chocartist

The Wilton product (Candy Melts) is not real chocolate; it's confectionery (compound) coating. I suggest using 10 ozs. of white Candy Melts to a scant 1/3 liquid cup of light corn syrup. Do not heat the Candy Melts over 100 degrees before adding the corn syrup. Stir and fold only until the mixture thickens and is well incorporated. Flatten on waxed paper and let sit uncovered at room temperature for a few hours until it firms up. Using the heel of your hand, knead a handful of clay on the work surface until it is the consistency of Play-Doh: soft and malleable, but not sticky. Clay made with Candy Melts will be softer than clay made with real dark chocolate. For dark chocolate, use 10 ozs. chocolate to 1/3 cup corn syrup. Milk and white chocolates as well as compound coatings require less syrup. Chocolates with a high-ratio of cocoa solids will require a little more than 1/3 cup syrup. Since all chocolates vary so much, you may have to adjust the quantities. To make a firmer clay, use a little more chocolate (or slightly less corn syrup).To make a softer clay, use slightly less chocolate (or a little more corn syrup). It is better not to refrigerate this clay; it will become sticky, if you do. Left-over clay will last about 3 weeks stored in an air-tight container at room temperature. ← Clay made with confectionery coating tends to get stickier than real chocolate clay. I agree that refrigerating something as simple as a banner should not be a problem. However, unless the room is as cold as the refrigerator, you can expect some condensation to form on it when you bring it out. Refrigerating the cake in a box and allowing it to come back to room temperature before removing it may help. In either case, I'd go with the banner rather than attempting to write with chocolate on the side of your cake.

The Wilton product (Candy Melts) is not real chocolate; it's confectionery (compound) coating. I suggest using 10 ozs. of white Candy Melts to a scant 1/3 liquid cup of light corn syrup. Do not heat the Candy Melts over 100 degrees before adding the corn syrup. Stir and fold only until the mixture thickens and is well incorporated. Flatten on waxed paper and let sit uncovered at room temperature for a few hours until it firms up. Using the heel of your hand, knead a handful of clay on the work surface until it is the consistency of Play-Doh: soft and malleable, but not sticky. Clay made with Candy Melts will be softer than clay made with real dark chocolate. For dark chocolate, use 10 ozs. chocolate to 1/3 cup corn syrup. Milk and white chocolates as well as compound coatings require less syrup. Chocolates with a high-ratio of cocoa solids will require a little more than 1/3 cup syrup. Since all chocolates vary so much, you may have to adjust the quantities. To make a firmer clay, use a little more chocolate (or slightly less corn syrup).To make a softer clay, use slightly less chocolate (or a little more corn syrup). It is better not to refrigerate this clay; it will become sticky, if you do. Left-over clay will last about 3 weeks stored in an air-tight container at room temperature.

Actually, chefs have been using frozen metal "moulds" with handles for years. I haven't seen them lately but the set comes in a metal box, which you keep in the freezer. The moulds remind me of fancy copper door knobs with handles. They make quick flowers and leaves but I have never liked them because they look so stiff and lifeless. Then there is the technique of wrapping a sponge with plastic wrap and dunking it into chocolate to make little chocolate cups. I've done the same thing substituting a small paper cup covered with wax paper or plastic wrap. My ice cube trick is novel and my students love it, but I wouldn't want to make very many of them that way. Mouldinng in metal tart shells can be frustrating, to be sure. For best results, don't make the shell too thin. Isn't chocolate wonderful? There's no end to what you can do with it.

Well, this technique will probably cause gasps but it works. 1. Fill a tray of tart shells with water and place in the freezer. When the water is nearly frozen solid, bend a large paper clip and place it in the icy water so that it sticks up like a little handle. Allow the water to freeze hard. 2. Fill a small custard cup with tempered chocolate. 3. Working with one metal tart shell at a time (leave the rest in the freezer) grasp it in the palm of your warm hand for a few seconds to release the "speared" ice cube. 4. Now.....I know this sounds crazy.....working quickly, grasp it by the paper clip and plunge it (yes, I said plunge it) into the chocolate, immersing it only up to its top edge. Do not allow the chocolate level to rise above the top edge of the ice. Lift the cube out of the chocolate bath immediately. 5. Hold the cube about one inch above the counter; use your thumb to push downward gently on the top edges of the chocolate in several places. A very thin chocolate shell will drop off the ice. The floor of the shell's cavity may be wet, but it will air dry. Note: Leftover chocolate from this procedure should never be combined with the rest of your tempered chocolate or reserved for subsequent projects, since it contains moisture. This procedure is pictured in my book, Chocolate Artistry (now out of print).

Sebastian, I took no offense to your comment. I am a great admirer of your technical knowledge and wish that I could understand the science of chocolate as well as you do!

