chocofoodie

Thanks for all the replies! Just to clarify, I put the finished tray of chocolates in the freezer for 2-4 mins just so I can pop them out of the mold. Otherwise, no matter how hard I tap, they won't come out. I only put them in the freezer after they have been filled and capped and they are completely set, not still wet. I'm thinking the tips about standing the molds on edge is for the first step? Is that for when I fill the molds initially? Usually, I pour the chocolate from the machine onto the mold, spread it evenly, tap the mold, then pour it back into the machine's bowl. I flip it upside down and tap it again to get out the rest of the excess and scrape it again, then I leave it to dry upright while I work on the ganache. It's possible the kitchen is to warm. But the chocolate sets well on the tip of a spoon. I'll try the trick about refrigeration and keeping them in the molds for a while before popping them out, maybe that will work out better.

I have a question along this line... I can't seem to get my finished chocolates out of the mold without sticking them in the freezer first. Does this mean there is something wrong with the temper (I use a tempering machine)? If I leave them in the freezer for a few minutes they pop out nicely and they are shiny and have a nice 'snap'. But today I forgot a tray in there for longer and after I popped them out they began to sweat and they lost that nice 'snap'. I'm sure they won't be looking very shiny in the morning either. How do I avoid this? It's such a shame to do all that work and then lose temper trying to get the chocolates out of the mold!

Hi Everyone, I've been on a long break from chocolate making and have tried to plunge back in with Grewling's caramel cream filling (p. 210) today. I ended up with two batches of caramel cream filling, the first being a nice dark color, like the picture and the second being really light. So the dark one I made first tasted bitter so I figured somewhere in the process I must have burnt the sugar. So I tried again but this time I guess I didn't cook the sugar enough. The second one is also not as fluid as the first. Do you think I can cook it some more to get a deeper more caramel like flavor? Grewling advises to add more cream if it's not fluid enough, but how do I do that? Do I need to reheat it all and then add more cream? Anyone know what temperature the sugar should get to so I can achieve a caramel cream filling like Grewling's photo? Thanks!!

It's definitely fat bloom, not sugar bloom. I was able to ultimately melt it by taking it out of the melter and working on it in tiny clumps in a bain marie. Next step is to see if it will temper.

Do you end up adding more cocoa butter to the chocolate? Since my last post I have ordered http://www.amazon.co.uk/Streamline-uxp030630-Kontrol-Moisture-Trap/dp/B00354PZGM/ref=sr_1_25?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1321044621&sr=1-25 and a basic hygrometer. Hopefully this will help.

Thank you so much for all your help everyone. So now I know: 1. Don't keep the boxes near the oven. 2. Dont buy pellets! 3. Get a hygrometer. Wow, and I just thought the chocolate was too old. That's why I love this forum!

I will try to upload pictures. They are pellets, it's not a slab. It's a 5 kilo box of the Cocoa Barry Lactee Superieure 38.2 % Pistoles. The box is almost finished, I was making these chocolates to finish it off so I can buy a new one. The dates on the box are: Prod. Date: 20-08-2009 and Best Before 20-02-2011. I would characterise the fat bloom as excessive. It's the first time I have tried to work with it in this condition. I don't know if it bloomed because of proximity to the oven, because of age, or some other factor. Just to make a point though, the white chocolate is stored in the same cupboard and also had the "resistance to melting" problem before this problem was in the milk chocolate, and it doesn't have noticeable bloom.

The chocolate did bloom. Could this be the fat leaving that someone mentioned?

Exactly, it's a heavy sludge! Oh no! But it didn't get wet at all, I am positive. I know conditions in that cupboard are not ideal, it's near the oven, but it has never gotten wet. The white was the same a couple of months back. I will have to test the dark. This was the milk. It's Cocoa Barry.

How does that happen? As far as I know, it is dry. The place it is stored is completely dry. But it might sometimes get warm.

Hey all, I was wondering what happens to couverture when it gets old? I've put couverture into my tempering machine but it's resisting melting if that makes any sense. Is this because it's old or is this because of improper storage? I also tried melting the chocolate in a bain marie it is also not right.

