minas6907

Hi All, I normally dont post in the dessert thread, mostly stick to the confections one, but in the past few month I wanted to finally attempt making an entremet. So here are the results! First picture in my first successful attempt at glazing (the very first time will be posted about in another thread), these were just a simple raspberry dessert, not really sure what you'd call it, but it was just a recipe on a card that came with some silikomart molds, but I was just getting a feel for glazing, I wanted to see how it would set up. The second and third pictures are my first entremet. It was a dark chocolate mousse with three layers of sponge cake and blueberry jam. I was just using things I had on hand for the first cake, and it came out ok, layers were sort of weird, I overfilled the mold, but was able to save it, but I think I got the layers more dialed in with the second cake. Pictures four and five are my second entremet. Vanilla mousse, sponge, white chocolate coffee ganache, as well as a dark ganache. The white chocolate ganache was molded in a disk, but was far too soft. so it was spread on the sponge with the dark ganache placed on top. So it was six layers total, and like I said earlier, I think I was finally able to see whats a balanced amount of layers to go into the cake. It cut cleanly and the layers were surprisingly even. Anyways, just wanted to share!

A long time ago I remember seeing recipes that included ammonium carbonate, I never gave any thought to looking up what it was. This is the definition I found useful, its from the appendix in Bo Fribergs "The Professional Pastry Chef" Ammonium carbonate—Ammonium carbonate (or bicarbonate) was once known by the name hartshorn because it was originally produced from harts’ horns and hooves (a hart is a male deer). Today’s commercial product is a chemical, specifically the ammonium salt of carbonic acid. Ammonium carbonate is used mainly in cookies and short dough to produce a longer-lasting crisp texture; it can also be used in pâte à choux to give it an extra puff. Ammonium carbonate can be used as a substitute for baking soda and baking powder, but only in cookies or doughs with very little moisture or in pastries that are baked at a high temperature. Unlike baking soda and baking powder, ammonium carbonate must be dissolved in water before it is added to a dry product. Ammonium carbonate reacts to heat, producing water, ammonia, and dioxide gas. It has a very strong odor that completely disappears above 140°F (60°C). It must always be stored in an airtight container or it will quickly evaporate. Ammonium carbonate can be difficult to find from bakery suppliers, but can be ordered from a chemist or local laboratory. On another note, I was amused by @JoNorvelleWalker comment on 'piss salt.' That immediately reminded me of the double salt licorice candies I got on amazon a few months ago, thats exactly how I would describe the flavor. In those candies, the competent that give them that particular flavor is ammonium chloride, just found that interesting.

Heres my honest opinion, and I apologize if I sound a bit harsh, but I just have a thing against Fat Daddios. Is this the funnel your looking at? https://www.amazon.com/Fat-Daddios-Confectionary-Funnel-Nozzle/dp/B007OXRK4K/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=confectionery+funnel+fat+daddios&qid=1555718739&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull They show a picture of the funnel being used to deposit chocolate into a polycarbonate mold, but think about the clean up, its very time consuming, a disposable piping bag is much more effective for that task, or even a ladel. I've seen plenty of pictures online of cheap confectionery funnels being used to dispense chocolate, but I just don't see how that's practical. A confectionery funnel is extremely useful for depositing hot liquids or gels that one would be unable to pipe out from a bag (especially into a small cavity), such as caramel, gummies, jellies, fondants. Those are all candies that you cant load up a piping bag with and pipe out in a timely manner, they are just too hot, some are too viscus, and others would set up right in the bag because one wouldnt be able to go fast enough. May I ask, when you say that you want to portion caramel, are you boiling up a caramel, then using the funnel to deposit the hot caramel into a mold? Or are you having in mind doing something like preparing a caramel, cooling it, then filling the funnel with the room temp caramel mixture, and depositing the caramel filling into a polycarbonate mold? I ask because it almost sounds like you want a confectionery funnel to use instead of a piping bag. In all frankness, if you get the funnel for depositing tempered chocolate into a mold, it just wont work as well as you may imagine it would. However, if your getting it for depositing boiled caramels, thats different. But it its the latter, I would still not recommend the Fat Daddios funnel. Its made from polycarbonate plastic, which would form cracks over time because of the very hot liquid being poured into it, and I would be inclined to say that the little nozzle that screws onto the bottom would be garbage. Personally, I have this funnel from Matfer: https://www.amazon.com/Matfer-Bourgeat-Stainless-Confectionary-Nozzles/dp/B00201DJ46/ref=sr_1_28?keywords=confectionery+funnel&qid=1555718662&s=gateway&sr=8-28 Its a good funnel, I've had it for about 8ish years, never had a problem with it. I use it with a decent around of frequency, enough to sometimes consider getting another one. If I had to recommend another funnel, you can get a Winco for $50. https://www.amazon.com/Winco-SF-7-Stainless-Confectionery-Nozzles/dp/B009R97DSC/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=confectionery+funnel&qid=1555718662&s=gateway&sr=8-6 It does cost more the the Fat Daddios, but the stainless will last waaaaay longer then the plastic funnel. If you have any other questions feel free to ask.

