DianaM

Kerry, I've seen and tasted your chocolates, and they most definitely do NOT look like a dog's breakfast. They look great, and taste delicious, from what I recall! Chris, and Robert, your work is amazing! Robert, I am looking forward to finding out what the flavours are, I'm definitely intrigued. Chris, may I ask where you purchased the dome mold? JBPrince, perchance?

Wow, Robert, that is one HUGE copper pot! Caramel popcorn, yummm!

Hello everyone, Robert, unfortunately I won't be able to make it to the conference. My plans did not work out the way I'd hoped, so I'll have to content myself with enviously watching from the sidelines. To the people who go for the first time this year, you guys are in for a treat! The conference is such a great experience, and an incredible opportunity to learn from people who share the same obsession. Have fun, and please report on your adventures, so that the rest of us may enjoy the conference vicariously through your stories! DianaM

YetiChocolates and lironp, thank you! lironp, your dipping skills are great, those finished PB&J's look awesome!

I hope everyone's had a good Valentine's Day! I hesitated to post, since everyone's chocolates look so amazing, but here we go. My Palet d'Or filled with a simple dark choc butter ganache: White chocolate, bay leaf and vanilla bean ganache.

For me, this one: chunks of meat glued together to look like steak. http://consumerist.com/2012/02/whats-on-the-menu-the-chefs-specially-smushed-together-meat-glue-steak.html Incredible, frightening, and sickening at the same time.

Curls, you're right, it does come in powder form. I went to the Callebaut website as well, and according to it, Mycryo "is obtained through the cryogenisation of cocoa butter (freezing at very low temperature)." I wouldn't categorize it as cocoa butter, even though it is obtained from it. Maybe we're just having a semantic issue here. The regular cocoa butter I buy comes in a block, which my supplier breaks into chunks and sells in 1 kilo bags. I've seen it also sold as chips, but have never used those. At my supplier, 1 kilo of regular cocoa butter is circa $18, whereas Mycryo is $17 for 550gr. So the price of Mycryo would be almost double that of the reg cocoa butter per kilo. If you look at the price in MostlyLana's ebay link, the price difference would be even more significant. I'll ask the good people at Cacao Barry Canada for more info, see what they'll tell me.

Six, you use Mycryo FOR tempering chocolate. You melt the choc to 40-45, then cool it to 34 Centigrade for dark chocolate. And then you add the mycryo, the quantity should be 1% of the weight of chocolate (10gr mycryo for 1kg choc). Stir, stir, stir. Stir some more. When your chocolate gets to 32 Centigrade, you should have achieved temper. As for thinning chocolate, I wouldn't dream of spoiling good chocolate with vegetable oil. Always use cocoa butter. The chocolate I use is already fairly fluid, so my usual ratio is 3% cocoa butter of the weight of the chocolate. I always add the cocoa butter when the chocolate is completely melted, at 43-45 Centigrade, and then I can judge pretty accurately if I have achieved the fluidity I wanted. Then I temper as usual by seeding, and use as needed. Diana

Hi Susie Q, When I make pies, I always use cornstarch not flour. Also, I make sure to let the filling bubble up through the vents before I remove the pie from the oven - this, rather than the baking time suggested in the recipe, is my cue that the pie is done. Diana

I checked out Bakedeco, and they have great stuff, plus I know they ship to Canada. Thanks, RWood! Diana

RWood, the chocolates look beautiful! Those transfers look festive without being cheesy. May I ask where you source them? Thanks, DianaM

Hi everyone, First off, apologies if this question has been asked previously. Please direct me to a link if that's the case. I am curious: has anyone used this truffle mold? http://www.dr.ca/truffles-chocolate-silicone-mould.html The theory is that you fill the mold with ganache, and when the ganache is set, you simply pop the centres out of the mold, then pre-coat and dip as usual. I want to make truffles in an efficient way, and have tried so far: piping them (unequal size), depositing with a small ice-cream scoop (they do not release easily). For both methods, they have to be hand-rolled, which is more time-consuming than I's like. I tried the truffle shells as well, but I'm not happy with their quality, and of course, I cannot claim my truffles are hand-made if I'm using machine-made shells. I know many have switched to slabbed ganaches, and there's nothing wrong with that, except if you want to make a truffle-shaped truffle. Thank you all, and happy baking and "confecting" for the holidays! Diana

Most commercial breakfast cereal/granola/bars taste either too sweet, or else they taste like cardboard, I think. I frequently make Nigella's breakfast bars, I find them delicious. Very easy to make, too. Here's the link: http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/breakfast-bars-55 I use almonds instead of peanuts. One piece of advice: make sure your baking sheet is ENTIRELY covered with parchment (bottom and sides), or some other protective stuff that ensures easy release.

