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I recently had a chance to try Patric Chocolates 70% Madagascar. Superb chocolate bar. It brilliantly showcased everything I've come to expect from good Madagascan chocolate (which is one of my favourite origins) in a bar with strong berry flavours (in my opinion) and some citrus. The entire tasted lingered beautifully on the palette. I would recommend the bar to all who get an opportunity to try it.

I think David's point is a good one: you don't need the caramel centre to "set" as such to make it easy to back off, you just need the caramel to form a "skin" which will be enough. Usually leaving the mould at a temperature of 18-22 celcius for 24 hours will allow a skin to form (depending on your recipe it may occur faster)

Hi Kerry, I kept it pretty simple and just sprinkled some coloured powders into the mould and covered with white chocolate which I then swirled around the mould a little before spreading it around with the back of a spoon. The only trick is don't use too much powder. I did for my first attempt and when I demoulded the egg there was a patch where the chocolate hadn't melted the powder which just crumbled off the egg (my wife was happy to eat the evidence of that one)

This is my first go at a chocolate showpiece which I've done for Easter. Its been tricky working on only the cooler days (in Australia) but I'm happy with the results. Not perfect (or even close) but it'll do for a first attempt without any prior instruction . . . This is the showpiece . . . The solid disc is a white base with milk marble. The egg stand has gold luster/metallic dust and is made from the bottom of a plastic coke bottle - thanks JPW . . . The main egg (which is removable from the stand - easy to eat) . . . The base eggs on a marbled disc done with a milk base and white/dark marbling . . .

Thanks for the link - it will take me a while to work through these :-)

Now that sounds like something cool to try

Art - thanks for the explanation, you learn something every day :-)

I would second this - you need to have a good quality, heavy, saucepan or pot. I use a saucepan but it is a thick-bottomed one

For what its worth on these depositors, I have been told (by a very knowledgable pastry chef) that you should make sure that the one you buy does NOT have a metal seam running down the inside. I have not looked at any of the links given here, but apparently a cheaper model often has a seam running down the inside of the depositor which can stop the mixture flowing properly.

Kerry, thanks as always for sharing with us. I would love to get the opportunity to visit Belgium on a chocolate tour, but I don't think I could manage to take as many photos as you seem to have taken :-)

For what its worth most of my PDFs go to 106 C. I also test them by leaving a plate in the freezer while I'm cooking the PDF. Before I take the PDF of the heat, dab a bit on the cold plate and make sure it doesn't "flow" out - it should hold its shape (nb: not a lot of time to do this testing, need to be quick because everything keeps cooking).

I thought K&W made chocolate from imported cocoa liquor not beans? Also, I think Haighs and Tava make chocolate from the bean - I think they are the only Australian companies to do so.

Has anyone read this book yet? Any thoughts on the content, new ideas etc?

Would it be fair to think of custards as the broad category heading. And then Creme Anglaise and Creme Patisserie are subsets of custard - creme anglaise being a thin version without cornstarch and creme patisserie being a thicker version with? And is it still a custard if it doesn't have eggs or does this become a pudding?

Hi, I had a question for the pastry chefs out there. Apologies if this has been covered before but I couldn't find anything. What is the difference between a custard, creme anglaise and a creme patisserie (apologies if my spelling is out)? Are they all used for the same thing in pastry/dessert work? Also, I was making a chocolate gelati last night and the recipe used - Milk - Cornflour (aka cornstarch) - Sugar - Chocolate It was cooked over a low heat until thickened and looked very much like a custard when it was done/set but didn't use any egg yolks. How does this fall into the definitions above? Would it be called a custard? Any help would be greatly appreciated and no doubt help solve my confusion on these terms.

Yep, thanks for sharing your setup. The enrober was smaller than I thought. I'm hoping to take a course later in the year where we use an enrober - should free up time to make a few more centers.

Lior - demould both sides when they are set. To stick them together: - warm a baking pan/sheet in the oven to around 50 degrees celcius - quickly rub the edge of each "squirrel" half in circular motion on the warm pan to gently melt a little bit of the chocolate on the edge - then you can stick them together, hold them for a few seconds to let them set and you will have a hollow figurine

I'll keep the chocolate theme going. After struggling with my Christmas chocs in 2006, I took chocolate courses in January, February, May and November and learn't proper moulding techniques, hand tempering, how to make a good nougat, PDFs, an amazing array of chocolate fillings, proper hand dipping techniques, use of transfer sheet, chanblon mats and structure sheets, marshmallows, luster dust, coloured cocoa butter and who knows what else. Christmas chocs for 2007 were a lot easier (all 700 pieces) and looked a lot better. 2008 will be a year to continue learning my chocolate techniques (I am doing Level 3 chocs later this month and Level 4 is calling me). I am also becoming more and more interested in pastry - the chocolate & pastry school I attend has just started a macaroon course . . . .

Done with Boiron puree and left just as a plain lemon jelly. May be interesting to coat it in a strong dark chocolate (say 70% Cuba) but I just rolled in sugar.

I use Boiron purees - they are fairly well priced here relative to the price of fruit (eg., a 1kg tub of passionfruit puree for AUD $16 whereas I could never get anywhere near 1kg of puree from $16 worth of fruit). They also maintain a constant pH level with their purees so you know your recipes will always be OK. sygyzy - when making PDFs, I keep stirring throughout. Add the sugar/pectin and stir, add the sugar in small amounts trying to maintain a boil and stir in, add the glucose in and keep stirring. Robert - I am a fan of raspberry PDF which I make with puree and a few frozen raspberries so you can see some pips through the jelly. I also recently made a lemon jelly which was quite tasty.

As a very general rule, I use 2 drops of essence to 1 drop of oil when converting - but tasting as you go is always better if possible

As a rough guide, if your work area temperature is 18-20 degrees celcius, your chocolate should set in approximately Dark: 5 mins Milk: 6 mins White: 7 mins if it is properly tempered.

I also like the slight hint of caramel that often comes through (Java by Callebaut is another one that springs to mind)

I really enjoy a good bar of Valrhona, Felchlin, Cluizel or any other good name for eating by itself. I also think its fine to use these fantastic chocolates if you're making chocolates with very few ingredients (ie., a plain dark ganache) and, probably, more for dark chocolates than milk. If more ingredients are being added (especially for baking or creamy desserts) I'm really not sure the flavour profile transfers across to the dessert.

I've used tempered chocolate before as well (usually if trying to make a ganache with more choc in it than the cream can melt). I haven't really noticed much of a difference between the two techniques but I haven't done a proper comparison.