Hello, I do have alot to say on the topic, so do bear with me, I may ramble...I'm good at rambling. Thats correct, cooling is up to you, theres been some creative solutions posted. I will say, however, I have never used any cooling. The cold air would speed things up a bit, but I've been able to produce dragees pretty effectively (I've posted pictures throughout the years in the confections thread, as well as the various panning threads), and this is in my apartment, which usually runs a bit on the warm side, so panning in your shop, which I assume will be climate controlled, I really do think you'd get good results, but I think it also depends on what your producing. I think any chocolate coated center that you finished with a powder (cocoa powder, confectioners sugar, fruit powder, etc) you'd be fine with no cooling or just coming up with a rig that does the job. If your wanting to achieve a perfect gloss using confectioners glaze, or doing any sugar panning, I think you'd benefit from proper cooling. I've done the confectioners glaze thing, it was satisfying at first, but I dont want to do it again, too messy and problematic, especially for me where I cant really control the temperature in my kitchen. I have a different pan then @pastrygirl, mine is from here: https://www.koerner-co.com/equipment/103096-confi-kit-for-kitchen-aid-.html I'm not sure why the picture is different, but mine didnt come with those clips (thankfully), instead theres three screws that hold the two halves of the pan together. Out of curiosity, what were the comments you've heard about the kitchen aid attachments? For me, it does the job, but I also use it about twice a year, and on other random occasions when I want to try something new, thats very different from having a shop. If you have a shop, I wouldnt consider the kitchen aid pans. I'm not sure how the wear and tear goes, but I have a 7qt kitchen aid mixer, I use it primarily for panning, and while I'm not totally sure what happening inside, it just feels like its giving out a little bit. If/when this mixer dies, the panning unit you linked to from Bake Deco is one I'd seriously consider getting, and thats just because I love panning, I just think its so cool. But for your business, especially if panned items are going to be a normal offering, I'd get the ChocoVision one, at least compared to the kitchen aid pans. To me, the ChocoVision pan built to get the job done, and somehow I feel that it would last longer then the mixer setup, and it costs just a bit more then a new mixer and pan. I cant comment on the Selmi, other then I wish I could have access to equipment like that. What was the Chocolate World model you were looking at, is it the one with the built in cooler?

Are the ingredients all being weighed out? Doubling a recipe shouldn't cause such a drastic change. You mentioned a different texture, was it grainy?

In addition to the molds listen above, I'm adding three more shapes. 1. Two piece magnetic sphere, 32 cavities 2. Triangle, 2 molds, 28 cavities each. 3. Lips, 2 molds, 21 cavities each. Previously, I was asking for $12 per mold, but am now asking for $10 each, with the exception of the magnetic sphere (asking $15). Shipping will be whatever is cheapest, but I will get a quote beforehand so there's no surprises.

@akonsu@Kerry Beal Thank you for the speedy response!

Thank you very much! I think the videos definitely are good, although I was expecting a tiny bit more on the sugar confections side, but its fine. Its not bad to just try out for a month, the price comes to about $9.00 usd, and I know I've spent alot more then that on useless kitchen items. One motivating factor was that I've been wanting to make a glazed entremet cake, nothing too complicated, just a simple cake. The Savour School videos seemed like a solid reference to turn to, since I'm not familiar with the cakes, mousses, or molds used, I figured it would help me to see the process done properly.

