chocoera

chocolate cafe what?!!!! miss willow i must hear more!!! message me! need help? i will help you as much as i can! will miss you though same for my donut-lover rob.... will miss you tons too!

sounds good, thanks bob! :0)

thank you so much guys! i really needed a second (third, fourth etc) opinion on this. i think temperature is our culprit here..but i am curious on ruth's idea for untempered chocolate. will give that a go. PS: did a bacon batch and regular batch of toffee (one uses mk, one uses dk) and purposely left them at room temp in our warm kitchen, compared to cooling room, before coating, and both batches were fine. not to say this will happen again, but hey, a successful batch is a successful batch right? :0)

so, not sure what's going on...but have been making toffee for years now but every once in a while, i have an issue where when its time to break up the toffee, the chocolate falls off, like it had never even adhered to the toffee? and its not every batch, its just every once in a while. so i (or an employee) makes toffee, we spread on 2 silipats, cover with parchment (we do this to help absorb some extra butter/fat when it cools) and then we use a papertowel and brush cocoa powder on both sides...after that we cover with a thin layer of tempered chocolate on both sides, one side either getting nuts or crushed pretzels. (and we do with milk and dk chocolate) sooooo, curious if our kitchen is too cold and the chocolate sets too fast? not adding enough, or using too much, cocoa powder? cooking too hot? (300F), not sure????? has anyone else ever had this happen? we dont have an enrober and we dont enrobe pieces completely like i see a lot of people do, there's a seam obviously from front to back, and of course when we break it that creates some open areas. but when its done right, the toffee breaks into large and small pieces, both sides of chocolate entact, no problem whatsoever. but then, sometimes, the chocolate slides off the toffee like it never had a chance in hell on staying on ;0) any thoughts would be great. xo guys!

look beautiful curls!! and flavors sound bomb-diggity! mmmmm

these all sound fantastic...and if anyone can bring them to life, i know Gfron can curious about another savory idea of a basil parm ganache? i've used basil olive oil in ganaches beautifully and that could be fun in white...especially with some salt crystals hanging out in the shell? you could even try flavoring cream with a parm rind? anywho- other ideas for white...um....maybe a peach- lime-gingerbeer concoction? i loved the idea of the thai-lemongrass idea, that sounds divine, even incorporating coconut milk/cream? how about a tomato jam truffle? i love that stuff or i know its totally an overdone trend, but sriracha sauce with white would be good to cool off that hot sauce... and i love peppercorns. so white with some super heavy duty peppercorns and a sweeter flavored infused salt from saltworks for a salt n' peppa truffle?

hey ladies and gents- is there still room for a few midwesterners? :0) brad and i would love to go, and i would love the masters class if spots are open.... and bob- loving your resilience in finding a location. amazing job. if you need help from afar, shoot me an email k? i can call or email or stalk people very well if needed. xooxo

looks lovely minas! what a pretty color too-

oh. maybe i should ask. "can i come?" "please?!" already bought my tickets...and car...and hotel....so. i could just stalk you guys and stare through the window....creepy. i'd go there though also. could you mark me down as "hopeful" for the dinner? just gotta do some moo-la counting, but i'd love to attend!

ok....so i saw there was a lot of of Thermomix stuff going on at the conference...which is awesome, cuz i love that magic machine curious though if we could do a demo/hands on of regular pdf as well? it might be nice to see the two concepts/steps side by side too. love the idea that steve had of asking what makes your bon bon "competition worthy?" how do you get that awesome shine, why do people layer flavors, is it more texture or more about crazy ingredients etc? also would like to see a demo on layering ganache and pdf, or ganache and feuilletine (or in my case, crushed cornflakes! *ha*) or something like that too....oh, and why am i suggesting these things if i'm not even going? (it hadn't been in my mind because of finances with tax season, store expenses, and *yea* we're adopting in august, so, *cha ching* but, thanks to the prompting and encouragement from steve and betsy, i will be able to make my, what, 4th consecutive workshop?! whoop whoop! i'm excited to see my eG family, i super miss you guys!!!

thanks guys!

