Kerry Beal

I haven't found that using a set number of minutes is necessarily helpful. Milk and white choclate often don't show signs of setting until much longer than 2 minutes even if in perfect temper. Chocolate freshly tempered will take longer to start setting up than chocolate that has been in temper for a while. That being said - if I see no signs of my chocolate starting to set around the edges in 10 minutes then I'm pretty damn sure I'm not in temper. I agree that letting your molds sit at room temperature until you see signs of them starting to set around the edges before bunging them in your cooler is wise. It's the whole latent heat of crystallization thing - when chocolate is rapidly crystallizing (particularly if it is in good temper) - it gives off heat - “the latent heat of crystallization”. It can get warm enough to throw itself out of temper. So once you have molded your item, made your shell etc - wait until you see it starting to lose shine and become glossy around the edges - that is the time of most rapid crystallization and the time to pop it into the fridge for 15 minutes or so to carry off that latent heat. A fridge with wire shelves that gives good air circulation all around the mold is ideal. With clear molds - I leave it in until I see the chocolate starting to separate from the mold. (please forgive my repetition here - I have this whole spiel about latent heat on my computer in 'notes' and I probably send it out once a week to someone who asked me on my website why they are having problems).

Jim - those deep dome molds are terrible for requiring coaxing of various sorts to get them out. I think it's suction created by the particular shape. I once made the mistake of using a couple at a demo for the Luxury Chocolate show in Toronto - there I was with no freezer and a few hundred people in front of me - whacking the molds on the table repeatedly. Not great when you are mic'd.

One comment - change one thing at a time as you work to sort this issue. If you change a bunch of things - you'll never discover what the problem is/was!

Twas that sort of double negative!

Try not heating them at all!

Shell doesn't look to thin to me. Why not try not heating the shells before capping and see what result you get.

The crack appears to be happening where the interface between the two chocolates is happening. Two questions - are you heating your shells before you back them off. Does the same thing occur when you back off in milk chocolate?

What's the wedge we are seeing?

I remember making it as a kid. Thought it was so classy!

Some of the best burns I've seen in the ER have involved these flimsy oversized pans.

Bet you will!

amazon.com will ship it to Canada

MiL is a lucky woman! I still think about the very enjoyable meal you fed me in Brooklyn.

Loranne flavours can be found in just about every bulk food store in Canada.

This was one being shipped to Montréal - the courier did it. It’s cost me a fortune - the haven’t refunded the shipping so I’ve paid for shipping it, shipping it back and shipping a second one.

Indeed he is!

It was the pork belly that sucked - the halvah is great

Here's what happens when a fork truck goes through an EZtemper box. Here's what it looks like after hubby gets to work on it. Lid doesn't open quite as it should - but it appears to still work.

@Chocolot had a great idea - she put the silk into a squeezy bottle instead of a piping bag. Less mess, less need to have something in there to stop the piping bag from dirtying up the bottom. I was in search of a squeezy bottle this am to put sweetened condensed milk into in the fridge when I decided to fill a nice flexible one that I found and pop it into one of my units.

I think halvah counts as a confection. I got some tahini to use for Nigella' pork belly recipe - I must say it really didn't do anything for me - but now I had a bottle of really fresh tahini and decided I needed to so something other than store it in the fridge for a few years then throw it away. I poured about half into a silicone loaf pan then sprinkled with some dark chocolate callets then poured the remainder on top. Gave it a little drag through with the spatula.

I like your style!

I probably do something different every single time! But I never use alcohol - I simply polish with a lintless cloth (an operating room tape), sometimes if the mold is a little greasy looking I'll give it the once over with the hair dryer before I polish. My room temp is my room temp - not cold - around 22º C. Sometimes I temper my cocoa butter, sometimes I don't. I have been keeping it in an incubator - if I'm painting with a brush - I pour a little out onto a piece of parchment on my quartz, move it around with the brush til it's 'right' before painting, give it a little heat with the hair dryer when it starts to solidify.

There are a few others on Amazon as well from the same manufacturer.

Not fancy by any means - coin molds. And kind of british looking not american

It was a few years ago that I found this classic on Kijiji and convinced a newly fledged chocolatier that it would fit well with her plans. She has since moved on from chocolate and is now doing some wonderful fine art. She's hoping to find someone to purchase this to free up some room for her other endeavors. If you are interested send me a PM and I'll connect you. I think it's something that will need to be picked up rather than shipped.