lebowits
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Posts posted by lebowits
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I too have suffered from less than beautiful results on far too many occasions. No pics yet, but wait for it; they'll come.
One of the phenomena I've routinely experienced, especially when molding plain chocolate shells (e.g. bittersweet 74%) is that some of the cavities come out looking stunning, while others have a dull finish. The cavities in the mold have been treated pretty much identically during my use and cleaning/polishing.
Is it likely that I either abused the molds in some way to get this or that perhaps some of the cavities weren't perfectly smooth to begin with?
I'm considering ordering a new set just to see what I can get out of them.
Steve, were you able to figure out why this happens? I have the exact same issue. And I have had it happen with brand new molds, so it's not because I've abused the molds.
I tried an experiment recently of spraying a few of my molds with plain cocoa butter. The pieces came out with a near mirror finish. I don't think this is sustainable simply due to the cost of cocoa butter. I did buy some new molds for my larger heart pieces and frankly, I'm getting good results. I believe that most of my issues related to the temper of the chocolate and how I prevent excess heat build up in the cavities as the chocolate crystallizes.
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I too have suffered from less than beautiful results on far too many occasions. No pics yet, but wait for it; they'll come.
One of the phenomena I've routinely experienced, especially when molding plain chocolate shells (e.g. bittersweet 74%) is that some of the cavities come out looking stunning, while others have a dull finish. The cavities in the mold have been treated pretty much identically during my use and cleaning/polishing.
Is it likely that I either abused the molds in some way to get this or that perhaps some of the cavities weren't perfectly smooth to begin with?
I'm considering ordering a new set just to see what I can get out of them.
Steve, were you able to figure out why this happens? I have the exact same issue. And I have had it happen with brand new molds, so it's not because I've abused the molds.
I tried an experiment recently of spraying a few of my molds with plain cocoa butter. The pieces came out with a near mirror finish. I don't think this is sustainable simply due to the cost of cocoa butter. I did buy some new molds for my larger heart pieces and frankly, I'm getting good results. I believe that most of my issues related to the temper of the chocolate and how I prevent excess heat build up in the cavities as the chocolate crystallizes.
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First time posting any of my work.
Those are white shell chocolates with fresh ginger, key lime, candied orange and a bit of Limoncello liquor infused in a dark chocolate ganache.
Decoration is a spraying of cocoa butter over the frozen chocolates. It creates that velvety look.
Cheers!
Very Cool! (pun intended)
Those are really beautiful. Have you used this decorating technique before? How does it hold up over time?
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If you do try to repair it by adding a bit of milk or other liquid, try using an immersion blender to "stir" it in. The high speed blade should create a much more stable emulsion.
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Monumental FAIL!
These were the liquor centres, not the cordials, so they do need to be turned to even out the shell. I left some unturned and this morning they are leaking just as badly as the others.
Experiments will continue.
I only vaguely remember doing these with Chef Greweling. I do remember when I did them with Chef Wybauw that we let them setup overnight. We still had to treat them delicately the next morning when we started dipping them.
I suspect that pouring the syrup into molded shells and letting that setup overnight would also produce a nice result.
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Well for the scaling, this is what I would do:
9x9=81
18x26=468
square root of 81=9
square root of 468=21.63
21.63/9=2.40
So for a recipe that is made to fit into a 9x9 pan, it needs to be scaled 2.40 times, or just 2.5 for simplicity's sake. I'm not pastry chef, nor am I good with math, so if anyone knows an easier way I'd like to know.
Not all formulas scale linearly. Sometimes you have to tweak the liquid and/or fat. If you've not seen it, find a copy of "The Bakers Manual" by Joseph Amendola. One volume (linked) contains 150 master formulas both scaled for production and for "single, home kitchen" batches. This has been one of my "go to" books for years. The companion volume is a tutorial on the various products.
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maybe not quite showroom, but the best I can manage...
Those are beautiful. I'd sell those! I especially like the "egg". What are the flavors? Is the 3 layer piece "Trifection"?
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Excellent!
