Trishiad

Oh come on, I LOVE the bright red sparkly snot. don't you all?

Jen, I am really looking forward to this. We have a 102 year old home in the North Bay with the most disgusting kitchen ever. It has 3 different sets of cabinetry, all of which I'm sure are salvage from the 70's and a lovely wood grain formica. Husband and I are always trying to come up with the perfect remodel (one day, when money allows). I think it's a real challenge to remodel respecting the age of one's home and honoring what might have been there originally without filling the kitchen with cheesy reproduction everything. I will anxiously await your next log.

Kerry, I too used some older wasabi powder from the cupboard. I think I added close to 1/4 teaspoon and even days later I never noticed it. I was going to buy some fresh and try again.

Drew says the pate layer should have been 1/4 inch thick and mine was really not. Perhaps it's user error? I'll try again soon, gotta go back into town to Trader Joes for the cheap berries. I know lots of us bought the book. Anyone else wanna try?

I made the raspberry wasabi recipe this weekend. I hate to say it but I'm a little disappointed. I ordered the g pectin and followed the directions. I ended up with a very very thin layer of pate. I've had chocolates from Garrison's and I'm just sure the pate layer wasn't that thin. The bigger problem is that the pate is gooey. I'm going to try it again, boiling a touch longer. Perhaps I'll dig out the refractometer. Anyone else had better luck than I?

Oooooh, I like it! The top tier looks like the husband or the new girlfriend or the husband's prized porsche and comes with a mallet for smashing. The bottom tier comes with one big spoon for eating on the couch.

I was taught by a Swiss chocolatier that you use untempered chocolate for the foot so that it is easy to cut through. It needs to be thick enough to just support the ganache for slicing, transporting, and diping. I've tried the paint roller but found that I could get a nice thin coating (not quite as thin as with a roller) with my offset and avoid dealing with the cleaning of the roller.

are you sure he isn't thinking of one of those layered crepe cakes that Megan is so fond of?

I've never heard of it either. Maybe we'll see it at the fancy food? It turns out I will be rolling out of bed and heading to the chocolate discussion.

Okay kids, I just spoke with Stephanie at Chef Rubber. 100 grams of Pectin g is $10 and 1 kilo is $50.

I'd like to offer a great big welcome to Bonbonman Andrew Shotts. I have long admired your chocolates and your style. I love your ganache and pate combinations and have been wanting to work more with pate but have found the prices of pectin prohibitive and the varieties confusing. I am excited to see what Chef Rubber will be offering on your behalf. I recieved your book early this week and will start playing soon. By the way, I appreciate very much that although you make the finest bonbons, you are not afraid to make a simple and perfect caramel corn because that's what the people want. It's nice to know that someone with your experience is not pretentious! Welcome to eG.

As some of you know, I despise foil wrapping! That said, Easter is just around the corner and I'll be spending hours wrapping and polishing little peanut butter filled critters. I use a fluffy towel as my work surface, wear a cotton glove and ever so loosely drape the foil over the piece. Then I go back with a cotton ball and starting at the top of the piece I begin to smooth the foil into the crevices. I don't think there's any way around the loss of shine. The foil is going to mar the finish no matter how carefully you wrap. I have seen some chocolatiers only foil wrap cocoa rolled truffles leaving the perfect shiny bonbons alone.

anna, i make toffee in round flex molds from jb prince. perhaps they'll have something heart shaped for valentine's day?

My guess would be too much air. Overzealous mixing can add a lot of air.

I'll be at the fancy food show. I'm interested in the panel discussion but 8:30 is awfully early for those of us who live in the north bay. we'll see.

Prasantrin, Isn't it nice to discover a recipe which isn't actually that difficult and is so tasty? The dark spots in your caramel are likely burned milk solids and occur from not enough stirring or stirring with a spoon that doesn't make enough contact with the pot. It's good to stir with something flat on the bottom with a bit of a corner on at least one side. I use a huge bamboo utensil and it helps me reach every crevice of the pot.

Glerup does the custom packaging for Woodhouse and Fran's. I get most of my packaging from them and my wooden boxes from crate ideas. Glerup's 2 layer ballotins are cute and they have some new one layer ballotins which seem to come in quite an array of colors.

David, those are indeed the trays we used. The filling hole is slightly tapered so that it fits just perfectly. The finishing hole is a bit larger and concave to cover the ganache entirely. I keep thinking about how to cap off a bonbon filled with just booze. Layer upon layer of a light spray with an airbrush? A disk large enough to cover just the outside of the bonbon hole and then a final dipping to cover the fact that the "bottom" is a touch bigger than the rest? I dunno.

Breastfeeding and making your own baby food will save a small fortune too. She'll probably want some recipes that feel a little like restaurant food as well. Maybe a nice stirfry and some fried rice. A fabulous mac and cheese. Homemade potato chips or corn chips will save her a few bucks a pop. Carnitas. Nice job and good luck.

Just to note, 3 year olds are not allowed on the Scharffy tour. I think critters must be 8 or 9 to be allowed behind the scenes.

I took a class at Albert Uster with a Swiss chocolatier last year and we used some of these which had been premolded, by machine I'm sure. We filled them using special metal trays. There are 2 trays, one with smaller holes for filling and one with larger holes for bottoming. When filling, we were taught to use a pastry bag and just go go go. It's a little sloppy. When you've finished, you use a bench scraper to remove the ganache that remains on top of the filling tray. Same sort of idea with the bottoming tray. Cover the whole thing with chocolate, scrape, and lift off the tray. We coated them or decorated them in at least 10 different ways. They have a little seam around the middle which most would want to cover. Vosges uses these premade shells for their truffles. Qzina carries the 815 callets.

I don't use anything in place of the invert. The invert is used for both preservative and mouthfeel.

Anna, For fueilletine you must make a ganache without cream. Any cream, or other liquid, will soften your crunch. I'm wondering why your chocolate was too thick in the first place. E. Guittard is a high quality chocolate and shouldn't require any additional cocoa butter. I guess, maybe, you could hit them with a hair dryer enough to just melt the surface and roll them in cocoa powder or nuts or something else, maybe. With Michael's recipes, I never use the invert. I just don't like it. The blender will give your ganache a smoother mouthfeel because it breaks down the fat particles more. You can beat the butter in by hand and will probably never notice any difference though.

While I understand that you are looking for feedback on the moldart, one can't say bad things about a company and not expect to hear the opions of others. Some of us have a good relationship with Chocovision and might feel the need to defend them here. I have 3 of their machines. I give them a good workout. Sometimes, they break. Customer service has always been outstanding for me. Ian and his team are super nice and always fix me up quickly. they even do things for free long after warranties have expired. That said, the Moldart machine is completely different and may suit you even better. It's important to find the companies that meet your needs. Once you have found them, it's nice to be loyal. Shayna at Tomric is pretty great too. For me, cheaper is not always the answer.

Perhaps the problem you're having is that most of us use common sheet pans or confectionery rulers. Some of us use tart pans or have had tap plastics custom make what we need. While it is a common tool , many of us have found ways around pricing or unacceptable timelines. Others of us are fine with a 4 week delivery date. Some options have been presented here, hopefully you'll find the one which works best for you.