pretty course to me and sprayed a pretty broad area so there was lots of over spray. It does give an excellent velvety texture. I got an air brush, because I didn't think that I could get the control that I wanted with the Wagner prayer.

Can someone post a link to the chocolat-chocolat molds that are matte and can't be sprayed with color? I'm intrigued.

Thanks for posting all of the recipes above, Kerry. I've got to get busy trying some of these. I've been thinking about trying fruit caramels for a while, so I think that I'll try out these recipes. It doesn't sound like anyone reached a conclusion about the three different ways of making ganache. Is that true? Were these fruit caramels for piping into shells or did you slab them and dip them? All of the details are fantastic!

Thanks to everyone who has posted photos and videos. It's been great for those of us who couldn't be there. It's made me even greener with envy. I sure hope there is a repeat performance. There have been a couple of mentions of an information packet that was handed out. Is there any way that can be posted for those of who couldn't make it? I'd like to see the recipes that were being used.

Ditto on the thanks for sharing. I wish that I could have been there. Maybe if there is a repeat performance some day! Did anyone pick up any tricks that you could share with us? It's kind of hard to tell from the pictures what is going on.

Re video - still waiting to hear from the IT people at the college. Apparently you can podcast from the rooms, but there are only 3 or 4 IT folks for all the college campuses (campi?) and they aren't inclined to call you back. They are the only ones who know how this is done. ← I think a fair number of modern digital cameras (including mine) can capture video. Then it's just a question of posting it online somewhere and linking from here. ← It should be easy enough to post it on YouTube. Video of the conference would be great for all of us that can't be there and are definitely green with envy!

Unbelievable chocolate bowls. I've definitely got to try this. The video made it look easy. Is it really?

Very nice. I especially like the eggs with yolks!

Watch out, soon you'll want everything to be pretty shiny colors, it is addictive and brings out your inner abstract expressionist . I picked up a tub of Cacao Barry pure cocoa butter and the colors on vacation in Australia in February. The colors are Roberts Confectionery, www.robertsconfectionery.com.au oil based powder color but I bought them from Savour school in Melbourne, www.savourschool.com.au. I just got little 5 gram vials to play with, they were maybe $7 Australian each. The recommended dosage is 10 grams color per 100 grams cocoa butter but I didn't weigh, just eye-balled it. Now I'm trying to think of flavors to make that match the colors - lemon, blueberry, apricot...it's a slippery slope! Chef Rubber in the US also has oil-soluble powder colors as well as already mixed colored cocoa butter. You'll just have to find the best exchange & shipping rates. At least it is light weight! ← Have you had any trouble with the powdered colors dissolving in cocoa butter? When I tried to use them, I could never get them completely dissolved. The brand that I used was called Candy 'N Cake. Eventually I gave up and now use Chef Rubber pre-colored cocoa butters. ← They don't actually dissolve - just disperse. You need to take the melted cocoa butter and the powder and sort of grind them with the back of your offset spatula on your marble slab until they are well dispersed, reheat as necessary. If you are working with sufficient quantities then an immersion blender is a quick and dirty way to get good dispersion. ← That would explain my problems with the powdered colorings. I tried to stir them in and I just didn't seem to be able to ever get the color completely dispersed. I think that I'll stick to the pre-colored cocoa butters. A lot less work.

Watch out, soon you'll want everything to be pretty shiny colors, it is addictive and brings out your inner abstract expressionist . I picked up a tub of Cacao Barry pure cocoa butter and the colors on vacation in Australia in February. The colors are Roberts Confectionery, www.robertsconfectionery.com.au oil based powder color but I bought them from Savour school in Melbourne, www.savourschool.com.au. I just got little 5 gram vials to play with, they were maybe $7 Australian each. The recommended dosage is 10 grams color per 100 grams cocoa butter but I didn't weigh, just eye-balled it. Now I'm trying to think of flavors to make that match the colors - lemon, blueberry, apricot...it's a slippery slope! Chef Rubber in the US also has oil-soluble powder colors as well as already mixed colored cocoa butter. You'll just have to find the best exchange & shipping rates. At least it is light weight! ← Have you had any trouble with the powdered colors dissolving in cocoa butter? When I tried to use them, I could never get them completely dissolved. The brand that I used was called Candy 'N Cake. Eventually I gave up and now use Chef Rubber pre-colored cocoa butters.

Maybe the bowl would work better if you used an actual bowl as a mold. I have used a plastic box as a mold for chocolate and had no problem with it. As stated in the demo make sure that you use something very shiny (so that the chocolate will shine) and with no scratches in it. My plastic box was not used for anything but as a chocolate mold and was polished well with cotton balls before use. I think that whatever you use as a mold should probably be fairly rigid. If the mold has flex to it, it will be too easy to crack your molded chocolate once it sets. One more suggestion: paint in some layers of chocolate to whatever you are using before doing the fill and dump molding. That way you'll get a thicker bowl. The frogs are fantastic. Nice work!

I believe that the active ingredient in Envision, lactisole, inhibits the umami taste in addition to the sweet taste of foods. I don't know if that would effect the taste of what you were experimenting with, but I'm sure that it would effect the overall taste (besides sweetness) of some foods.

Getting ready for Easter. I'm feeling very lazy this year and not coloring the bunnies at all.

Nice job! You have been busy and the chocolates look wonderful! Is fejoya the same as feijoa, the pineapple guava or guavasteen as seen here? If it is, they are very tasty.

It sounds great! Thanks for the summary. I like going to chocolate shows just to see what other people are up to, both in terms of flavor and presentation. I wonder if anyone else has any pictures that they could post...

I seem to remember reading that fresh yeast is more osmotolerant, i.e., better for sweet doughs, than active dry yeast or instant yeast. I think that I saw this in Maggie Glezer's Artisan Baking Across America. Anyway, there is also osmotolerant dry yeast that is good for sweet doughs. The only brand that I know of is SAF Gold.

As another word of precaution, always add lye to water, never water to lye. When adding water to lye you can get a volcano like effect with nasty consequences. Also always make up the lye solution in a well ventilated place. There are nasty fumes and the solution may heat up a lot. When I'm making soap the lye solution goes up to about 170F when I mix it. I would also cover whatever surface that you are working on with something disposable. Any stray crystals of lye can cause nasty burns if you contact them later. And one other thing, if you can get microbeads or pellets rather than crystalline lye, get it. Crystalline lye can have a lot of static and be hard to control when measuring. I buy lye for soap making from Summer Bee Meadow, but I have no idea if their lye is suitable for food uses.

I've gone as low as 150 g puree with the Boiron recipes and not had problems. That gives me a square about 18 cm on each side.

I've made these strawberry balsamic vinegar chocolates many times and just used the Boiron strawberry pate de fruit recipe using regular apple pectin or slow setting pectin (better for pate de fruit I think). My understanding is that g pectin is not only pectin, but has other things combined with the pectin. I would also hesitate to cook the pate de fruit just by time. I cook to 107C or 75 brix as in the Boiron recipe.

This might be a similar cylinder mold at Kerekes.