It's not too often a mold really catches me eye, but I recently saw this: Anyone know the shape that is being used? I've always liked the standard geodesic bonbon thats been around forever, but these look nice as well, I like the subtlety. I have never seen this form, could be custom, does this look familiar to anyone?

Heres one I'm pretty proud of, I used the 'feather technique' from the Savour School videos, its a clever design, wish I thought it it myself. I didnt color the chocolate and cocoa butter mixture black as they did in the video, but just used the same chocolate that I used for casting the shells. The center is a white chocolate butter ganache with Kahlua.

@chows Your definitely right in assuming that the ratio of ingredients will have an affect on the texture and chew of the caramel. But there's many many ways of making caramels, they produce different results. Like @Chocolot mentioned, check out Peter Grewelings book Chocolates and Confections, thats a very good place to start, it gives reliable formulas and a good text on the role each ingredient plays. I'd also say pick up a copy of Fine Chocolates Gold, by JP Wybauw. His caramel formulas look different from Grewelings, but they work, and may be the texture your looking for. I suppose what I'm saying is that all three of your caramel recipes are different, they all will come out differently. For the coffee caramel, I think its the recipe itself that is broken, it has nothing to do with the espresso powder. Its a bit easier to find a reliable formula for plain caramels in one of the books, then you can start flavoring that base recipe anyway you want, rather then trying to troubleshoot and adjust a recipe that was found online. Edit: I wanted to add, go on Amazon and purchase a used copy of the 1st edition of Chocolates and Confections, it's easily the best $20 you can spend on a solid reference for candy.

Heres some gummies I finished recently. In the Meltaways topic, I had linked the Silikomart Micro molds, I ordered one of each shape that would work for me, and heres the resulting gummies. The Silikomart Micro molds I used were Mirco Gem, Micro Love, Micro Round, and Micro Oval. For me, gummies are always a popular item, and these forms provide such a perfect size, especially the hearts. I havent found a silicone heart mold as attractive as these, so more are on my list for sure. The other shapes work well, in the long run, I can tell that the hearts and round shapes are going to work for gummies, they'll look nice with a colored assortment. For comparison, I put the shapes up against what I normally use for domes. The micro's are a touch smaller, which does make for a bit more labor, but look fantastic. And lastly, there was a recent topic on chefstep gummies recipe. In the recipe they recommend dusting your silicone molds with starch before depositing, however, I've just never had much success doing do. You can see in the third picture, the gummies lined up on top had cornstarch sifted into the molds and shaken out, and the ones on the bottom, no starch in the molds. I'm not sure why the bubbles appear on the surface of the gummies when the mold has cornstarch in it, this is something I realized years ago, and that chefsteps recipe made me want to try it again, so just a small observation.

Normally you approach flavoring a gummy the same way you would hard candy, with food grade essential oils or candy "oils." The latter is natural or artificial flavor mixed with propylene glycol for a carrier. I can't say how you'd flavor with concentrated mixtures for soda, but I have a feeling youd run into issues. If you use the concentrate as a flavoring at the end, I don't think there would be sufficient flavor, and if you include it in the boiling syrup, I'm certain the acid in the concentrate would cause separate issues. Lorann has candy oils that are cola flavor, that's the safest way to go, but it may not be exactly what your looking for. But please experiment, and post your results! Also, you mentioned bears. Are you using silicone molds or a starch bed? Just make sure your using a warm funnel 🙂

Hey all, thank you for the replies, and sorry for my late reply, I've been meaning to get back to this topic for a while. I mention the application of luster dust directly to the mold just because Greweling mentions it in his book, and I'm just looking for newer effects that could possibly be applied faster then only using cocoa butter, perhaps a little more fool proof as well. I saw this video, he uses a canned spray, but I feel like I should be able to just make something similar using an alcohol and luster. I probably wont get the exact same effect, but maybe similar. Anyways, I'm wondering if anyone has achieved a similar effect with gold luster, I like the randomness of it. I feel like it should be relatively easy, but I just haven't had time to experiment. I've seen similar bonbons on IG, but I'm sure I'll get to it eventually. On another note, I realized that California doesnt sell anything higher then 151 proof, and the Bevmo's here dont carry a 151 proof clear spirit, only rum, so I'm not really sure if that matters or not, but I guess I'll just used 80 proof vodka to start.

