pastrygirl

https://www.webstaurantstore.com/ for tables & speed racks & such - they actually also carry Roxy & Rich colors! Get 30" deep tables, 24" is too shallow, by at least 6'. Will you get commercial refrigeration? Ventilation is so important, don't skimp on your exhaust hood. What will you do for dish-washing, do you need a 3 compartment sink and a grease trap?

Today Facebook suggested I join a private group dedicated to hot chocolate bombs with 21k members, so yes, they are a thing! (I didn't join)

@Dark side thanks! The white is white chocolate mixed with enough white cocoa butter to make it a brighter shade of white. Yours look great, I wouldn't change them. What size mold are you using? I think the problem with adding liquid liquor would be the marshmallows and the dry mix soaking it up more than the chocolate shell. Can you make a boozy marshmallow instead?

Kate's been killing it with Carl, had him in Nieman Marcus and an airport kiosk last year, there's also Carla, who is peppermint IIRC. Inspired by Kate, I've made a single-serving version for a few years but am leaning heavily towards not this year. It does seem like a few more people on Instagram are making them. I use a 50 mm hemisphere mold, which is on the small side, 60+ mm might be easier to handle (and fit marshmallows in). I don't use marshmallows but I'm probably weird that way. I don't like them and my balls are too small. Pros: They're cute, fun for kids of all ages, highly giftable, and people love the idea Cons: yes it's just 2 hemispheres filled with a dry mix and stuck together, but doing that neatly is apparently beyond me. If one leaks then suddenly there's dust all over everything. You need a good lip on both halves of the mold to get a full seal. I solved that by sealing each half via some chocolate and acetate trickery, but that's an extra step. They're fragile so not great for shipping, which I expect to do a lot of this year. Finally, I feel like they don't actually work that well. In some of the videos where they just pour hot milk over, you can see it takes a bit before it melts. I've found you need to either do it on the stove-top or stir like crazy and get it super hot or you get sludgy bits in the bottom of the cup, which bugs me. Carl/Carla is big enough that you'd have to do it stove-top but for single serving I think people want to make it in the mug. If you can put together something that's easy to execute (and you're neater with the cocoa mix than me), people will love them and you too can be insta-famous! edited to add - I also coated mine in white to cover my messy joins and called them snowballs, more unnecessary steps! 🤣

The #1 reason why I haven't defected to Oz 😂 Good luck!

@Nikos those triangles look like an utter nightmare to polish fantastic blues and purples though!

More nice shine. It’s been cold and dry, that probably helps. I was worried about the orange ones, my cb smears didn’t crystallize as quickly as desireable, but I only lost a few to flaking flavors are salted caramel, cardamom, orange, and honey

What are they doing with all this colored white chocolate? Maybe its more of a hotel/high volume thing, to quickly make colorful garnishes. Admittedly, I rarely shell in white, but say you're making three colors of bonbons. You can temper three colors of cocoa butter then temper a bunch of white chocolate for the shells then temper it again for the bottoms, that's 5 things, or you can temper each of three colors of white chocolate twice, once for the shell and once for the bottom, that's 6 things. (which only takes a moment with the EZ temper but is a drag if you're doing it by hand 😉) I guess you could bottom them all in white, thus saving 2 steps ... I think they're just trying to sell you more color! 🤪

Of course! But I'm curious why they suggest these for coloring white chocolate specifically, and what the difference is between their brix and fat dispersible powder color. Just marketing?

It would save a step, but then you’d have a bunch of excess colored white chocolate sitting around. Or if you often do multiple colors, having one solid color backing instead of white will change how the top colors look.

I used valrhona yuzu inspiration here. With frozen purées, I tend to thaw them first - at least partially - rather than chipping at ice blocks

Is it a book about butter? 😀

I’m happy with the shine on these. Shells are a blend of opalys and yuzu, filled with lemon yuzu ganache, sprayed in translucent yellow.

That IS down. Normally I spray around 60 psi.

35-40 i have video proof, will post to insta

I’m not even sure what this means. Just compressor, hose, airbrush.

Jim is stymied too. I did several short puffs per cavity. The silver is a little more viscous and was also closer to the mold while the fine blue was sprayed from maybe 6 inches.

Roxy & Rich colors & sometimes I get lucky ... not sure what else I can say 😊

For @Jim D. I got some good splatter with the Grex this week, 7mm nozzle around 35-40 psi. On the silver ones, I then turned up the pressure and filled in the points.

Felchlin Sao Palme 60% is my 'workhorse' dark chocolate. Solid flavor that doesn't veer too far in any one direction so goes with most things and only $15/kg list (currently on sale 10 or 15% off). Also nice fluidity. It's a 20 kg case though, you'd definitely want to track down a rep and some samples before committing to that. The pricier blends come in 6kg boxes, and AUI is even offering a few couvertures by the 2kg bag.

I do not use the plastic sleeves for bars, I wrap them in confectioners foil then they just happen to fit in a small, off-the-rack envelope. Could be simpler, but that's where I am 😆

Cacao Barry is reasonably priced, haven't looked at TCHO in a while. I'd say use what tastes good to you and figure out the pricing and marketing from there. As long as you're not melting down Askinosie bars or something $$$$$ There are sooo many variables and no one size fits all answer. Things to consider - where are you and what is your competition? If you are the first person in your area selling high-end chocolates, you may get some pushback on price, but if you're the fourth, then the first three have already done some of that consumer education on what good chocolate tastes like and what it costs. Location will also affect your labor cost. In west coast cities, labor cost has taken over food cost as the biggest expense. A sole proprietor can do it for love but when you have to pay someone $20/hr, the picture changes. If you want to ultimately get into stores, your wholesale price is usually half of retail - can you still make a profit at wholesale? If you just want a part time hobby selling directly then charge enough to make it worth your while but you don't have to worry about wholesale margins. Packaging costs can add up and remember packaging takes time too. I spent much of my day "off" yesterday stuffing 5-600 chocolate bars into envelopes at my dining room table. Easy and mindless but still takes time. Inclusions can help or hinder your cost as well. If your chocolate is $8/lb, something cheap like rice krispies or pretzels will lower your per-bar cost while pistachios, macadamias, or dried sour cherries will raise it.

There are chocolatiers, who buy chocolate and make into other things and chocolate makers, who make chocolate from bean to bar. There's room for all of us. Nothing wrong with buying couvertures you like and adding flavors or inclusions. Go for a balance, where you're not 'killing' the flavor but complimenting it so people can taste the quality of your .base chocolate and also your creative additions. What chocolates are you using now?

Ah, I just figured between your remote location and the pandemic you might be shipping this winter. It's not that hard, at least not in cool weather Another bonus of the solid box is being able to include a flavor card or ingredients list without ruining the look. I use a clear top box and put the ingredients label on the bottom, but don't really want people turning boxes over and shaking pieces around. And less plastic, if you or your clientele have strong feelings about plastic. I may eventually move to the solid box for those reasons. I currently use these https://www.papermart.com/p/set-up-view-top-gold-candy-p-e-t-box-with-inserts/38551 I like the inserts that allow me to avoid cupping, but I wish they were 1/4" shallower, and I have plastic guilt.