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There always seems to be a piece or two that gets in the way of the mold when I'm banging the last few stuck ones out....also known as samples for the chef
I think we've all had that happen. I'm always a bit saddened when a piece suicides by dropping out of the mold just as I'm starting my down stroke to bang it out.
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And, of course, I am interested in the caramel apple. How did you make that?
Tikidoc - I made this piece because I liked yours so much at the eG workshop. I bought some of the boiled cider jam from Woods Cider Mill after you posted the link on the workshop thread. Here is the formula I came up with.
200g sugar
20g glucose
200g boiled cider jelly (this could also be just about any fruit puree)
160g white chocolate
30g cocoa butter
60g butter
1/4 tsp cinnamon
40g apple liquer (I used Apfelkorn)
Place the white chocolate and cocoa butter in a bowl and set aside
Cook the sugar and glucose together until they caramelize to a medium golden color
Add the apple cider jelly and stir to melt and incorporate into the caramel
Let the caramel cool to about 150F and pour over the chocolate/cocoa butter in the bowl. Stir to incorporate and melt the chocolate completely.
Add the cinnamon and stir to incorporate completely.
Let the mixture cool to 90F and add the butter. Stir to incorporate completely.
Add the apple liquer and incorporate.
Let the mixture cool to room temperature before piping into prepared milk chocolate shells. The caramel should be pipable without being runny.
Seal the shells and unmold when ready.
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Steve, that's quite a selection of chocolates! They all look great.
Which are your top sellers? Do your clients ever make requests for other chocolates?
Thanks! I'm very happy with this selection. I tend to keep certain pieces season after season; For example the Fleur de Sel Caramel, Milk Chocolate Truffle, Creme Brulee, Peanut Butter Cup, and Heart of Darkness. These consistently sell. The other pieces I tend to replace with other pieces I've done over the years, or with new pieces. The Caramel Apple is a variation of the apple caramel that someone brought to the eG workshop a few months ago. Where the piece we had at the workshop was a firm caramel, I chose to do a softer, more liquid caramel and put it in a milk chocolate shell. I do on occasion have people ask me about specific flavors. Last year I did the "Habano" from Greweling. It didn't sell terribly well, but it did have a small, dedicated following. My first week back at the market this year, someone asked me about it. Fortunately, I had modified the Hot Chocolate to incorporate a bit of cayenne pepper in the ganache and that made the customer happy. I also have requests for coconut pieces on occasion. I did a few of those over the years (Greweling's "Cocomel" being one). I figure though that I keep interest higher by changing things up from time to time. I've updated my signs on the display table so it's easier to change things out.
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They all look great, Steve! I'm most intrigued by the Creme Brulee - what is inside?
The Creme Brulee is a white chocolate ganache flavored with several vanilla beans and a bit of cognac. There are a number of options for adding even more flavor to this one. You could add a bit of ground hard crack caramel to each piece which would further enhance the "brulee" flavor. You could also add a bit of jam. It's a wonderful piece and has proven very popular over time. It remains one of my strong sellers.
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Steve- everything looks amazing!!! My favorite is the passion fruit heart, I'm a sucker for pink
I have to admit that I stole the pink design from Ruth. It was just too good to leave alone.
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It's been a while since I've shared photos of my own work so here are a few...
This picture shows the 15 different pieces I'm currently making for my "Spring 2012 Menu".
From Left to Right: Hot Chocolate, Orange Blossom Special, Creme Brulee, Mocha, Tropical Paradise
From Left to Right: Cherry Bomb, Milk Chocolate Truffle, Caramel Apple, Heart of Darkness, Fleur de Sel Caramel
From Left to Right: Passionate Heart, Toasted Hazelnut Cup, Mint Meltaway, Champagne Truffle, Peanut Butter Cup
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Put me in as tentative +1 depending upon dates and production needs. Looking forward to another visit!
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After everything I saw and learned in the conference, I had to get around to buy an airbrush, and start playing!
I went to our local Michaels store and saw that they were all in clearance
. I bought the 2 possible models, and am trying to decide which to keep- one is a Badger 350- $20, single action/external mix, and the other is Badger Crescendo 175- $45, that is dual action, internal mix, and has a fine and larde paint tip. Is the dual action needed for chocolates?
