renam

I have Marcel Death by Chocolate book and have tried a couple of cakes and they turned out great. I took one the a mystery dinner and it was a hit....

I think it may depend on the chocolate you use as well. I was going to use milk chocolate. Semi sweet might clash with salty I don't know. I'll have to try it see. The only thing is I'm not a big fan of real crispy bacon. I like mine right before it goes to cirspy....The caramel thing sounds good too. Geez there so much you can do with chocolate these days.....I'll let you all know how it went.....

Well how about Turkey bacon would that be ok for your wife?

Ok that's great. I think I'll experiement this weekend.. So the more crispy the longer the shelf life... Thanks Rena

Last night on the FoodNetwork Micheal Symon did chocolate covered bacon on Dinner Impossible segment. I guess he's the new host. Anyway, everyone loved it. Has anyone done this before? I'm thinking of doing it for the Holidays. I'm worried about the shelf life though. Would probably have to do it on a made to order and not in advance.... Any thoughts? Thanks, Rena

I'm blocked from seeing the recipe here at work. I'll have to get if from home tonight. Thanks Rena

I'm making a Carrot Cake for my friend at work. I haven't made one since oh geezzzzz ummmm 1988? maybe. Is there anything I should be aware of or anything I can do to the recipe to make it better.? there's 6 cups of carrot raisens Walnuts and then the average ingredient; eggs, flour, baking soda, etc. or if anyone has a really good recipe please post it. I got the one I'm trying from allrecipes.com . Thanks in advance Rena

Thank Lior for all the pics and recipes. I'm taking a class here in Calif in Oct at the San Francisoc Baking Institute. It's Called Gourmet Confection. I hope it's like your class. The instructors are going to make all the centers and then we will fill or hand dip them. I can't wait. It's a 5 day course. The emphises will be on tempering the chocolate and all that goes with it... Thanks again for the info Rena

Wow congrats on your festival and new baby. Those box's look like a great way to store you chocolates for traveling. Thanks for the tips. I'll have to check those out. What brand of razzle dust to you use on the leaf chocolate? I think there are the maple leaf? not sure.

Thanks Kerry and thanks for tidbit about using cocoa butter instead of white chocolate. That's good to know.

Hello everyone! I just ordered Razzel Dust to color my molds with. I've never done this before and I know there is a thread out there about it but I thought I'd just go ahead ask anyway. What is the best way to work with this? It says you can add vodka and make a mix and then apply to molded chocolates or the molds itself. Can I add it to white chocoalte (cocoa butter) and then apply it to the molds? I ordered from yourchocolateshop.com. I have raspberry, blue, copper and bronze. My church is have a 'Chocolate Sunday' coming up Mothers Day weekend where everyone brings something chocolate and I wanted to bring some molded chocolates with the razzel dust on the chocolates. Thanks in advance for your input... Rena

Wow Chris those look great. I have his book to but havne't jumped in yet. I need to order the bars. Where did you get you dipping tools from? the ones I have were given to me from Chocovison when I orderd the little itty bitty melter which i don't like. Thanks your all your input... Rena

Thanks Tami for your question. I've been trying to find and buttercream filling recipe for years for chocolate centers. If you are interested there is a course being offered at the San Francisco Baking institute called 'Gourmet Continenatal Chocolates'. It's a one week course being offered by Richardson Reserches who have in the past done the course on the UC Davis Campus but they are renovating the building they normally use and this year only it's at the SFBI. It's $1925.00 but well worth it in my opinion. It's from Oct 6 thru 10. Some of the confections covered will be Raspberry Noyau, Butter Pecan Cream, Strawberry Cream, Orange Almond Nougat, Brandied Cherry, Guanduja Truffle, English Toffee, Krokant, Mocha Triangle, Amandines, to name a few. They give you the recipes to all the confections and you take home the chocolates you make. Let me know if you want more info and I can give the link to you all here.

Hi Loir, I fogot to ask you where did you get your hedgehog molds from? Those are so cute!! Thanks, Rena

Lior, Those look fantastic! I applauded you I know the frustation you went through in making your chocolates I've read pretty much all your post. I too am a grad from Ecole and to see how you have advanced yourself it's just amazing. One day I hope to be there but without a working space it's impossible to do the things I really want to do. I do some things but not what my heart really wants to do with chocolate. Hats off to you!! Bravo Bravo!!! Keep up the good work. Rena

Thanks Kerry, I acutually added frest mint leaves the first time I made fondant but I had to put it thru a strainer because the chopped leaves were to big and I was worried that it would spoil. So I strained it (very labor intensive) and I was left with little speckles of green which was perfect. I'm not sure if I want to go thru that again with the straining. You mentioned Mint Oil where did you order it from? Thanks, Rena

Hey Robert, Is it in San Francisco this year? Rena

I have a question. I made Peter Grewlings fondant over the holidays and it's a really good reciepe. I had not problem making it. I did separate it to make different flavors. I used the mint extract for one flavor and the powdered raspberry from Sweet celebration for the other flavor. Once I put them in the mold and tasted one it was good. Good flavor for both batche's. But as time went on it seemed to lose the potency of the flavor. Is there something I missed or did wrong? I added the flavor after it 'ripened' overnight. Then I re-heated it and added the flavors. Thanks in advance Rena

Lior, I did the same thing too over the holidays. I forgot to wipe my molds. It's just part of being a chocolatier. Some days are great and other days everything just goes to pot! Your pigs are so cute where did you get the molds from? and what brand of chocolate are you using? Thanks and have fun at the festival Rena

Thanks Desiderio, I'm hoping they have a website. I'll google it and see. Have fun this weekend I know I will be molding dark chocolate for orders I'm getting. Rena

Desiderio, Your chocolates look amazing and your box's are great too. Do you mind if I asked you were you sourced your box's from? I'm looking to get my logo on box's after the first of the year but haven't found a good box company. Thanks, Rena

Since the Thanksgiving Day weekend I've been knee deep in chocolate confections. I've made about 250 pecan/caramel turltes from Elaine Gonzales Book, I made raspberry fondant and more mint fondant, Marshmallow with cinnanmon, Peanut Butter Crisp dipped in Semi and Milk chocolate, Molded Chocolate with Caramel centers, Coconut centers, geez what else. That's it for now. My Little Dipper has been on more than off lately. It like the energizer bunny it keeps going and going and going. I'm having a blast!! I just love working with chocolate. Hope everyone else is having fun baking and making whatever too...... Happy Holidays Everyone!! Rena

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and there is no McRib here. Bummer. It was around quite a few years ago but not now. What about there Ice Coffee? Not bad on a hot summer day. Although summer has past it was good when I picked one up in Sept.

That looks so good at 7:06 in the morning. All I have is a banana here at work. Where are you getting your recipes from? Do you have your own business or is this just something you do all the time? Rena

Thanks I will check out Tomric. I did like the one on Pastrychef. I looks like it built well but if you have one and it's not working that great than I will take you word. Thanks again and thank you Gfron1 for the merged topic. Rena