I was thinking the idea would be similar to making chocolate curls. But I see the problem of getting them out of the cutter. Would something like this stuff work? echocorango.blogspot.com/2010/­08/cake-decorated-with-modelin­g-chocolate.html

Hi all, I was wondering if anyone has tried these with chocolate? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Veined-Cutters-Plungers-Sugarcraft-byFlissyTM/dp/B004S2PNQ2/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1320095390&sr=8-7 If so, how did you use them? I imagine spreading a thin layer of chocolate on cellophane, waiting for it to cool a bit and pressing these into it? Would it work you think?

Thanks everyone for the tips! I'm going to give it a shot today and will report back!

Do you mean like make an almond marzipan and dip it?

I'm looking for a filling for a milk chocolate pralines, not like almond bark or something like that.

Hi everyone, I've had a request for a molded confection made of milk chocolate and almonds. I thought it was a pretty simple basic combination. Then I realised that I never use either milk chocolate or almonds! and I started panicing! Can anyone recommend a good recipe? I was thinking of mixing fondant with almond oil and some chopped almonds, but my fondant is a bit on the hard side and I wanted a filling that was softer, more gooey. Any ideas? Thanks!!!!!

The caramels are delicious! I caramelized the sugar first because I wanted a deeper flavor. As for the end result, the flavor was exactly what I was after, but they were a little harder than I would have liked. I am sure that is because I cooked them on low for so long and still brought them up to 248. Next time either I will higher the temperature to cook them faster, or I will still cook them on low but aim for a lower temperature. Thanks for the recipe.

I tried your caramels tammy and they worked!!! yay!! i've just left them to set, so not sure how they will turn out. But I had a question: I let it simmer at the lowest temp so I had to wait a long time for it to reach 248. I read once that if you bring a caramel to temp slowly, you need to bring it to a lower temp than if you bring it to temp quickly. Is this true? and if so, what's that lower temp? I did do something differently than the recipe. I didn't add the water right away. I caramelized the sugar first and then added the glucose then the water and cream. Oh and I added vanilla to the cream. I think next time I will try caramelizing the glucose and sugar together. Thanks!

What heat do you cook the caramel on?

I thought it was the thermometer too. So I tried inserting another one, a probe style one for cream, and it had the same read. How long is it supposed to take to get to thread? and I didn't heat the milk or cream before adding it in, could that be part of the problem? I halved Grewling's recipe, but the tiny bit of muck I had at the end couldn't be the actual amount I'm supposed to end up with after halving, could it?

Hi all, I tried making salted caramels for the first time in a long time yesterday and it was a disaster. The recipe was grewlings fresh dairy one, with milk and cream. Strangely, the sugar and milk mixture never went past 100 degrees. But instead it started to reduce and burn. and in his recipe, he has you add the glucose later. Any tips on how to make this work? I can't imagine that the problem was the timing of the glucose?

Thanks for the advice! I was worried that working it might be bad, like over mixing ganache or something. I don't know how I might have overcooked it, I took it off before it even reached 117, but maybe my candy thermometer is off.

So, I made fondant yesterday (based on Grewlings recipe) and it turned out rock hard. I was aiming for a soft fondant, so didnt wait until it reached 117 degrees. This is not the first time I've made fondant, but I realised that I wasn't agitating it enough because usually I would stop once it became opaque, but it would still be runny. So this time I kept going. Now it's solid. I wet my hands and took a tiny amount and worked it in my hands and it did become more pliable. Should I continue and do that with all of it? Or will it have an adverse effect like it will develop mold or something?

Ok... so I tried again, this time paying close attention to what I was doing. I opened the window slightly so the freezing cold air could keep the room cool. I kept to the manufacturers temperatures during tempering. I didn't touch the bottom of the wells. I left it to sit for 15 mins before I put it in the fridge for 15 mins before I turned them out. Voila! They were all the same, all shiny. I'm not sure what exactly was the problem before. It could have been all of the things mentioned. I don't know, I just hope that I can achieve this consistently. Thanks everyone for your advice and help!