I make gummies on a regular basis, the amount of gelatin doesn't seem unusual. Just my thoughts, though, I sort of find the chef steps recipe hard to trust. They say the formula is the original haribo recipe, which I dont doubt, but something isnt adding up. Theres no boiling of the syrup, and if you follow the instructions, your more or less just mixing everything together. In the comments alot of people complain about why the gummies are sticky, and its because they are sweating, too much water in the formula, you need to boil it out. The note about sorbitol is interesting if it changes texture, I''d be down for adding it from now on, I'll do some googling and testing, but in the instructions they say the sorbitol is vital, and in the ingredients list, they say its optional, so I'm not sure what to think about that, nor the sentance which reads "Sorbitol, a sugar alcohol, is vital to this recipe, lending the gummies their springy quality, but you can flavor them with any essential oil you like." That sounds like something got edited incorrectly, I'm not sure what to make of that. Also, to insinuate that you need a sous vide setup (not listed as optional) to make the gummies is silly. Like I said, I could be wrong about all this, but over the years I've learned to a reasonable degree when a recipe is not worth trying. Nothing bad about chef steps though, I admire the amount of confectionery recipes they have that go beyond the basics (the black licorice recipe is the absolute best I've seen anywhere) However, I've seen others that seem to be a bit off. If you have a copy of Chocolates and Confections, the gelatin gummies formula works perfectly. Dont skip on the acid. Citric for citrus flavors, or malic for non citrus fruits, but I have yet to mess around with tartaric. Just my opinions :-).

They can, it should set up fine. I'm not sure if I'm too late to the discussion on heart shaped silicone molds, but I just saw these, silkomart micro silicone molds. https://www.jbprince.com/molds/micro-flex-silicone-molds.asp https://www.jbprince.com/molds/micro-flex-love-35-forms.asp I would have purchased these long ago if I knew about them, I'm not sure how new they are, but I just ordered one of each size that would work for me (heart, oval, 'gem,' and round). The sizes are perfect for molded pate de fruit, gummies, ganache to enrobe, etc. Usually I'm very picky with silicone molds, and there's not too many choices that would work, especially for gummies. I'm excited about the hearts. Previously I could only make starch molded heart gummies (the only appropriate size was in the form the thin plastic molds, so I purchased those and made plaster shapes, but could never find a silicone mold of a heart that looked attractive or was the right size.) They are coming in tomorrow, so I'll make some gummies soon and take pics.

Earlier in the week I was in a pretty good mood, so I made some shells in a polycarbonate molds with the intention of making alcohol cordials. I've made these things probably like ten or so times before, basically all successful. Alcohol syrup hardly crystalized. Determined to make it work, I inverted the mold on a rack, let the syrup drain, blotted the cavities dry, remade syrup, this time it crystalized more, but not nearly enough to cap. Since I'm usually a clever person, I remembered something about covering with cocoa butter, then capping. After putting cocoa butter on 1/4 of the mold, I realized how much I was wasting my time. Inverted it, poured syrup out, pulled out the shells, some were being extra stubborn, sugar syrup everywhere, had to clean the mold very throughly, not fun. I love cordials but I'm hesitant to do this again.

Agreed with all the above. Just my quick thought, like others said, just get a few polycarbonate molds, simple shapes, easy to clean, it's the most satisfying feeling when your first bonbons pop out all shiny. Definitely recommend a infared thermometer for chocolate temps, don't bother with the long slender glass chocolate thermometer or those silicone spatulas that have a thermometer built in. Get an infared thermometer for now, and a probe for later, as tempering chocolate will quickly lead to you boiling caramels, which the probe is useful for.

I wish I knew about these, its funny, I never knew these were a staple around Passover, I'm going to get a box the next time I go to the international market. As for producing them, I personally would go the route of making a pate de fruit and enrobing. Searching on amazon, I've seen the jelly rings made from agar. Joyva Chocolate Covered Raspberry Jelly Rings Ingredients: Sugar, corn syrup, chocolate, agar-agar, citric acid, artificial flavor, US certified color (includes red #40 and blue #1), chocolate contains: sugar, chocolate, cocoa butter, soy lecithin (an emulsifier), vanillin (an artificial flavor) As for the form, I have these: Ozera Silicone Mini Donut Pan, Muffin Cups, Cake Mold, Biscuit Mold, 18 Cavity It does work well, I'm not sure what brand it is, these same molds seem to be sold under a dozen different 'brand' names. Anywho, I do use this mold for gummy rings, it works well, you just need a funnel for depositing. I hope it works out!

