gap

The mixture does need to be whipped over an ice bath to cool it and it can take a while of vigorous mixing. Otherwise add more chocolate.

Thanks Kerry - its the answer I was hoping for. Not only because the Mycryo is 1/2 the price but because its nice and easy to weight out. I don't have to cut off chunks of cocoa butter and then chop it into smaller pieces.

Has anyone used Mycryo as an ingredient for chocolate centres that require cocoa butter? A lot of my centres use cocoa butter to help firm the ganache. Normal Cacao Barry cocoa butter is close to double the price of Mycryo. I was under the impression that Mycryo was just cocoa butter that had been treated so I don't understand why it is so much cheaper. Is it a suitable substitute for standard cocoa butter in ganache recipes? Thanks for any help

Great looking macaroons AmerM!! By the way, for those macaroon enthusiasts who haven't seen it: Macaroon Swoon by Stephane Glacier http://www.shopchefrubber.com/product.php?...=0&bestseller=Y I bought the book from an Aussie stockist and its great - coffee table size (bigger than A4, not quite A3). Lots of recipes and each accompanied by a great full page photo. Even some dubious translation in the intro section :-)

I did some experimenting with this a month or so ago. The more science minded in our community might correct me but I think you're basically trying to make a water and fat emulsion. The fat in this instance comes from the cocoa butter in the chocolate. So, generally speaking, the higher the cocoa percentage chocolate, the more fat and, therefore, the more water you need. When I was doing it I managed to get any consistency from whipped-cream-like to mousse-like to stiff-ganache-like and I experimented with both milk and dark chocolates. The key is heat the water first to a temperature that wont burn the chocolate - eg., 50 C. Then add the chocolate and stir it in to melt. Then pour into an ice bath and whisk to the consistency you want. You could probably also chill in the fridge and then whisk it when its cold in a mixer if you had a lot to do, but I didn't try this. The really neat thing though is if it doesn't work out like you want, just re-melt it in a saucepan and add more chocolate or water. The re-cool and re-whisk.

Only being new to the world of macaroons I might be totally off-base here but isn't almond paste made from almonds and icing/powdered sugar ground together? So, busting the ingredients down isn't the recipe just the same as a standard macaroon recipe? Pretty cool though if you have some almond paste handy but no almond powder.

For what its worth I've done 6 courses at Savour (5 chocolate and 1 pastry). I would highly recommend the classes - the longer the better. The instructors are first class and the material is great. Each time I wonder how they could possibly extend on what I've learnt before but they do. My wife has also done a course and my sister-in-law 2 courses and all were enjoyed.

Tammy, I've used jam as alanamoana suggests and it works well - I think I just boiled it with the cream from memory (no big fruit chunks). I've also seen dried starwberries ground and used in white chocolate - you can actually buy fruit powders from one of our local ingredient suppliers here and although I haven't used them before, I'm tipping that's exactly what they are.

Worth bearing in mind that although invert sugar is often used for the same reasons as corn syrup, they do have different "sweetness" levels so substituting one for the other can affect taste

In a ganache is reduces water activity and extends shelf life of the chocolate product

I'm asking questions of you on multiple threads here schneich, but when you say bake on damp baking paper, do you dampen the baking paper first and then pipe onto the damp paper or do you pipe onto dry paper and then dampen the paper after? Wouldn't mind giving this technique a go Cheers

Interested to hear other people's comments on this: I've tried several of my recipes through the calculator. These are good recipes that have been given to me by top-notch chocolatiers. I also know from having made the recipes that they last for a min. of two weeks. That said, none passed the "calculator test" Does that mean the recipe needs tweaking to last longer? Or does it mean good quality chocolates aren't meant to last any longer? How do other people's recipes hold-up against these ratios? Schneich - is the author's background in producing for a very large market (where transportation etc is an issue) or a single store boutique?

Chris, although cocoa butter is the main ingredient you're altering (and usually the most important), you're also adjusting sugar and, possibly, milkfats by altering the chocolates called for. All these can affect the final product. It doesn't mean you can't substitute/experiment, but a few calculations beforehand to work out %s can often save some failures.

Chris, I haven't got the recipe in front of me but often recipes use different % chocolates as a way of getting cocoa butter into the recipe to help setting of the final product. If you're subbing in milk for dark, you're usually reducing cocoa butter in the finished product which could affect things - just thinking aloud

Yep, that sounds like what happened to me as well. It still made a nice coconut eating chocolate though

Yep, just like the video. Back your mould off as normal - it needs to be scraped very clean. When the chocolate has set, put a line of chocolate along one of the edges of the mould and use it to stick the transfer sheet down on one end. Then grip the transfer sheet with your fingers and just scrape across the mould. Try and do it in one go - you don't want to go back and forth across the transfer sheet because you will disrupt the pattern.

People do notice - maybe moreso on the larger moulded items. But it does add to the cost of your piece.

Lior - you can also put transfer sheets on the bottom of your chocolates using that technique. Makes them pricier to sell but is pretty much standard at competition level from what I hear

awesome video. Thanks for taking the time to make it and post it. The Chinese chef in that last sequence certainly seemed to be making the chocolate do whatever he wants - that flower at the end was just incredible

As for reducing, measure the original volume (eg., 200ml) and make a mark on the outside of the saucepan where the 200ml is. The when you're reducing back to 200ml, you know when to stop

Brian, thanks for your response - clears up the judging factors which I was a little cloudy on

I can't say I've kept up with contemporary sculpture, so it's hard for me to judge these from an art perspective. But I'm willing to bet these pastry chefs know even less about sculpture than I do. And I'm scratching my head about the point of all this ... is it a sculpture contest or a pastry contest? Granted, food is expected to look enticing, more than paintings are expected to taste good. But I still expect the primary values of food ... taste, texture, aroma ... to take great precedence over visual and structural values. Did the judges even taste these things?? ← I am also a little confused what judges look for: as paulraphael mentions, is it food (eg., taste etc), art (eg., artistic appeal) or is it something different eg., technical features, ie., to a professional with the knowledge, is it to try and build the most difficult structure with most intricate decorations? Edited to add: don't get me wrong - the sculptures are absolutely amazing from my perspective. I'm not an artist but I can appreciate the technical difficulty in doing what has been accomplished by these contestants (I couldn't even come close to doing the same) and I do like the way the sculpture look . . . . I'm just trying to understand what exactly is being judged.

Longrain for me

I have done this. Make your sugar syrup with alcohol as you would for a sugar crusted liqueur and transfer the syrup to your depositor to cool (with minimum movement). When 30'ish, it can be deposited into the shells (once again, minimum movement) and it takes a few hours for the sugar crust to develop. In class, we only took the syrup up to about 80% of the shell and then once the sugar had crusted over, piped in a little chocolate to fill the last 20% before finishing the shell.

Hi, thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread along the way. I've tried to read all the posts but there really is a lot of information and I am very frustrated at the moment so I'm going to post my question. I've had several goes at making macarons now. I seem to be able to get a nice smooth shape, shiny dome, right amount of rise, good feet but then the macaron half sticks to the baking paper. I try leaving them there for a few hours (even overnight) and am very careful when removing them. What causes macarons to stick to the baking paper? Is it excess egg whites? Am I better using a silpat mat? Should I use an italian meringue recipe instead? Should I cook for longer? Is my recipe prob out and I'm better trying a different one? Please, any help appreciated. It really is soul destroying when I pull out 4 trays of great "looking" macarons and end up throwing out half of them because they just pull apart when I try to lift them. PS: it seems to be the ones in the middle that mostly stick, could it just be to cook them longer??