For spraying cocoa butter, will the internal mix even work?
From the 350 specification, I can't understand what paint tip it has (fine? large?), are they both ever used?
I was using a Badger 175 during my demo at the conference. As long as your cocoa butters are warm and you warm up the brush prior to first use, you should be fine. You may need to hit the brush with a heat gun (or hair dryer if that is what you have) in case it gets too cool.
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Might need to check with the school about whether she'd be allowed, there might be liability concerns or some such.
Didn't Kerry's young protoge Kyle join us the first year in Niagra?
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I've used IR thermometers for a variety of candy making projects, but I've read that these do not do well with "clear" liquids (e.g. water, clear sugars).
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Back in 2009 I posted on this thread that I had a 'toy' in the garage with all the sinks and stainless tables and was going to tell you about it when I got it set up.
I picked this up from a fellow who had bought it at auction from a company in Texas that had gone out of business. He decided he didn't need it for his business so opted to sell it. I got it for a really good price - the Selmi, the enrober and an EZ Fill Depositor. The EZ Fill has gone to a good home which helped defray the shipping cost of the unit. I learned a lot about how to transport large expensive objects cross border!
Well here we are in 2012 and I'm finally there! Those round tuits are hard to get your hands on. The delay was waiting for the hubby to apply himself to the 220 wiring, the 3 phase converter, the various controls and boxes on the electrical room wall and finally getting it cleaned up and working. Fortunately there is very little that is mechanical, electrical or electronic that he can't get running if there is any hope for it at all.
The sucker was filthy - inside and out. He ran gallons of water through the cooling system - finally stopped getting black after a couple of days. When we put the first batch of chocolate in to clean out the old stuff that was still under the bowl - we couldn't get any chocolate to come up through the spout - after taking it apart again he discovered the auger was running backwards and was so gummed with old chocolate that he had to take that whole part apart and clean it thoroughly. Not easy as this is one of the first models that doesn't have the easily removable auger.
Turned out that the main circuit board was frapped and needed to be replaced at the cost of about a grand, and I purchased a new tailing bar for the enrober as the original is damaged and that causes it to squeak.
I also had to purchase a goodly amount of food grade ethylene glycol as a coolant.
So on Friday I had Kyle and his mom over to see it in action. Kyle was my youngest student ever - he was 9 when he first came to learn - we had to put a stool beside the counter so he could reach. He's almost 15 now - still making chocolate - and doesn't need the stool anymore. Those who have attended the chocolate conferences will remember him. A small bundle of energy! He was totally in agreement with enrobing oreos and the home made Snicker's bars.
As you can see there is still a fair bit I need to learn about balancing the speed of the chain, blow of the blower, tap of the tapper and height of the tailing bar to perfect the bottoms on various size and shaped pieces. One size does not fit all for sure.
The temper in this thing is perfect! I still had 5 kg or so of chocolate in the unit - so later in the evening I started working on my easter moulds. Several moulds that I've had a lot of trouble with breakage before came out perfectly! That was very exciting let me tell you. I love the idea of limitless tempered chocolate when I start on a large project like Easter or Christmas 3D mould production. I rescued my two huge bunny moulds from Niagara College yesterday - so they are next.
I am so jealous there simply isn't a word for it.
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I'd love it if we could post recipes from the conference, as a reference. There were lots of things that I tasted and would love to make, but since I could not be in two places at once, I didn't get the recipes. And there were some great fillings that people came up with on the spot, like the raspberry caramel and Bob's whiskey ganache. I'd also love to be able to recreate the blueberry ganache (Chris) and the lemon curd ganache (Kerry).
I checked with site admin as to if I should start a new thread or post here, and was told to post here.
So, I'll start. I brought an apple pie caramel with me that seemed well received, and a couple people asked for the recipe. This is fairly soft at room temp (dipable), but not runny, so adjust as needed to get the texture you want. I'm still figuring out how to do that. I assume I would decrease the final temp if I wanted to use it as a filling that could be piped when cool?
Chocoera suggested that this, with graham crackers, dipped in milk chocolate, would be yummy. I'm thinking maybe with shortbread and chocolate.