Hi everyone, Robert, please put me down as a "maybe." DianaM

Thank you for the recipe, Kerry! A while ago I saw a similar one, with leeks and goat cheese, but I loved the blue in yours. I've never made pastry using the technique you've described, but now I have a good reason to try it! Thanks, Diana

Those fuzzy bunnies sure looked great. What a cool idea to use the airbrush to create texture. Here are a few things I wrote down, though probably most of you already know this stuff: -melting point of Beta V crystals=34 degrees; melting point of Beta VI=36 degrees -a centre with Aw=0.75 will have a shelf life of 3 weeks -if you want to create nut-based products, use white or milk chocolate; when dark chocolate is used, fat migration might result -according to Derrick, ganache should always be tempered -granite versus marble for tabling: Derrick prefers granite; he also prefers slabs which are 1-inch thick, they hold the cold better, to allow the tabling of successive batches of chocolate -I’ve seen everyone use infrared thermometers, and I can see why: the wire of my probe thermometer always gets in my way when I’m working -according to Derrick, molds should never ever be washed, as the minerals in water destroy them; when I try to buff them after washing, the mineral particles from the water scratch them and make them dull after a while. Neither should the molds be stored with chocolate on them, says he; they should be cleaned by heating the chocolate residue with a heat gun, then wiped with a soft kitchen cloth. -to ensure that transfer sheets adhere, a small square sponge can be used to gently push the acetate onto the surface of the chocolate -after casting the shell, Derrick places the mold on parchment upside down, waits until the chocolate crystallizes, then turns them right way up and proceeds with filling; however, I've seen beautiful, even shells made in the class by placing the molds on their side to crystallize -he says ganache should not be left un-enrobed for longer than 3 hours; if left overnight, it will accumulate dust, spores, bacteria from the air -glucose can be up to 15% of a recipe; invert sugar can be up to 8% of the recipe -for centres made with passionfruit, lemon, lime, water activity is not a big issue, since the acid in these fruits will invert the sugar in the recipe, and the centre will be more shelf-stable (did I get this right?) -honey is not an inver sugar, it is a semi-invert sugar -the best kind of invert sugar is the one that comes as an opaque paste; it should be used within 6 months, or it will ferment Looking forward to the rest of the pics!

What an awesome weekend! Kerry, thank you so much for organizing the conference, and thanks to everyone for being so welcoming and helpful with newbies like myself. I'd be more than happy to share what I have learned. I have a couple of pages of notes, I'll get them in order and post them a bit later tonight. Diana

Hi everyone, Kerry or RobertM (or anyone else), do you still have seats available for carpooling? Looks like I will need a ride from Casa Mia to the Hilton Garden Inn (I'm actually staying at the Niagara College student rez, but will walk there from Hilton). I'm paying in wine or chocolate, driver's pick. This will be fun! Diana

I've just checked Greweling, the table Water Activity of Confections is on p38. He lists the shelf life of fondant as 2 to 3 months. I was intrigued by lironp's response about the loss of flavour, I would not have anticipated that. But certainly it's good to know.

Hi ganachegirl, I've been eyeing the same recipe for a while, maybe I'll bring myself to making it soon. I have to preface my answer by saying that I'm inexperienced, so I may be wrong. But I know that bacteria needs water to grow. Fondant is way too saturated with sugar to have enough available water for bacterial growth, so I'm pretty sure they're safe for a long time. There is a shelf life table in Greweling's book, whatever shelf life he lists for fondant probably applies to this recipe as well. Diana

Hello, Here in Ontario (Canada), I buy a product labelled "whipping cream" from Organic Meadows. This brand is available at most chain grocery stores, and according to the ingredient list, it contains nothing but cream. The milk comes from farms across Ontario. The fat content is 35%. It's not an UHT-pasteurized product, so the taste is very clean. I use it for all my ganaches, and am very happy with it. On the other hand, I am having trouble finding UHT cream. I wanted to try it for food safety reasons (less microbial activity than regular cream, therefore better shelf life), but I could not find it, so I'm sticking with the organic cream, and just advising people to eat my truffles quickly. :-) Diana

Hi Darienne, I have a non-booze-related question for you. Did you mention in an earlier post that you've found a hotel/motel where they accept dogs? If yes, could you please tell me which one? I'm thinking about bringing along my DH and my terrier, if I can find accommodations for us. If not, I'll just come in daily from Milton. Thanks!

Hello Kerry, I am a new Ecole Chocolat graduate from Milton, ON, and new eG member, although I have been reading the content for quite a while now. I was wondering if I could join the participant list for the conference? I have lots and lots more to learn, and this would be a great opportunity. I hope I am not too late in responding. Please let me know if I may attend. Thank you, Diana