Thank you for the response! I'm sorry, but I may not entirely clear with my intentions. I'm just looking for a new way of decorating. I think after a while I'm just getting tired of applying luster to the outside, I never gave much thought to applying the luster to the mold. Ive seen others apply luster mixed with alcohol to the cavities on a mold. The mixture sort of beads up in an irregular pattern on the polycarbonate, then dries, then chocolate is cast as normal. So I wasn't talking about apply isopropyl directly to a bonbon, just the mold, but I wasn't sure if that was actually the norm, it was sort of difficult to find anything on that specifically. I suppose the safe course is to just get some everclear.

Hi, sorry to bump such an old thread. I did want to ask about the alcohol. Typically I use luster after the bonbon releases from the mold, but wanted to try some new stuff. When you mix the luster with alcohol, what type of alcohol specifically are we talking about? Vodka comes to mind, but just think about the water content. What are everyone's thoughts on mixing the luster with isopropyl alcohol? I ask because its been recommended to use isopropyl as a cleaner for the polycarbonate molds, so I wasnt sure if it was also common practice to mix a little with luster since it is would quickly evaporate. Any thoughts are welcome, thanks everyone.

Thank you so much, I really appreciate it! Give it a try! It might seem a little intimidating, but like anything else it just takes time to get a feel for it. Believe it or not, I worked for a long time with no heat source (had to go fast), then I did get a single hanging heat lamp, and now have two heat lamps, nothing special, just a Winco model from a local restaurant supply, but it does do the job, I'm able to get through a 3.5 lb of sugar, minimal waste. But in the beginning I used an oven to keep the sugar warm. I set it to 250f, lined a sheet pan with a silpat and just set it in there when it started to firm up. But really, just give it a try. Make some sugar with the goal of getting some stripes on it, don't worry about flavor. If you have any specific questions don't hesitate to ask!

Hey all, So I was able to boil up some sugar, and here is the results. Very pleased with the metal form, its a massive help in speeding up lollipop production. The first two pictures are money shots of the lollipops and berlingots. Every time I make sugar I can't help but cut a few berlingots, those little pillows always look so sharp. Third picture is a side by side of a lollipop shaped by hand, and the other with the metal form. The one shaped by hand does look good, but when I have to make 100 of these, I see too much variation in shape, though it may not be as noticable to others. But anywho, I love the perfectly round shape of the lollipops, I just can't get over it. Fourth picture is pretty much everything that was produced from the sugar recipe. This form was just sort of a test run to make sure it works, but next step is to modify the dimensions a little bit, as well as producing a metal form for a heart shape. Oh yeah, almost forgot, the pops are blueberry. 🙂

So recently I revisited something I was trying to do years ago. I think alot of it had to so with seeing a bunch of CNC machining videos on youtube and IG, but years ago I looked into making a lollipop mold. Originally I got the idea from seeing these videos of a company called Papabubble, they shape their lollipops is a very clever way. An early version of this is seeing in the first picture, it seems just like a ring with a notch cut into it, and its welded into a plate. Later Papabubble videos show a piece of bar stock with the lollipop shape milled out. Anyways, after seeing these CNC videos, I realized that revisiting something like this is very possible. A friend of mine works in a machine shop, I gave him some dimensions, and the fourth picture is what he gave me. So the idea is that as your pulling the sugar for the lollipops, you coil it up as you normally would, but now you can stuff it into the metal form, insert the stick, press it against the granite surface, and remove. This should give a very consistent and clean shape to the lollipops. I have yet to use it yet, but I was planning on a few different sized circles and hearts. I've always had trouble with hearts, they take too long to make by hand, and I cant say they are as consistent as I'd like. Anywho, I'll report back, hopefully with some nice pops!

Thank you so much! I enjoyed the pate de fruit by itself, but realistically it got lost in the lemon ganache. The final bonbon for the wedding had the pate de fruit omitted. Definitely have a go at making the jellies. You might have some failed attempts, but they are very versatile as a candy itself, inside of a bonbon, or a component of a dessert, give it a try!