lironp

Thanks Kerry- I have the book, I'll see if he gives an explanation somewhere. Diana- those are beautiful- I really like the copper on this shape. That, or the picture above (I think this was made by Mette?) are exactly what I'm trying to achieve. Do you polish the cavities before applying the dust? On the one hand I find that gives a better shine, but on the other when I do that the dust doesn't stick as much... It might be the brand- I have one dust by CK that barely adheres even when I apply the cocoa butter, I'll just try the others. Where do you get the SOSA brand from?

Lironp, what temperature is the gianduja at when you pipe it? I'm not exactly sure, probably somewhere around 70-75? I put the bowl of gianduja in a bowl of ice water, and mix until it becomes thick enough for piping- because of the combination of fats in the chocolate, the temperature is a lot lower than just regular chocolate

Thank you! These are the flavors: * coffee cups- milk chocolate espresso ganache with some dulce de leche at the bottom * Sea shells- filled with milk chocolate-peanut butter gianduja * squares with pink (freezed dried raspberry powder)/yellow (peanut) powder on top- raspberry PDF & peanut butter gianduja * diamonds- vanilla caramel and Tanzanie dark chocolate ganache * mini cupcakes- pineapple caramel and vanilla marshmallow * white logs- whiskey-milk chocolate ganache * piped rosettes- piped hazelnut gianduja, topped with a caramelized almond

Some chocolates I made for an event at my husbands school, so much work!!!

tikidoc- these are beautiful, I love these colors, it makes the chocolates look like jewels! I also have a question for whoever works with luster dust- I usually clean each cavity, then smear a thin layer of cocoa butter on the molds, then apply the luster dust with a brush, and then pour in the tempered chocolate. I find that if I don't apply the layer of cocoa butter, the dust doesn't stick well enough to the mold, and the chocolates don't come out as shiny, but on the other hand this process is very time consuming... Does anyone have a better method? Has anyone tried airbrushing the dust with alcohol and found that successful?

Very pretty! The background of the picture as well!

I'd say it still looks a bit foamy compared to janeer's picture- her meringue is smooth and shiny, I think yours might be under whipped. Do you use regular sugar or confectioners sugar? Regular sugar is added when whipping, and confectioner's sugar can be added at the end if you want to bake it (it will be whiter, smoother, firmer and shinier). If you substitute the regular sugar for confectioner's sugar, I don't think you will be able to add a lot of volume to the egg whites. Do you add the sugar right from the start, or when the egg whites already start foaming? If you add it right from the start, then you also won't be able to whip them to full volume. You also shouldn't be scared of over whipping- you can whip egg whites for quite a long time, even after they have reached stiff peaks (when you hold the bowl upside down, and nothing moves), without ruining them. It is also very important to use the whipped egg whites straight upon completion- otherwise they start shrinking and losing texture.

Sounds like so much fun! Who eats all these cookies afterwards???

tikidoc- the teperature I found I like to cook to is 225, it's not too runny, but still pipeable (that's also the temperature Wybauw recommends)

Count me in as well! Can't wait!

I did the blood orange - it was blood orange compound and habanero extract and a dash of Grand Marnier - the ratios were very much to taste (and I personally prefer bold flavours). I am not normally keen on orange flavoured chocolates, but the blood orange is very bright. Next time,I think I'll use fresh chili for flavour as well as a kick, and possibly some cracked black pepper - or substitute black pepper for chili (oh, no, the wheels are in motion....) I asked Kerry about mixing powders with cocoa butter during the conference- she said that it would be best to process a bit with a food processor for the powders to really integrate in the butter- I plan on trying this as well, since I don't have any colored CB yet, just some powders

Thanks Steve! I'll keep the 175 then, I also bought a heat gun this week so will probably work a lot with that. Next on my list- Dehydrator

After everything I saw and learned in the conference, I had to get around to buy an airbrush, and start playing! I went to our local Michaels store and saw that they were all in clearance . I bought the 2 possible models, and am trying to decide which to keep- one is a Badger 350- $20, single action/external mix, and the other is Badger Crescendo 175- $45, that is dual action, internal mix, and has a fine and larde paint tip. Is the dual action needed for chocolates? For spraying cocoa butter, will the internal mix even work? From the 350 specification, I can't understand what paint tip it has (fine? large?), are they both ever used?