Well, its been a while! Thought i'd post just a few photos of what we've done at the shop this year! Hoping to get to the eG conference, but lots of personal and professional things have things up in the air...but for all the newbies, welcome to eG! It's actually with the help of my eG family that i took the leap to go from an on-line business to a shop 3 yrs ago. Will try to update more frequently and be a bit more interactive on eG...but here's a start!

so...can't remember how to exactly post photos....thoughts? </p>

can i just say that i love love love love bob and love love love love love his caramel corn? mmmmm...... also, big kudos to bob for the wonderful conference! great location, fun speakers (a big hello to joe when he joins eG...or should i say "cocoa joe?!" ) and AMAZING FOOD AND CHOCOLATES! i might actually have enough gumption to try a sculpture for my family or for the shop thanks to Rob's (gfron1) spirited and comical presentation. he made it so approachable and fun and his skill and passion are noteworthy and inspiring-thanks so much! really loved the airbrush demo with talk of different techniques, places to get start up equipment, and ways to bring out your creative side- his pieces that were just "to show/demo" turned out to be some of the most beautiful i saw! thanks so much steve! and a big thank you to all the virgins that showed up we love new faces and opinions and love that you all want to come back! yea!! thanks for a great weekend everyone, and hope to see you next year!

what time does the friday activities start? can we call to join up if late?

bob, don't suppose you can summarize the conference in one post so we don't have to try to flip through multiple pages to figure out whats going on can you? ex: what's going on friday, who needs to meet where at what time(s)? same for sat/sun (just general time frames of course) so people like me, who like to print off all her information before flying, feels slightly organized. you don't need to go over what class times we're doing what demos/lectures etc, just an approx time frame, room number and what not, especially since i'm not sure what's going on friday afternoon and/or pm? as well as what time sat dinner is? and any specific dress code for anything? i remember one year we went out to eat and it was best if we didn't wear work clothes for that particular outing. thanks so much! can't wait to see you!

baby shower today: wizard of oz theme. (toto paw print, rainbow fondant accent, dead witch) also did some popcorn cake with m&ms and spice drops to represent the munchkins and the "lollipop guild". cupcakes were red velvet and cream cheese-

yup its poly from tomric-

thank you so much ;0) truffle is hollow shell filled with marsh cream (basic marsh recipe minus the gelatin) filled with a salted caramel capped off with mk choc and topped with peanut butter crack caramel shards (cook caramel dk amber, add some pb, spread thin, chop up for a tasty and textural garnish) we call it the salty dog, (not the drink) but like our fudge the salty dog (the fudge is like a salted nut roll with caramel) xoxo

don't forget, i am actually +1 this year! xoxo

hey bob!!!! so, yes, i am for sure coming, and brad will be my plus 1! he is attending all activities that i will be in. steve suggested some shoe molds...if people are interested in that i can bring a few. i am flying in, so dont have a ton of room in my suitcase so i'm afraid i can't bring an airbrush, mold'arts or cocoa butter. i have room for maybe 4 molds (like chocolate bon bon type molds) that i can bring and of course samples for friday night. books? do we want dessert books too or just chocolate books? also note to attenders, dont forget bench scrapers or off set spatulas...bob will there be baggies or pastry bags for filling molds? or should we bring some? attaching a shoe pic so people know what i'm talking about and a truffle pic (only cuz hubby just took one today and its neat) xoxo can't wait to see everyone!

do you add the untempered behind the baffle or right into the tempered chocolate? do you have to be careful with your ratios?

well. not sure. i've never been one for machines because i'm a control freak and figure i temper best manually and if it screws up, its on me, and i can change me...if a machine screws up...then what do you do? but i know i need to upgrade so thinking about a machine that is quality at the same time we just bought our building and renovated my space and brad's space, so $ is short. so i figure i can try a machine and then upgrade later? that long story being said, i figure i could convince brad to spend $2,000-5,000 now, and maybe upgrade later? will that get me anything?

the savage sounds close to what i'm looking for...not sure if i'd dig the idea of light bulbs plus being in algona, we don't have much of anything here in terms of if something breaks or needs replacing. thanks ruth!

hi edward, yes we temper by hand currently and would like to look into an actual machine. i am also small volume right now and will look into D&R (was unfamiliar this company existed) so how exactly does this wheel thing work that you're talking about? do you temper by seed method and manual aggitation? or how do you temper with your melter and wheel? would love to learn more and will check out the D&R site