mostlylana

Wow, you guys are amazing! I love your bowls Kerry and Ilana - and I love your tulips Tammy. I think they look better with uneven petals! I can't wait to see more... how exciting!

HA! I knew you'd come up with something Kerry! Well done!!! What a great video - can't wait to try it. I think it will have to wait until after mother's day - I just have too many ideas in my head...

I'm glad you're on board Kerry. Now I KNOW we'll get our answer!

Oh my gosh - what an amazing video!! Thank you so much for sharing. I like what he said at the beginning: 'start simple and then evolve'... But, of course, I want to do the most intricate RIGHT NOW! Does anyone have an idea of how he does the faded petal like design on the inside of the bowls? And isn't that sponge dipped in gold a wonderful idea. The gold lines he made on the outside of that bowl looked so classy. He's right - the people in this business are so lucky!

I'm not an expert but have some knowledge of food science being a home ec. teacher. Fat shouldn't be an issue with your diabetic friend (if eaten in moderation!) Just like protein helps to regulate blood sugar - fat also helps to slow absorption of sugars into the bloodstream. What you're making is, after all, a treat - not to be eaten in large quantities! I would recommend gianduja. So good. And again you have the protein. Yum. It's a wonderful thing you're doing. I'm sure she will appreciate it so much. Have fun!

Apparently so - that's why it's important to get an oilless compressor.

I did the Ecole Chocolat online course and the Italy program is one of their Master programs available to take after the completion of the basic program. We visited and worked with several chocolatiers - Paul DeBondt being one of them (and the best in my opinion )

He puts them in the cooler to set. His workshop is rather humble considering the masterpieces he does. You can almost tell he was a 'starving artist' for a time! Up until recently, his 'melter' was an old fridge that he rigged with a lightbulb and a fan. He'd put pots of chocolate in there to melt overnight. How funny is that! When we were there we spent a day with him. Wouldn't it be great to do a 3 or 4 day workshop with him... I wonder if he'd do that in his quiet time. Like I said, he seems to really enjoy teaching - and he speaks english. Anyone interested???? I'd be willing to ask... Great excuse to go to Italy!

Thank you so much for that video!!!!!!! I can't even put enough exclamation marks to show you how excited I am! I was going to write him and ask him to do a teaching video of his eggs as I'm sure many chocolatiers would buy it. And he's a good teacher - he seems to like it. When we were there and he was showing us how to do one of his eggs he told us about the 'gifts' inside. He said it's the way the Italians do it. People will come to him with engagement rings and other gifts to put in the eggs for custom orders. Otherwise it's a generic gift. He said it's a bit of a pain as he has to stop the spinning machine before the egg is completely set - yet set enough so the gift doesn't sink into the chocolate. He opens up the mold, deposits the gift, then closes it and puts it back on the spinner. Tricky.

I'm not familiar with the spray gun you are using but my gun requires 40psi at 100CFM. Your gun should come with that info. I think Kerry hit the nail on the head with her question. It sure does sound like you don't have enough pressure to atomize your mixture. Let us know what you discover.

Can't help you out but I was eyeballing that this week as I put in my ChefRubber order. I was thinking of using it to decorate. Is it quite a deep red like pomegranates are? On the website it looks quite pale. I purchased some freeze-dried raspberry powder and it's a beautiful red. I was also talking to Paul about using the fruit and veggie powders to colour cocoa butter. He explained that their process to colour their natural cocoa butters is much more involved than just adding powders. I still think I might give it a try with my raspberry powder. Has anyone ever tried anything like that? Good luck with learning more about your pomegranate powder. I'd love to hear what you come up with and how you liked it.

Here's a great video of Jacque Torres doing a Santa for Christmas similar to how you want to do your egg. Notice he says he will do 2 layers... http://www.mrchocolate.com/aboutchocolate14.aspx

When making ganache, I always do cold infusions in the cream for a 24 hour period. Add your crushed cardamom to the cream, stir and put in the fridge. Stir periodically. You can even go longer. I find it gives a great flavour this way. Strain before continuing with your recipe. I also don't think you're using enough cardamom (1 tsp. for 2 cups). I would double that amount. Good luck!

That's funny!!

Take a look at this site Ilana: http://www.noble-chocolates.com/intro.html It'll show you what I mean by the look of the cups. They can be decorated however you like once the honey and chocolate is poured into the cup. In Wybauw's book, he has piped on top or used a fleck of gold leaf (that would be nice with honey...) Use whatever type of cup molds you have.

Thanks Luis and Ilana. I'm going to try some wine ganache today and was planning to add some of my dark milk (41%). I'm going to follow pretty closely to Wybauw's recipe in Fine Chocolate 2 pg. 79 without the spices and adding 200g. dark chocolate instead of the cocoa butter as I want to slab. I'm going to try it with reduced and non-reduced Merlot. I'll also try a dark only recipe - again with reduced and non-reduced. I made sure to get a fruity Merlot low in tannins. I believe it's the tannins that fight with the chocolate. The wine reduction itself still tastes good although stronger. I kept it below 180F while reducing. Luis, I also contacted XOX truffles as I didn't see the wine truffle on their website. Was it dark, milk or white? I've heard good things about those guys. I think I'll order some to try...

Nope. Honey poured into the cup with the soft chocolate poured on top. Take a look at Wybauw's book - Fine Chocolates 2 - great ganache... on pages 180 -181. I think they've filled some of the cups with honey. You can see how they're finished on pg. 181.

I'm about to begin experimenting with wine ganache. Can you tell me which company 'pulled it off' in your opinion Luis? I'd like to try it to see what I'm aiming for! Thanks.

Hi Ilana, I was just going through my Italy notes looking for something else and came across something Paul DeBondt had said about making 'honey cups'. Fill a chocolate cup with honey in the bottom. To top, combine dark chocolate with butter oil (ghee) to make a softer chocolate to bite into. He mentioned using 200g chocolate to 20g. butter oil - or clarified butter. He also mentioned that you could infuse the butter oil with flavourings before adding it to the chocolate. Keep at 40C and infuse overnight. That might be nice with your lemon thyme... Have fun!

That's very helpful Kerry. I'm not sure exactly which ones I'm going to order yet but when I decide I'll email chocolat-chocolat and DR to see if they have them. That would be SOOO much better. Thanks so much Kerry.

I want to order some molds from Tomric. I am in Canada and they said they only ship UPS - not US post. I know from past experience that the border charges that UPS charges are quite horrendous. Have any Canadians ordered from Tomric? How were the border charges? Is there any other way? Thanks!

Oh Kerry - too funny! Thanks for the chocolat-chocolat tip for the rated 'G' bunny molds. You're amazing!

I just looked up Hans Brunner - I want some of those egg molds! They have one that's called a 'standing egg mold'. It's egg shaped but designed like a pre-made truffle shell with a hole at the standing end that you would cap (no lines therefore in the middle). Has anyone tried one of these molds? I'm in Canada - any ideas of where I could order Hans Brunner molds? Or are there similar molds out there from other companies? Thanks!

Your chocolates are absolutely beautiful! Ditto the above questions for me... and to add my own... was it difficult to GET the gold leaf into the mold? Care to describe your technique?

Thank you so much for posting your recipe and recommendations. I will definitely try it after the mad Valentine's Day craze. I'll let you know how it goes!