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A little trick I was taught: If you are capping chocolates the regular way and want to avoid the hairline crack, give the uncapped moulds a short blast with the heatgun before you go to cap them. This will cause the chocolate in the shell to "open up" the capping cavity. When you cap the chocolates, the shell chocolate will then contract and form a tight seal with the cap.

I've found the easiest way to do it is put a pile of chocolate at one end of the mould, press the transfer sheet down on the chocolate and then scrape across to the other side of the mould. (Hope that makes sense)

When I use transfer sheets (or acetate) on the bottom of moulded chocolates I close them as normal, let it set and then apply the transfer with a thin layer of chocolate.

I'd go with John's suggestion above, adding a little cold milk while you do it. I always use a stick blender or food processor when making a dark chocolate ganache to help prevent splitting.

Yep, I've used a food processor for any dark chocolate ganaches where the dark is over 53% (it helps prevent splitting)

I have no idea what its like in the food industry, but I am a part-owner in a business and its a clear no-no to have other people talking about our "books". If it were me, I' just stick with chocolate questions.

I've frozen them for up to two weeks filled and they're fine (post two weeks they become a little chewy). I actually think they're better after being frozen for three days. (I thaw for 24 hours in the fridge)

Leave it to dry before pulling off

Could you mould cookies with them? They don't have to be overly sweet cookies.

There is a recipe in Fine Chocolates 2 (sorry, don't have my copy to hand)

I just did a 20 hour weekend session to do all my Christmas chocolates. Caramels are a must and then I have a couple with alcohol for the festive season (rum & raisin and champagne truffles). For after dinner I go with a dark coffee and orange ganache and a raspbery ganache. And then I have a few lighter flavours for those who prefer the sweeter sides of chocolates - a coconut and lime, a hazelnut and lemon and my personal Christmas favourtie, a gingerbread butter ganache.

Thanks Kerry - that's the one!!

Thanks for trying but I don't think that's the one. I had a specialty cook book store in my city do a search and they found it for about AUD $325 but weren't sure when it would ship by - they mentioned January as an expected delivery date if ordered now. I'll post more details if I can find them Cheers

Hi, I'm trying to track down a book called "When Chocolate Turns to Matter" by Stephane LaRue (?spelling?). It was apparently released in October. Has anyone heard of this book? Does anyone know where to buy it from? Thanks for any help

Leaving coffee beans in white chocolate at 45 degrees (warming cabinet or very low oven) definately infuses a great coffee flavour to the chocolate in about 5 hours - overnight would give a very strong infusion (which you might need for a butter ganache)

The trick to minimising mess is to use the minimum amount of chocolate that allows you to scrape across and get the acetate to stick - you usually get the amount right in 3 or 4 moulds

I also use this technique quite often with transfer sheets instead of acetate to get a print on the bottom of the chocolate and, like Lior said, its not really that messy once you get the technique down.

I think streaming usually means adding to the mixture which is in a mixer while the mixer is running. You steadily "stream" your ingredient into the mixture.

Me too - I like the thinking as well

You're right - at the end of the day you just have to give it a go and see what it tastes like

Thanks Kerry - neat link as well (will have to bookmark that one)

Hi, I recently bought a bag from my local ingredient store marked “Glucose Powder”. It also had a sub-marking of “Dextrose Monohydrate” and “Glucose is a white crystalline sugar obtained from the complete hydrolysis of starch and also “Made from wheat”. The brandname is Lotus. I asked the person in the store that I bought it and they said the bag contained dextrose, but the instructor at my local pastry school said it is atomised glucose. Is there any way to tell the difference between the two or do the descriptions above give a definitive answer? I plan on using it in ice-cream and am hoping it is atomised glucose, but don’t want to ruin a batch if it's not. Thanks for any help

and PDF is pate de fruite or jelly (excuse my spelling). I've also made a fig and red wine PDF which is great enrobed in a 70%

You should always make what you and your customers like to eat . . . . for me, I like the pairing of dark chocolate and wine. If you're making some form of ganache, then I think its important that you can distinguish both the chocolate taste and the wine taste and that the two go well together. For me, that would suggest a dark chocolate.

You could try this from David Lebovitz http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2007...asiest_cho.html