Jim D.

I use the "wet" method, but both involve much stirring (well, maybe less for the dry method). I would not be disturbed by the bubbles in the photos. Do bubbles still appear after you have piped? Caramels (if not cooked to too high a temp) will settle into a cavity with time, leaving no air. Although it is heresy to say this, you may be worrying needlessly. I can't believe I wrote that.

How do you get the caramel into the molds? With a pastry bag? I don't recall seeing lots of bubbles in caramels I have made, but I would think the pressure of the piping would remove them. You can also tap the molds on the counter after they are filled. I use an immersion blender to add the softened butter to my caramel, but even that doesn't make bubbles I have noticed.

@Jonathan, about your baklava bonbon: I'm assuming this is the filling in the faceted pyramid/triangle. I get the green part of the filling, but what is the pink- or tan-colored base? It looks very interesting. I tried a baklava, but in attempting to get a strong honey flavor (definitely part of actual baklava), the ganache ended up much too sweet. I even bought some of the macadamia honey (I think you are the one who mentioned that).

Congratulations on taking this significant step. We will be looking for samples of your work in the future. I am sure fame and fortune are just around the corner! Well, fame at least.

I assume when you say $1,000 you are converting your currency to the US dollar. If that is the case, you can do this within your budget. Here is what I wrote previously: The following is the setup of another eGullet member: If you can afford it, this compressor looks good: https://www.homedepot.com/p/California-Air-Tools-20-Gal-2-0-HP-Ultra-Quiet-and-Oil-Free-Electric-Air-Compressor-20020/312624543

I don't know if you have read through this thread, but it contains a great deal of information relevant to your questions. If you absolutely know that you will never do more than occasional painting of molds as a hobby, then what you propose will work, but it won't satisfy you if you get "hooked" on decorating chocolates. You might look in this thread for a discussion of what are the essentials for a good compressor. HP is not the main issue; storage capacity is, and I noted that in the specs for the Iwata compressor you mention, the storage is left blank. A compressor that has to run almost constantly to provide enough air will wear out quickly (I speak from experience--just discarded my old Iwata compressor a few weeks ago). You can get decent compressors for a reasonable amount of money. I have an Iwata airbrush that I have used for blowing air into cavities to spread cocoa butter around, but the capacity of the cup will not be sufficient for serious airbrushing--you will go crazy filling it up often. If you can afford it and have a source to purchase it, I recommend the Grex 0.7mm. I think a trigger-style airbrush (such as the Grex) is much more comfortable to use than one with the button on top (like the Iwata).

I think that, by definition, ganache contains chocolate, but if you are making a filling without chocolate, I don't see any workable way to do what you want. You could undoubtedly find a way to thicken it (cornstarch, pectin, etc.), but the water content would be so high that (assuming you are intending to make bonbons) the shelf life would be unworkably brief. I attempt to get fruit flavors as close to the taste of the original fruit as possible by making a pâte de fruit, then (after some steps to reduce its water content) pipe it into a mold, usually layering it with something else--one example is cherry PdF plus pistachio gianduja.

I would guess that it would emulsify without a problem, but the final water content might be cause for alarm (in terms of bonbon shelf life). It sounds more like a chocolate sauce.

There have been quite a few previous discussions of this issue, and no one has come up with a solution. It doesn't usually happen with domes (such as your first photo), but it often occurs with the shallow molds (such as the "quenelle" in your second photo, also with demispheres). I used to worry about it a lot until I saw examples from Melissa Coppel's chocolates. My "solution" is that if she can ignore it and put those photos out there for the world to see, then I can learn to ignore it too. If you are really meticulous and careful, you can sometime scrape the chocolate from the cocoa butter, but this sometimes damages the shells.

If I had to choose a favorite, I think it would be a raspberry-chocolate tart. The basic recipe for it came from an ancient issue of Bon Appétit, but a friend and husband had something similar at a pioneering "gourmet" Boston restaurant to celebrate their anniversary, so I tweaked the original to incorporate her description of what they had (alas, their marriage ended soon afterward, so perhaps I should recommend the tart with caution). It consists of a pâte sucrée crust (for which I sometimes substitute a pâte brisée), then a layer of pastry cream incorporating ground toasted almonds and almond flavoring. When that has set, a thin layer of dark chocolate ganache thinned with framboise is added. When that has almost set, it is topped with concentric circles of fresh raspberries.

Doesn't that take a lot of extra time? And doesn't it thicken the bottom (and we all know how we hate a thick bottom)? 😛

It's 2141 (shows in the second photo).

I agree. Unless your work space is unusually cold, I see no reason to do it, and there is the danger of getting them too warm.

I agree. Even after multiple attempts, with the mold looking as if the spaces between cavities are completely clear of chocolate, I remove the acetate sheet (either plain or a transfer sheet), and there is still a lot of chocolate. When I empty the mold, it is very difficult to get the chocolates out since they are "cemented" to that remaining chocolate. When it works, It's a great effect and, in particular, helps when the filling is a little too high and can't be removed (as when I use a cookie inclusion), but I need more practice.

