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Looks like everyone had a great time. The various areas of making chocolates you all seem to cover each year just grows and grows!!

Here's a good piece on inverse puff pastry http://www.chefeddy.com/2011/03/inverse-puff-pastry/ From Chef Eddy: "One thing for sure is that inverse puff pastry (Inversed or inverted puff pastry) bakes rather light and produces very flaky results. For filled applications such as apple turnovers or Pithivier I do prefer to use inverse puff pastry, reason being that it stands up real well to the steam/humidity produced from the fillings and consequently leaves virtually no traces of unbaked dough."

I can't believe it hasn't been mentioned (I might have missed it) but Nutella is your friend here. Banana toast with Nutella or, a personal favourite, heat some Nutella until it is runny and mix in salted/roasted macadamias. Eat and repeat.

Got my copy today. What initially strikes me is this would make a great coffee table book despite all the recipes. The book is broken into 4 sections each with 10+ pastries in each (50 pastries in total). For each pastry, there is a description of the history of how the pastry came into being, then the traditional recipe and then the PH recipe. For someone with a keen interest in patisserie, I'm enjoying reading the history of each of these classic pastries as much as I am looking at the pictures (which are great) and the recipes. I have no doubt I will cook from this book given there are both challenging and simple recipes throughout. Despite having a few other PH books, I am glad I got this one (especially given the very reasonable price) and one day, when the kids are older, it may well be placed on our coffee table at home.

Ordered this book today Pierre Herme Pastries $40 delivered (to Australia!!!) for a Pierre Herme, hardcover, 288-page book seems like a great deal. I guess I'll know if that's the case when it arrives.

Sounds like someone came out a winner from this

Interesting. I had actually wondered over the past few months if some of his recipes had disappeared from his own website which was recently overhauled when his new book was released. Either way, I can't imagine this is good publicity or will positively influence his book sales.

I just got given the book as a gift and have enjoyed flicking through it so far. Have not made anything yet.

Following on from Edward J's points above, I think I've read about this before and basically, you are not tempering the chocolate by adding oil. You're altering the chocolate into a non-chocolate substance that doesn't need tempering (sort of like compound chocolate). I'm a little hazy on the science here, but I'm sure someone will jump in and correct me if I'm wrong (which I may well be)

I was thinking of a similar issue but adding an emulsifier to stop the separation

I must admit, if I have the scales out I don't really care if I'm weighing 250g or 249g - it's just a number to weigh to, so the level of precision doesn't bother me.

I think you'll find Mycryo is exactly the same as cocoa butter. You're basically paying for the convenient format it comes in (ie., ready to use straight out the box)

I'm pretty sure they are the same

Milk chocolate and nut bark is usually well liked by most if you were looking to make things to give away

Kerry - I have been wondering about these books for 6 years now Do you find they are still useful/interesting given the plethora of chocolate and confectionary books released over the past 5 or so years or do they cover generally the same stuff?

A trick we used was to make a tube of baking paper (non stick type) around, say, a wooden spoon handle and sticky-tape it together so it stays in a tube shape. Then pipe the marshmallow into that, let it set and remove the baking paper.

Very quickly (someone else might have the books to hand to give more details), Wybauw 1 covers all sorts of stuff around chocolate making (from memory, ganache, caramels, fruit pastes, nut pastes etc & basics like tempering etc) whereas 2 is focussed on ganache formulations.

I enjoy Geerts, but really it's because I like marzipan - steer clear if marzipan isn't a favourite. Shotts is a relatively inexpensive book with plenty of ideas

I've made some of the recipes and read through the lot. It's not a book for beginners, but if you have some pastry experience, it provides some good recipes with interesting flavours.

I haven't used it before, so couldn't comment

annachan - I don't know if you're into apps, but this is a Foodies Guide to Melbourne http://www.outware.com.au/our-apps/foodies-guide-to-melbourne-2012/ They have a book version too which is availabel in most bookstores. It has most of the information you're after

I hate to think how much I've spent there over the past 6 years It is all worth it though - great school as well if you want to do courses. Couldn't recommend it highly enough.

Ripples in Glenferrie Rd was fun and had some interesting dishes. We usually go to Min Tahn 2 in Victoria St. Footscray and Springvale also have some good ones I've been told.

Savour chocolate and Patisserie school (savourschool.com.au) in Brunswick - they stock utensils, equipment and Callebaut/Cocoa Barry chocolate Edited to add: French Fantasy is a great French bakery in South Yarra on the corner of Toorak Rd and Punt Rd

I've seen it available in e-book format as well. This is from a specialty cookbook store here in Melbourne I use: http://ebooksforcooks.com.au/product/9781742668666 You can buy each chapter individually this way, which would be advantageous if you weren't, for instance, into the Chocolate or Macaron section. I have no idea what the quality of the e-book is, as I haven't seen it, but it's not too expensive to experiment with a chapter.