Trishiad

according to chantal cody: 8 oz chocolate 1 cup boiling water melt chocolate and add water a spoonful at a time. if you want to infuse the water with earl grey, use 4 teaspoons

I'm confused, what isn't what you're looking for?

A caterer I worked for always used tiles from the harware store and big cookie tins under the cloth. Pretty, cheap, and easy.

I was also going to say JB Prince if you want something premade. OR....you could have Tap Plastics make something for you.

For liquor filled chocolates any mold will do, it's all about the crystalization. I use a simple square or round shape. I've been thinking about making a starch box but don't really have the focus right now.

Dmalouf, I know it seems impossible now, but in time an order for 150 pieces won't faze you a bit. In fact, you'll probably knock it out in an hour or two. For now, it's only Wednesday and a second dip is a dandy option. In the future you may want to re-evaluate your recipe. It may simply be too soft. The type of chocolate doesn't matter too much except that some are thinner than others and may not give your ganache enough coverage. It is really important to let your ganache dry and shrink a bit, I let mine rest overnight at the very least. Many chocolatiers do a first coat in the palm of their hands. Too much trouble for me. I would rather take the time to be sure the environment is right and the recipe really works. Sometimes your recipe and chocolate can be perfect but they are cooling too quickly or not quickly enough which leads to eruptions and cracks also. Decide what "thin coating" really means to you. When I was first learning, I was trying for this paper thin shell (one of the problems with being self taught!). I quickly learned that paperthin was really not an option. I think you'll find that chocolates with the thinnest shells contain a pretty dense ganache. The only chocolates I've had that seem to break this rule are those from Drew Shotts at Garrison. He's using an enrober with a cooling tunnel which helps facilitate such a thin shell. Anyway, double dip those bad boys, take a deep breath, and realize how good you smell after spending the day with chocolates.

Okay, I heard something which may clarify (if it's true): Alice Waters ex-husband is one of the new owners of Lucy's

Kerry, I bought an airbrush in hopes of doing detail work and was never able to manage it. The best I've done is to mask parts of the mold with a sheet of light cardboard and then spray. I got some cleaner lines but never found the end result to be worth all the effort. A paintbrush and some pretty cocoa butter is just as successful.

Having grown up in the area, I am shocked and thrilled at the idea of a delicious meal next time I visit. Clovis is roughly the belly button of California. Many miles from anything.

I gotta say that I was reading all of the suggestions thinking, "Man, am I glad it isn't me in the hot seat trying to filter through so much good advice.". I would be driven crazy by so very many ideas from so very many directions. I was kind of interested in what Lorna would come up with all on her own. Although everyone has super ideas, it's making me, a simple reader, confused about the outcome. A challenge of this kind can cost a great deal in both time and supplies (pineapples ain't cheap) and each participant should be allowed to use ingredients in his or her own way without the pressure of having to buy this kind of cherry or butter or pineapple, or whatever. Also, skill levels are different for each of us. Some of us might be intimidated by some of the suggestions and feel less than worthy. The short is that I agree with Annie.

I paid $3.95 for a chocolate cupcake with cream cheese frosting and a sugared violet here last week. It was lovely, a nice large size, and absolutley yummers. I do live in frou-frouville california though.

Your prices for cupcakes and drinks seem low to me. Is $1.50 really the most you can get for fabulous iced coffee??

It's sort of instant rice porridge, eaten for breakfast.

You may want to call Marilene Olsen of Screamin' Mimi's here in Sebastopol. She has a very successful ice cream shop downtown. She makes her own and uses the best ingredients. I'm sure she would be a wealth of information. Since you're in the city, it wouldn't be much trouble to come up and see her shop and kitchen.

unbleached batting, wash and reuse. sore finger tips during the busy season. note to self: must sell enough chocolates to pay someone else to polish molds and foil wrap bunnies.

Vanessa, is that Guiliano Sargenti you're referring to? I, too, sometimes use cocoa butter to beef up a filling, even a caramel but I've not tried coconut butter. I like the idea of the flavor not being overpowering. Too much cocoa butter makes bonbons taste cold to me. The seductive quality of the chocolate becomes sort of frigid. Tell us more about coconut butter....

Alana, is she actually using sugar in the recipe? As you know, a standard 72% ganache wouldn't be very sweet so it must be something she's adding. Using glucose instead of sugar will cetainly reduce sweetness and will also change the texture, probably for the better, giving the ganache a more unctuous texture. If you start adding and changing chocolate you'll change the flavor profile altogether.

If I recall correctly, she's doing one of those classes at the RItz in Half Moon Bay.

Well, I made a cake for my man on his day. Wearing an apron and everything, I'm SO Donna Reed. I forgot to grab sour cream at the market so I couldn't make Kate's bombshabomb cake. Instead I made the yellow cake suggested by Ruth: 8oz butter 2 cups sugar 6 yolks 1 1/2 t vanilla 3 1/2 cups cake flour 1 T + 1/2 t baking powder 3/4 t salt 1 1/2 cups milk It was nice. Nice crumb, not too moist and not at all dry. Very sweet though. It actually had sort of a sugary crust. Tasty, very sweet. Held up well for a couple of days.

Husband and I have taken classes at both Sur la Table and Ramekins. Enjoyed both.

It was a few years ago that I tried it but I remember it being vey similar to the callebaut in flavor and price.

I was thinking later what a stupid idea the glazing was! I love the idea of using a cutter to get the square just right and could you even stamp on designs (letter, ducks, cows, etc.) before applying the fondant to the cakes? Oh, that is going to be so cute.

Does it have to be fondant? Wouldn't it be easier to glaze them like big petit fours?

I'd start with brown fondant.

Katie Katie Kate, I knew someone would love me enough to claim that they had a wonderful recipe. Bombashabomb it is! Thanks and love back attcha. Mignardise, I used that epicurious recipe last year in my son's birthday cake. It was a nice yellow cake but because it was layered with a devil's food (request of the 4 year old) I noticed that it was a bit dense and bland. Still good, but not fabulous.