Lior

This is a new problem for me. It has always been okay up until this crucial week-of course. I use valrhona or callebaut and it is tempered but hard. Then I pour the cream over it and it melts. When they say tempered chocolate for ganache do they mean at working temp? I will check Greweling out. I used to have the opposite problem. Maybe Quetzalcoatl (the chocolate god) is mad at me lately!!

This is what I did! It got really hard even out of the fridge after a few hours. I microwaved for 20 seconds and it was still mostly hard and cold. I then did 10 secs another 10 secs and even though it was still too hard it had already begun to show signs of oily curdling about to happen. I use usually 250ml cream, 230g dark choc, a tablesppon of invert and a tablespoon of butter and sometimes up to 5 tbl of liqueur. This is more or less my usual basic ganache. It usually works for me...

Hello! Well we are having a cold spell here- it must be about 14C outside. Now this may be spring for some of you, but for us it is cooooold!! I am having ganache problems. I do 1:1 more or less for ganache to fill my pralines, but now it hardens much too much and cannot be piped. It is messy! I tried various methods of carefully and slowly warming it which usually results in curdled, nearly curdled or kind of slimy weird looking ganache. How do you deal with this problem? Does anyone want to rescue me?! Thanks!

Oh! Yes I will do that!! Thank you. Those are yours after all!!

yes, that would be ideal. I thought to establish a bit of a clientele, see if it works and then look for renting a professional place. Everything here is complicated! Probably like in Italy! In the states everytihng is so well greased and no place for nonsense.

Yes! That is also why I thought to mix the caramel with chocolate and then coat with dark. The thing is that there are often people who like milk chocolate or even white chocolate. I made white chocolate swans filled with caramel (I know...) and white chocolate filled with plain white choc vanilla ganache. Each to their own... I like dark!

Well that is a problem as the regulations are crazy. I need 150sq meters, 7 sinks, fire regulations, a storage room a room for the staff to eat (!) etc. So as this is not feasible right now. I guess I am illegal!! Most of the chocolatiers here are in the same situation and the health dept just ignores it as they don't even have enough budget or manpower to do what they should in bigger operations. There is no legal option for a really small producer as the laws are old, from pre 1948! I am conscientous of what I can be-health wise and all. What do you all do? DOes everyone have health licenses? Some chocolatiers here have but very few. And thanks for the pig mold search!!!!!!

Wow you guys make a gal feel good! I will not give up! I hate every little air hole that I find! But from every mistake I learn how to do it better. There is nowhere here for me to learn so it is trial and error. yesterday I did darks with Valrhona Manjari- which I love! It is so complex! Everytime I taste it differently! The ones in the picture. The butterfly: dark and milk chocolate with cream infused with jasmine green tea. The double hearts: caramel without spatulas (I think it is too sweet...) The heart : milk chocolate with vanilla bean infused cream and some Navon (vanilla brandy) The "teardrop/paisley" : white chocolate with cream, praline and some Frangelico The square: Milk chocolate mint ganache The cameo: milk chocolate Earl Grey infused cream The mouse - milk chocolate and praline I have an English version of what is written on my box so I will attach it for whoever was interested if someone can tell me howto attach a file! Thanks for everything and the support-badly needed!!

Tri2cook- your Olive me is amazing! Absolutely gorgeous! And Jumanggy your plated dessert is art! I wish I could taste it-ohhhh!! It is my style!! Fanny, your floretins are just lovely! They are so perfect!! If I could live my life over I would become a pastry chef!! The beauty of all your desserts really does something to me. I could just look and look!! (well if I could I would eat and eat!!)

Hi! Well it has been fun but difficult. I was desperate to leave my teaching job of 21 years for most of those years! Eventually I took a leave of absence this year and just"jumped" into the sea. I have had many sleepless nights- is it the right move? WIll it work? WIll it affect the family's general standard of living? Etc. But I felt I would regret it at a later age - that is if I chickened out and didn't give it a try. The "lab" is in our basement/bomb shelter of about 20sq meters which is small. But it is enough. I did not want to take the leap of renting a real place yet. I had 4 stainless steel tables made- which was not very expensive. So now we have to be patient and slowly hope the business will build itself. I don't want it to be big, just nice and small and bring in a salary to replace my measly teacher's one-which here is extremely low. That would make me satisfied. If you want to you should try it too!! We only have one short chance at this life!!

Thanks so much to all for all the encouragement! I should make a poster of the failure pictures for my lab!! When I was feeling very very frustrated one evening after a "defective" session my little girl said to me, "Don't feel bad, mama, I am sure Jean Pierre had days like this, too!! And besides, you have me!!" So I said, "You know what? You are absolutely right!!" (hugs kisses, etc followed, of course!)

with the ganches and caramels of different types? I heard somewhere that the pros smush it all together to make a new "ganache"- hodgepodge ganache!! Un the meantime everyone walks by and munches, esp hubby who shouldn't!!

Okay so the bovine is from Williger and each box has 2 packets of14 grams, so 28 grams total. (www.neto.org.il)

Thanks for the caramel chocolate recipe for pralines! You are so kind and thoughtful to share!

How funny!!! I also thought that pigs would be hilarious here!!! It would be funny!! I have all sorts of animals for the children;s line - and that includes the Peter Pans among us.

Well, the pigs are actually fat mice!! The moulds are from Mol D'Art in Belgium. I mostly use Valrhona. This lot is Equatoriale Lactee and the white is Fruibel. I am glad to hear that it is not just me. Everyone's chocolate always looks so perfect and professional that I get mad at myself. Well thanks!!

How kind! Thank you!!

Well I felt fine until I realized what I ate and then the psychosomatic nausea set in!! We live and learn! Yes that is my packaging-thanks !!

I have been very busy preparing for my first chocolate festivals-one on Thurs and Friday of next week and one of 3 days at the end of the month. It has been very difficult making such huge quantities- I am quite new at all this. I have had too many failures. I forgot to rewipe the molds after emptying out the chocolate and then set them upside down on my caramel bars to drip a bit out-just in case, so horrible thickish rims appeared and well, you can figure the rest out. Another disaster was making caramel yesterday, using what I thought was a silicone spatula. The caramel had kind of crystalized on it as I was pouring it into some peanut butter. Everything became crackly and strange looking. So I decided to taste what appeared to be a new creation - crackly peanut butter. It tasted weird. I knew I couldn't use it so I tossed it and began washing up, only to discover half a spatula! So yes, I ate my spatula. I didn't know whether to cry or laugh, but then burst out laughing. Chocolate is taking over my life!

My little business has opened a few months ago. Here is a few pics of my "lab"- sorry it is such a mess- been a very busy two weeks.

I have 3 kinds at home: Williger 100% kosher bovine gelatin for passover and all year round customer line - 1-80050-40-50 Na'aman Also passover and all year-le-mahadrin parve :08-9439858 08-9210301 - Homel - fish gelatin I can try calling if you would like.

My caramel emulsion broke last week when I was looking for a recipe if anyone recalls. When I added the butter to the syrup mixture. I added a few squirts of lemon and that pretty much saved my caramel. I am also looking for a chocolate caramel but as a filling for pralines.

Thank you for the pictures! It was really nice to see and read the explanations. Very kind of you and greatly appreciated by me!

I have never used the white molds, but you are so right!

So long as they are polycarbonate they should be fine. To begin with I would go for some standard shapes as they are easier to fill-especially ovals or rounds. A heart, a round one with a swirl (@) on the top, an oval, like the cameo for ex, and if it is just plain then you can decorate it a bit.