Thanks for that. In browning the butter, do you cook it until there are little brown bits, and do you include the bits? I find it difficult to know when to stop--brown to black happens quickly.

Jeanne, all of those desserts sound wonderful, but I was intrigued by the pear tart. I have worked on getting adequate pear flavor into a bonbon with only modest success. Can you say more about what is in this tart?

Are you stirring fast? And what tool are you using? There is no need to stir madly (as some people assert). As long as the Type V crystals are being mixed in, a slower stir might be in order. And if you are using a whisk or something similar, try switching to a spatula or anything that doesn't incorporate air.

Previously I mentioned that the brand I bought at a local grocery is no longer carried, and I have forgotten the name. The one I purchased through Amazon was Judee's Dried Egg White, and even though it gets an Amazon rating of 4.5 out of 5, I threw it out as inedible. I hope I haven't just insulted the brand that you use in your smoothies. 😄

A followup to the attempt to create a "marjolaine" bonbon (second try, actually). This time I made nut meringues using pasteurized egg whites and a recipe I found for the nutty layers of the marjolaine cake. Piping the batter into the circles of a chablon did not work as the meringue batter stuck to the silicone form, so I moved to piping them directly onto a Silpat. This worked well, although some of them were a little misshapen, but I discovered, when assembling the bonbon, that the meringue cookies were quite forgiving when being trimmed. I baked these at 300F. I made dark chocolate shells, then piped in hazelnut praline ganache to fill the cavity about 1/3. Then I made almond praline gianduja and added that to the cavity using a confectionery funnel. I added one of the "marjolaine cookies" and pushed it into the gianduja. If the cavity was not quite full enough, I added more almond gianduja. The taste is what I was looking for (hazelnut, almond, crunchy layer), and buried in the gianduja, the cookie should stay relatively crisp, though the egg whites give it a pleasant softness as well. I should add that the meringue batter is easy to pipe and does not spread for the first Silpat. but it will not sit around for very long before getting more fluid. Next time I think I will beat the egg whites with sugar, then divide the batter into halves. I will add half the pulverized hazelnuts and almonds to one half of egg whites, pipe that, then "refresh" the other half of egg whites with a beater and add the remaining nut mixture for the second Silpat. I would be glad to give the recipe to anyone interested.

I have dealt with less-than-white white chocolate by adding Chef Rubber already-mixed white cocoa butter to it. It's just a guess, but perhaps you are right that adding a large amount of titanium dioxide directly to the chocolate interferes with tempering. Here is a previous post from Takomabaker that dealt with more or less the issue you have having. If you are mixing your own white cocoa butter, a common recommendation is to mix 100g plain cocoa butter and 10g powdered oil-soluble color (in your case, titanium dioxide). Most people use an immersion blender and then strain the result through very fine mesh or something similar.

It would be nice to think of the comments on my thin shells as a compliment, but alas, I realize that is the not the case. When I making shells, I now dump the contents into my new Mol d'Art melter. When the chocolate in the tempering machine gets low, I check the temp in the Mol d'Art and add that chocolate to the machine, which thins out the chocolate. So if I made these shells at the beginning of the whole process, the shells might have been thin because the chocolate was just starting to crystallize (be in temper). And if I made them after some Mol d'Art chocolate was added, the same thing would probably be true. I agree with keychris that overtempering is probably not the explanation since if that were the case, the photo of the shell would have shown something quite different. Thanks for the input from all who contributed.

@pastrygirl, I think you may be correct about the thinness of the shell. I'm not sure this photo will show it, but the shell is wonderfully thin--wonderful for taste appeal, not so wonderful for contracting and coming out of the shell.

I think it's clear that something additional in the mold design helps, such as the indentations I mentioned in the other one. The problem with the grooved mold is that it's quite difficult to decorate. I can't use the technique of painting various colors to get a marbled effect then airbrushing another color behind them because the painted colors run down into the grooves. Perhaps a dome with a single indentation running between one edge and the other would be enough to allow for release (without ensuing insanity). Here is a photo of the grooved dome (CW1091):

Gianduja was tempered (with EZtemper silk). I agree about the thinness of the shell being a possible factor. Of course, it's difficult to tell how thin it is until it's too late. I made a similar filling in a grooved dome, and with that, I made sure the shell was not thin--and I could tell because the grooves were no longer completely visible. Those bonbons fell out of the mold without issue. And no, I was not impatient. I tried to unmold after 15 minutes or more. Not a single bonbon fell out (that was got to be the worst feeling in the world). I tried an hour later, then froze them. Around 100 came out, the rest were as in the photo. I hate that CW dome!

No, it's a layered bonbon: bottom layer is salted caramel, then a few chopped toasted pecans, then a layer of pecan praline gianduja (pecan praline paste plus Orelys chocolate), then a pecan shortbread cookie (I call it "pecan pie"). I have made it several times, and this has never happened before. But I usually use a "grooved dome"--similar size but grooves in the bottom. It seems plain dome molds are more of a problem than when they have something in the bottom that makes them release better.