lebowits

Did you not use apple pectin? I've used both apple pectin and so called "yellow" pectin. Have you diluted the tartaric acid with an equal weight of water and added the proper amount at the end?

Greweling also suggests refrigerating shelled molds for 5 minutes. It's not long enough to "chill" the molds, so condensation isn't a problem. I also put finished molds in to the refrigerator for up to an hour before tapping out the pieces. You can tell when the molds are ready by looking at the underside of the mold and looking for the pieces to pull away from the mold. It's easy to see when this happens. Condensation on the finished pieces can be a problem if the relative humidity is high. If so, then let the pieces come back up to room temp. Following this method gives me a consistently high shine.

I've seen people use a "gun style" blow dryer to move unheated air into the pan while it's tumbling. If you need heat, you can turn on the heating elements in the gun. There are a number of flexible stands for these types of appliances which can be used to position the it as a free standing object.

Ok Steve, maybe I'm being an idiot here, but have been giving your banana ganache a go, and I'm perplexed by the boiling of the dark brown sugar. Are you adding any water to it? If not you are essentially doing a dry caramel, which when I try doesn't really boil it just starts to melt and then burns. Do you have the heat super low? And do you warm the banana/walnut mixture up any because it just seizes the sugar when I add it. Help! yes, it is essentially a dry caramel method. If you have trouble with that, then add a bit of water to even out the heating. It will boil off. It simply adds to the cooking time. On a personal note, I've not used this formula in a while. While I thought it tasted pretty good, it didn't sell very well. Maybe I should try it again. I've also had very good luck with the Boiron ganache and caramel formulas which can be downloaded from their web site. If this doesn't work for you, take a look there and see if they have a banana puree based formula.

I make a ginger caramel replacing the water in my formula with "ginger water" from grating fresh ginger. The flavor persists through the cooking process and is deliciously spicy.

Jenjcook - How long did it take you to place the strips in each cavity? Can you imagine doing that in production? Would you share the source for the food safe adhesive sheets? I'd like to try that!

I have both aluminum and stainless steel bars. I wash all my bars by hand which effectively cuts the corrosion (for the aluminum) to zero. Stainless steel is rather heavy, but it also stays in place. I hold aluminum bars in place by using a bit of tempered chocolate to "glue" them down to my "board" which is also an aluminum sheet cut to size with either parchment or an acetate guitar sheet on top. I also "glue" bars to each other to stack them so they don't move.

Thanks Mjx!

Straight cocoa butter would probably have too strong a "fat" flavor. I suggest that you find some dried, unsweetened coconut and use it to infuse cream. This should give you a very prominent coconut flavor. If that doesn't do the trick, maybe add a bit of coconut puree to the ganache. I'll leave the choice of chocolate up to you. ;-)

Thanks for the tips FrogPrincesse! Sprungli is likely going to get a visit. I won't have time to get to Bern this trip.

I find myself heading to Zurich next week on business and will have about 72 hours in the city. So between client meetings, dinner, etc, I will be on a mission to find excellent chocolate products. Does anyone have any recommendations? There are a few threads going back to about 2006, but nothing recently. Have you been to Zurich? What made you swoon?

Here is a formula/method from a course I took some years ago... Yeast Raised Doughnuts (World's Fair) Water (75F - 80F) 16 oz Yeast 1 oz Eggs 4 oz Sugar 2 oz Milk Powder 2 oz Bread flour 20 oz Pastry flour 12 oz Baking powder 0.5 oz Salt 0.5 oz Nutmeg pinch Emulsified shortening 6 oz Method: Straight dough (prep and mixing time - 15 minutes) Dissolve the yeast in the water, eggs and sugar. Stir to mix. Add the flours, milk powder, baking powder, salt and nutmeg and mix on speed #1 with the dough hook until incorporated. Add shortening and mix on speed #2 for 8 minutes Remove and bulk proof for 30 minutes (proof time will vary according to the amount of yeast used) Cut off a large piece of dough and roll to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut into doughnuts 1.5 oz each Roll out the remaining dough with scraps; let rest, proof 50% (15 - 20 minutes) Fry at 360F - 375F for 4- 5 minutes or until golden brown on both sides Drain, ice with fondant or doughnut glaze (optional)Variation: Jelly doughnuts - use 3 lb. 8 oz. presses

I suspect that this confection is more like a taffy than anything else. The difficulty will be in "pulling" the product before sizing and cutting.

Kerry - Thanks for organizing another fantastic weekend! I always have fun with this group and it I'm never surprised that there are so many things to learn from each other. I do however want to register a complaint that nobody used the "thin" filter on their cameras. I'm going to have to change my name to "Fat Bastard".

I'm sure you would be most welcome. The event itself will be held at Niagara College at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. Hotel information (though the room block is closed) can be found here -> http://forums.egullet.org/topic/142323-planning-2013-candy-and-confection-workshop-april-27-28/page-6#entry1908296

I accidentally ordered far too many scrapers for cleaning excess chocolate off of molds when shelling. I'll bring my extras and if anyone would like one (or more) I'll happily sell them. Cheap. They're actually pretty nice with a wide, slightly flexible blade. In the few weeks I've had them, I've really enjoyed using them.

If you have a dehydrator, put the Badger in there for a while and let it all melt. Then attach it to the compressor and blow it clean. Works like a charm.

No masking in involved. I first spray the green down on one end of the cavity. That is a short burst just to give a small area of color. Then I spray the yellow moving from behind the green towards the center of the cavity. Finally, I spray the white over the whole area. I need to make sure that I cover the rest of the cavity down the sides more completely, but I also don't want to waste cocoa butter given how expensive it is (and not nice tasting). Oh, and the "stripe" is just milk chocolate that I piped across the mold, dropping some in a line through each cavity. I rather like the semi-random nature of the path it takes.

Two pieces to round out my menu for the next few weeks... Bailey's Irish Cream and Lemongrass & Coconut (I need to work on the decoration here a bit, but you get the idea)

To be honest - I had never heard of frappe. I'm not a coffee person and I'm assuming it's a coffee thing?? Can you tell me what it is? ...what the ingredients are? I looked at the ingredients list on the Maison du Chocolat website. None of the ingredients Wybauw listed in his frappe recipes were listed... Frappe is marshmallow cream essentially. Do you have chocolot's book Candymaking? It's called Mazetta in there.Greweling also gives a formula for frappe (in addition to the Wybauw reference already given). In a pinch, commercial marshmallow "fluff" will do.

Actually, it IS the cocoa butter. Gold, in fact (has that nice shiny flake).

Sooo... do you ship to Canada? No, I don't ship to Canada, but I will be at the Niagara workshop in late April. If you're nice, maybe I'll bring some. ;-)

OK. Here they are... Guiness bon bons!

Guess I need to figure out how to attach the image in the new software. G

Guiness bon bons! Of course, one of these things doesn't look like the others!