Whatever you do, don't add store bought butter to your chocolate without clarifying it first--a task that's easier said than done. Otherwise, the water in the butter will cause your chocolate to seize. Some of you seem to be shooting down my suggestion to add a tiny amount of coconut oil to the chocolate to soften it. Despite the incompatiblity issue, coconut oil is what's frequently used to make soft meltaway centers. Many confectioners make their own house blends of chocolate by combining milk or white chocolate with one or two different dark chocolates. If you've added a considerable amount of milk or white chocolate to dark chocolate, it's best to temper it as if it were milk or white chocolate. I've done it successfully many times.

Well, I finally have an answer to your problem, Lysbeth. Dark chocolates with high fat percentages that don't contain cow's butter are notoriously hard. Cacao Berry as well as most imported chocolates don't contain any butter fat. Peter's Burgundy, the chocolate that I use, does have a small amount of butter fat in it to retard bloom. There are several remedies: You can add butter oil (which is difficult to buy in small quantities) or add 3% coconut oil for every pound of chocolate. For 1 lb. use 1-2 teaspoons of coconut oil. But the easiest way to soften your chocolate is to add some white chocolate (which contains butter fat) to it. Since white chocolate contains cocoa butter, adding it will not compromise the legality of your product and the butter fat that it contains will give your chocolate some bloom protection. Adding a small amount of white chocolate to dark chocolate should not significantly effect the color very much.

← Your chocolate has a fairly high cocoa solid content which explains why it's so hard. The standard for semisweet and bittersweet chocolate is 35%--so there's a big difference between that and what you're using. I suggest trying another chocolate with a lower cocoa solid content. I doubt that Dove is using a chocolate with a 64% cocoa content.

Jean Pierre is right about the incompatiblity of lauric fats such as coconut and palm kernel oil with cocoa butter. If you've ever tried to decorate a chocolate piece with colored compound coating (which is palm-kernel-oil based) you know that the decorations will eventually bloom and release from the chocolate. To be safe you could add a non-lauric fat such as soybean or cottonseed oil. I still think you can get by with adding a very small amount of coconut oil to your chocolate as they do with chocolate ice cream coatings. The best way to know is to try it for yourself. Keep in mind, however, that one of the things you look for in a piece of well-tempered chocolate is a brittle snap when broken. I am still troubled by your wanting to soften your chocolate. Frankly, I don't think it's a good idea to tamper with a manufactuere's formula. Which chocolate are you using? The higher the cocoa solid content, the harder the chocolate. Compare dark chocolate with milk chocolate and white chocolate in terms of hardness. Milk and white chocolates are always softer than the darks. Perhaps it is the thickness of the moulded chocolates that is the problem. Thick pieces of chocolate will always be harder to bite than thin ones. If the cavities of your moulds are deep, don't fill them to the top. I would be careful adding nut pastes to chocolate for moulding purposes. They will make the chocolate softer but the chocolate may not release from the moulds. Gianduja, for example, is not good for moulding. Now that you have peaked my interest, I'm going to question some of my chocolate technical buddies to see if they have some suggetions.

I would just add a tablespoon or two of coconut oil to your chocolate before you temper it. You should be able to mold with it. Coconut oil is what they usually put in ice cream chocolate coatings. You should not be able to taste it.

It's not a good idea to add butter to your chocolate in an attempt to soften it. The water content in the butter will cause the chocolate to seize. I suggest adding some coconut oil to the chocolate to make it less brittle.

The common translation for tomillo is definitely thyme. Perhaps some people refer to it as sweet marjoram because in Mexico it is often sold as part of a package of "hierbas de olor" (fragrant herbs) a mixture of thyme, laurel leaves and sweet marjoram.

Tomillo is thyme (sweet marjoram).

So good to hear from you, Rachel. I would be delighted to contribute to this forum more often and welcome inquiries. As for Bariloche and its chocolate, I regret that I have never been there nor tasted its chocolate. I do know that it is a hot bed for chocolate, however. I've had several students from that area and know that there must be some good chocolate there somewhere.

Mayordomo Chocolate is indeed the best Oaxacan chocolate (though Susana Trilling's chocolate is also wonderful). I first met the owner, Salvador Flores Concha, about 15 years ago. At that time his factory was very rustic, totally unlike the one he's in now. Though he has brought in heavy-duty machinery to roast the beans and refine and temper the chocolate, the factory still produces a traditional line of table chocolates. I'm happy to report that Mayordomo Chocolate is now available here at www.mexichoco.com. I feel honored to be allowed to escort people who accompany me on my chocolate tours to Mexico through the factory. It is an amazing experience.

I think it's much more difficult to find a good milk chocolate than a dark one for various reasons. I happen to love Peter's Broc Milk Chocolate. In case you're not aware of it, Daniel Peter (this chocolate's namesake) and Henri Nestle were the inventors of milk chocolate. Today Broc is manufactured here using the original Swiss formula.