We started out tasting everyones chocolates- after 3 months doing Atkins, I think I ate more than everyone! I was very impressed by the level of the chocolates, it was so much fun eating one good chocolate after the other! During the conference, I pretty much bounced back and forth between all the demonstrations, trying to learn as much as possible from everyone. I loved making flowers from the modeling chocolate, and will definitely continue practicing to try and get to Patty's results, and thanks Steve for the airbrush demonstration, I have finally decided to get one, and will try to practice at home. This is the picture of the PDF Kerry demonstrated, while cooking- Port wine with Hibiscus/Ginger/cardammon liquer- I loved the result! Bob pinping Guiness ganache into his cool antique mold: Final showpiece: Chocolate remains at the end of the conference: Bob- thanks so much for the organization! I had an amazing time, and am waiting for next year! I definitely feel more comfortable posting, now that I know everyone here. I have more pictures I can upload to DropBox, if anyone wants them just ping me your email.

I haven't yet tried any of his recipes, but I really like his flavor ideas and decoration techniques. I also noted that his chocolate-cream ratio looks pretty low for slabbed ganache (it sometimes even reaches 1:1, this is why I was afraid to try his exact recipes), and thought it might work for him for 1 of 2 reasons: 1. He onlly uses Amedei chocolate, which might have a high amount of cocoa butter in the cocoa solids, which would make the ganache firmer for him, but not for anyone using a different chocolate. 2. Using tempered chocolate, or tempering the ganache after it is ready, will always result in a firmer ganache which is easier to cut- it might be worthwhile trying the same recipe while doing this.

I'll be arriving on Friday afternoon, hopefully in time for the afternoon activity, and definitely for dinner.

That sometimes happens to me when the foot I spread on the bottom is too thick- by the time I finish cutting, the foot is really hard and breaks away, sometimes causing the ganache to break a bit as well

Erika- those pictures are beatiful, and that truffle looks great! Could you say what the flavor and decoration is? carsondial- I would love to have a look at Minifie's book Does anyone have any interest in Valrhona's new dessert book, or William Curley's book?

It will take you more than an hour to make the trip. BWI is close to Baltimore and you're heading south into Virginia. My guess is that it will take 90 minutes or more depending on traffic. Fortunately, you should be able to get ahead of the Friday rush hour traffic. Thanks! My flight back is also from BWI, I'm wondering if it's better to rent a car than rely on public transportation, any thoughts about that? Since I'll be travelling for the 2 weeks until the conference, I thought about having a friend send a package with some chocolates to the hotel a few days before the conference. Do you think they will be OK with that? Has anyone tried sending chocolates by regular mail? Or would expediated shipping be better?

My flight arrives in BWI at 1:35pm. I don't know how much time it'll take me to get from there, I guess about an hour? Aside from that, I will be arriving from a 2 week trip that goes through Vegas, where I will visit ChefRubber, if anyone needs anything from there I can get it- I am travelling with a suitcase anyway. Also, I will be carrying around some chocolates with me to bring to the conference, I really hope they will stay ok!

I really like it, apart from the mouthwatering pictures, it explains a lot of basic patisserie techniques, for example what are the 6 techniques to make a chocolate mousse, when to use each and the possible pitfalls. I finally manage to make a Pate a bombe chocolate mousse without having the chocolate clump up It also has a chocolate section with some nice recipes by Jean Paul Hevin. William Curley is one of the best chocolatiers I have tasted- he uses amazing chocolate (Amedei), creates very unique and interesting flavors and manages to get a perfect texture every time (although I do think that his dipping results aren't perfect, I assume they aren't using an enrober). I also usually like decorating my truffles with some edible powder that reflects the flavor inside- I made orange powder from orange skins for an orange truffle, peanut butter powder for my PB&J, raspberry powder for raspberry truffles and etc.

Kerry- I'd like to buy the thermometer as well if it's ok with you! Any interest by anyone for the Valrhona chocolate book or William Curley's book?

My husband's business school had a chocolate & Wine tasting event sponsored by Hershey's, which I helped organize. Apart from the actual tastings (for which we chose Scharffen Berger and Dagoba chocolates), they sent me 6 lbs of chocolates beforehand, from which I made some chocolates: The chocolate in he mail: PB&J chocolates before dipping: I used Greweling's recipe for this, and the peanut butter/chocolate ratio was way too low, and I overtempered it, so the chocolate layer broke a bit from cutting Chocolate in the event: Caramel & 62% dark chocolate ganache, milk chocolate-Whiskey truffle logs, PB&J (raspberry PDF and Peanut butter Gianduja), decorated with raspberry powder and icing sugar Chocolates brought by Hershey's: and the tasting map:

RWood- this looks amazing, as usual! DianaM- I love your pictures, and the palet d'or looks like it has a great texture

Wow! I probably would put just about everything I have in the house in this thing, so much fun!