½ cup apple cider jelly*
¾ cup heavy cream
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon fleur de sel or kosher salt
1 ½ cups sugar
¼ cup light corn syrup
¼ cup water
Combine jelly, cream, butter, vanilla, cinnamon and salt and heat until jelly melts most of the way.
Combine sugar, corn syrup, water and sugar and heat until it begins to caramelize.
Add the cream mixture to the sugar, stir and heat to 248F. Pour.
*http://woodscidermill.com/PRODUCTS/CiderJelly.html, this is just cider boiled until it turns into a jelly. I love this stuff on lots of things, like toast, or in a marinade for pork.
So, anyone else?
Jess
Jess - I for one loved your apple cider caramel and plan on giving it a try. When you pour it, approximately what size frame (or pan) do you pour it into and approximately what thickness is the slab when poured?
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At this point we split up and the more hands-on stuff began. I'll begin with Steve's work on the Mint Patties. These are basically fondant, mint, and invertase, enrobed in dark chocolate. Absolutely fantastic mint flavor. Steve heated the concoction up to 160°F (I think that was the temp, right Steve?):
Then into a double-pastry-bag for piping into circle forms:
However, since Steve has "pastry hands" and that bag was hot, the job got handed off to Rob (who has "grill hands") to finish while the rest of us critiqued his form:
These set up for a few hours:
And then get dipped the same day, before the invertase has a chance to liquify them too much to handle:
You are absolutely correct. Heat the fondant to 160F. If it's not fluid enough to pipe, add just enough liquid (water or spirits if the mood suits). Too much liquid will prevent the fondants from hardening again. I'd give you a rule of thumb on quantity, but it really depends on the fondant. The commercial fondant I used previously always needed liquid. The fondant I made and used during the demo needed no liquid at all.
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Having missed last years event I was really looking forward to this weekend. I wasn't disappointed. Of course, the highlight is getting to meet so many people that share our passion and to put faces (and real names) with the eG handles everyone posts under.
There was simply so much going on, there was no way to be bored. Demos from Joe, Kerry, Rob, and even my own humble efforts with air brushing. Of course, we all wanted to make things and it amazed me to see the buffet at the end of the weekend.
Before all that beautiful product was out on display we had to start with our traditional Sharing of all things Chocolate" on Friday night. What a wonderful way to meet and greet "old friends" for the first (or perhaps 2nd or 3rd) time. Not that a little wine and cheese didn't make more than token appearances
Joe Sofia made his first appearance and demoed making both a molded bon bon (Bananas Foster) and a slabbed bon bon (Carrot Cake).
For what I believe may have been an eG Workshop first, Rob C (gfron1) constructed with a little help from many contributors a showpiece appropriate to the time of year (St. Patrick's Day).
Of course, with Easter not too far off, we had to have at least one bunny appearance.
Big thanks to RobertM for organizing not just a wonderful event, but also a great venue. Stratford University was a gracious host and an excellent facility.
I'm sure we'll see much more from others who attended.
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Any chance we'll have alcohol/liquor/liqeur for formulating ganache or should we get a few staples (Gran Marnier, Creme de Cacao, rum, etc.?
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I received some new heart molds I ordered from JB Prince. After wiping them out I made a champagne gananche to fill dark chocolate shells. They came out pretty shiny. No cocoa butter, just straight chocolate.
Wybauw Buttercream
in Pastry & Baking
Posted
For some time I've been wanting to make a "creme" center that I can flavor. From my research I've found that there isn't much written on the subject. One friend gave me a formula/method for making a fondant based center, but I'm not yet satisfied with my results.
Continuing my research, I went back and found a formula/method in "Fine Chocolates 2" by JP Wybauw. On p. 182, he has a formula labeled "Butter cream" which is as follows:
On the next page, he has a product called "Rum Cream in Ganache Cuvettes" in which he states:
Several things I'd like to open for discussion here:
Has anyone worked with anything like this? Any thoughts on the shelf life? I figure it can't be any worse than my other cream based ganache products and I plan to seal it in a shell. So as long as I don't trap air I would expect to get about 6 - 8 weeks.
Comments, suggestions, warnings?