Steve, I'm intrigued by the quote from Regina Schrambling's NYTimes article on cocoa. What's this about pressing the pods???? Am I misinterpreting something here? Is she implying that cacao pods are pressed to make cocoa? Of course that's not the case. Chocolate liquor is what's pressed in order to extract most of the fat, leaving a dry cocoa cake--which is then pulverized, resulting in cocoa powder. What did she mean by her statement?

I once taught a week-long course at Tante Marie and can verify that it is one of the most respected culinary schools in the country. Mary Risley, its founder, is a genuine icon in the food world and most deserving of the prestigious awards that she has received throughout the years. Not surprisingly, her book is one to treasure.

I recommend www.cuveecellars.com. They offer an amazing collection of fine and rare wines at the most reasonable prices. It's a terrific site.

This is truly a wonderful format for sharing ideas and opinions, Steve, and I look forward to continuing to do so in the days to come. I've admired your good advice and keen insight in earlier threads and am delighted to have had this opportunity to join you and others in this worthwhile discussion.

I agree, Steve, that we've come a long way in regard to choices of chocolate available to budding chocolatiers. I remember when.......as I'm sure you do, too. As a long-time devotee of Peter's Chocolate Burgundy semisweet (which lists sugar as its first ingredient) I can tell you with certainty that it tempers exceptionally well. Confectioners all over the country swear by it, too, both as an ingredient as well as a coating. It's important to know, however, that Burgundy, as well as other chocolates in the Peter's line, is available in different viscosities, each formulated to serve different purposes. There is no question that it's easier to melt and temper chocolate that contains a respectable amount of cocoa butter, but one should not get caught up in the boutique chocolate fervor and assume that all other chocolates are necessarily inferior. Vending machine chocolate bars aside, there are many quality bulk chocolates made in America that temper beautifully despite their sugar content. Unfortunately, most of these chocolates are not sold at retail so they are less well-known to the general public than their high-end competitors. I used to think that it was more difficult to temper milk and white chocolates, but I no longer believe that. While it's true that the temperature ranges are lower for these chocolates, I don't think it's that complicated to drop down an extra few degrees--provided you verify the temperature with a thermometer. As for the narrower ranges, I think people place too much importance on them. Once the chocolate is in temper it will remain in temper even if it drops a few degrees below what's suggested as the perfect range. Once you realize that, you will fear tempering less--believe me. That said, I suppose some will consider me less than a perfectionist when it comes to working with chocolate. Believe me, I'm still a perfectionist, but I've become a realist in my old age and believe that much of what we hear about chocolate dogma is not written in stone. There are parameters within which you must work, to be sure, but they are broader than you might think.

Lindt is an excellent Swiss chocolate and can certainly be tempered--as can all chocolates--even if sugar is the first ingredient listed. Sugar's placement on the ingredient listing of a bar of dark chocolate indicates that the chocolate is richer in cocoa solids/cocoa butter than sugar, but it does not rule out its ability to be tempered. Milk and white chocolates are likely to have sugar as their first ingredient and, obviously, they can be tempered. If your only access to chocolate is the supermarket, I generally recommend buying imported bars in the candy section rather than those in the baking aisle (though it's now not uncommon to find a few upscale chocolates there, too). In selecting a chocolate candy bar, make sure it doesn't contain any inclusions--unless you want to dip your truffles in chocolate that is studded with chopped nuts, etc. Which ever chocolate you choose, don't even think about melting--and tempering--chocolate chips. You'll get mud instead of creaming, fluid chocolate.

The Long Grove Chocolate Fesival continues to draw top local chocolatiers each year. I haven't been able to participate in it for the past two years but hope to do so again sometime. Jacquy Pfeiffer delights the crowds each year with his chocolate magic as well as his charming personality. My former student and sometimes assistant, Pam Vieau, also participates. Pam is a terrific chocolatier and a very fine teacher. She was my choice to replace me when I retired from the Wilton School a couple of years ago. Pam is also teaching at Triton College and will soon start teaching classes at Midwest Imports in Chicago. You can reach her at www.chocolateinspirations.com. I am a great fan of Bob Piron's chocolates in Evanston, IL. He was classically trained in Belgium and is a marvelous chocolatier. Vosges has certainly charged up the candy world with intriguing flavor combinations, but some of them work better than others. My favorite chocolatier is Jim Graham, formerly of Le Francaise in Wheeling, IL, who used to make all of their exceptional chocolates. I'm not sure what Jim is up to these days but if you ever have the opportunity to attend one of his classes or sample his chocolates be sure to do so. Besides being a gentle soul, he has the most refined palate of anyone I know. Now, he's the one who should write a chocolate book!!! Last I heard, he was teaching at the French Pastry school in Wheeling.