keychris

word... ain't that the truth! Why is a nice vivid dark green so hard to get!

I always stir it as it cools, it encourage the beta crystals to propagate, but I've seen other people on here that don't bother with any of that nonsense and just use it at the right temperature. Personally, I feel I get better results when I stir it. YMMV!

From top left: Row 1 Sunset (vanilla butterscotch caramel), Lime, Buccaneer (chocolate & coconut tea infusion), crispy hazelnut praline Row 2 Vier (4 spice praline [cinnamon, ginger, cloves & nutmeg]), Raspberry, Lemon, Cinnamon Row 3 Xocatlatl Chai, Lemon verbena, Salted caramel, Passionfruit gelee thanks for looking!

thanks pastrygirl - not sure what brand Lyle's will translate to down under, but we seem to have plenty of golden syrup around, I shall just the bog standard supermarket one

what temperature do you need to cook that to? Sounds like a delicious thing to make this weekend

You can learn from books, but IMHO you can not get the same learning experience as face-to-face - find out if there's somewhere that can actually teach you how to temper chocolate, make ganaches etc etc. Might just be how I learn - but I get more out of classes with professionals than reading from a book

well, a yoghurt maker will hold the yoghurt at ~40-42C, iirc. That's too high to keep the cocoa butter in temper - but if there's no lid on it, perhaps the temperature doesn't get that high. Would be fine to just melt it out though, I guess

That seems like a lot of pectin to add for that small amount of puree. mine is very easy, if a slightly larger batch size than yours: 6g tartaric (or citric) acid 43g caster sugar (1) 3.5g pectin 516g cassis puree 504g caster sugar (2) 156g glucose dissolve the acid in a small amount of boiling water. Combine the sugar (1) and the pectin. Boil the puree and dissolved acid, add the pectin/sugar. Return to the boil, add sugar (2), return to boil, add glucose. Cook over high heat to 107C, whisking continuously. pour into frame, leave to set. This doesn't require any refrigeration to set. It's important that the puree stays at the boil whilst you add the two sugars, you can warm them in the oven for a little while before you add them so the temperature difference is not so great. HTH

If you're measuring temperatures, how accurate are your thermometers, are they calibrated? Perhaps they're out a degree or two.

I often spray white behind my colours. So long as you have an even spray of the top colour, you won't see the white. I like this sort of effect too: put a streak of the colour in, and then highlight it with the white (in this case, I've used white chocolate instead of white cocoa butter). As Kerry said, if you put transparent colours on and put dark chocolate over them, you won't see the colour - but if the light shines on the finished product, you should see the colour as a shine

This isn't hot enough, take it to ... 107C from memory. Oh, Alleguarde said it above. Should firm up nicely then

8yr old birthday party today

This simply means you added a little too much seed the second time around. A different way to seed is to add that 100g in three batches, ie. about 33g at a time. When the first handful of seed melts, add the second, when that melts, add the final handful. The most important thing to remember is you're trying to create these stable crystals, and they melt at too high a temperature. So if all of your seed has melted at 38C, you don't have anything to do the seeding at 32C. You can always add a tiny bit of seed when the chocolate reaches the temperatures Kerry mentions, and let that tiny amount melt out with the last degree or two.

Mine's an Excalibur as well!

I would say the 'washing of molds in the dishwasher with soap' is simply a time vs effort thing. It's much easier in a commercial setting to wash them in a dishwasher - I know they do this at the school I attend as well.

how long did you leave it, Jim? Usually I would leave a slab overnight to crystallise but I have a few recipes that require two days before the slab is firm enough.

Filling is a 66% dark chocolate ganache, with creme de menthe This one is a raspberry ganache with gianduja. I'm pretty happy with how the spraying turned out on these ones

HOUSTON WE HAVE A PROBLEM still tasted pretty darned good

you're the only one who will *ever* notice them Great job!

what's the shelf life the client requires? Could you perhaps make something like a slabbed nut-based praline with no water in it, they have very long shelf life. More information on what you'd like to make and how long it needs to be stored for would be helpful

yes, but the alcohol has an anti-microbial effect, doesn't it? So if you have alcohol in there, you can have a higher aW?

I can't wait until $1500 is inexpensive Another item for the wishlist!

I used a hairdryer to heat up my smallest round pastry cutter, and also 12 & 10mm piping tips. I cast the shell, then before I put it together, carefully melted the holes. You will have a little lip of melted chocolate, I just wiped it off with a barely damp cloth. Spraying it after that hides all the marks from wiping off the melted stuff

Franci, they look delicious!

'Orange caramel' entremet. The layers are: Almond sponge base, topped with roasted pistachio nut and caramelised puffed rice in hazelnut praline, surrounded by orange mousse with a caramel creme brulee layer, covered with a dark chocolate glaze. Delicious!