Jim D.

In my experience you can do that as long as the cocoa butter wasn't heated so high that it burned. The telltale sign of that is little hard bits in it that won't dissolve. The first time I overheated c.b., I didn't realize what had happened and kept trying to heat and retemper, but the bits remained.

I have not had that issue. The black currant ganache I mentioned previously has a lot of butter in it, so that helps with water content.

I do more or less the same, except that I never spray water through the gun. I just get the gun warm, then empty it out as best I can, then add a new color and continue. In another discussion on this topic, the consensus was that most people do not do really thorough cleaning of airbrushes or sprayers (such as would require taking it apart). It's not like using it for paint--with cocoa butter, you can just melt everything out.

I cannot begin to list all the flavors I have tried to incorporate into a bonbon without success. After a particularly tasty peach season, I thought how easy it would be to have a peach bonbon, perhaps with a cinnamon layer as well. Alas, almost no flavor. Blueberry has also stymied me (though I have not given up). The best approach, I think, is to make a water ganache, replacing some or all of the usual cream with fruit purée (Jean-Pierre Wybauw has such a recipe for black currant ganache, and it is wonderful), but shelf life suffers. As for flavor in gianduja, I have a large package of pecan gianduja made with dark chocolate in my freezer, with the thought that someday I may find a use for its faint pecan flavor. I think milk chocolate works best with pecan and almond, and for pistachio gianduja, I use white. I hope you will find a way to preserve the pecan + smoke + spice flavor without having chocolate overwhelm it.

There is no tape I have found that says it is food safe. There was a post on eG some years ago from someone who said he had such tape and would post the name of it within a couple of days, but he never did and I had no success in tracking him down. Both Avery and 3M deal in food-safe adhesives, but I don't think they cater to the small consumer with these products. There is a company that makes specific shapes explicitly for use in making decorated chocolates. I bought a sampler pack, and they are cut not for rows in the mold but for individual cavities, which, of course, is a pain in the neck, and to top it off, they did not stick well at all. I read through their website, and there is no statement whatever about food safety. I saw no residue with using the VinylEase tape, but I didn't look with a magnifying glass or anything like that.

Just one note on pecans: I do a lot of different giandujas, and the pecan version has the mildest flavor of all of them. You wouldn't think so, but so it seems. As dark chocolate will overwhelm it very easily, I have switched to milk. I'm just saying that your hopes for strong pecan flavor may not be realized if you are using dark.

Thanks for those suggestions. How can I tell when the bread has completed its second rise? For years I read that when it does NOT spring back readily, it goes into the oven. More recently I saw somewhere that it must spring back slowly to be ready. The times this recipe has produced the loaf I like, it has risen a couple of inches above the rim of the pan, and the "spring back" test has varied a great deal. I don't know whether this is relevant, but those times when it does end up the way I want, the loaf often has a hole in the center, sometimes small, sometimes larger. It doesn't ruin the loaf for my purposes, but I think this may be a sign of overproofing.

I put a Silpat under the towels, and they stay in place much better (idea from Kirsten Tibballs of Savour School). Kerry Beal had an idea I'm going to try of using a warming tray to keep shop towels warm to enable cleaning off cocoa butter more quickly, although that would not solve your problem of not putting down the airbrush. The warming tray does, however, provide more time to do the cleaning.

I agree about gianduja sometimes being too firm, and I have started adding some coconut oil to it (so technically it's a meltaway).

In the interest of preventing health issues from blood glucose levels, I developed an entirely whole wheat sandwich loaf, but the results are quite undependable, so I'm posting in the hope that someone may have some hints. The liquid is 20g butter, 100g skim milk, 300g water, 2 tsp. salt, and 1 Tbsp. Splenda, heated to 98-100F. The flour mix is 200g KA regular whole wheat flour, 390g KA white whole wheat flour, and 2 1/2 tsp. instant dry yeast. I have learned to mix the liquids and flours and let them sit for 1/2 hour to soften the wheat (so I have read). Then I mix in the Kitchen Aid until the dough is smooth and let it rise. It looks good to this point, though I am never sure when the rise is complete. I don't knead it again but fold it a few times, then press it into a loaf pan. I let it rise again. Usually it rises at least an inch above the sides of the pan, sometimes higher. Then it goes into a 425F oven for 5 minutes, then 350F for 30 minutes more. Here is the issue: Sometimes (less than 50% of the time) it rises beautifully high, makes a tasty, medium-textured bread, large enough that one slice is sufficient for a sandwich. Other times, however, it falls in the oven to be more or less even with the sides of the pan. The taste is still good, but of course the texture is dense, and the size of the loaf dictates cutting two slices for a decent sandwich. I know that whole wheat is more unforgiving to work with than white flour, but I am puzzled by the fact that sometimes this bread turns out to be just what I want, but most times, it looks like a poorly risen pound cake. Any suggestions would be most welcome.

You have got me thinking about the food safety issue. Of course, I have yet to see any plastic adhesive tape that is certified food safe--I can't imagine the manufacturers have ever thought about crazy chocolatiers using it in the way we do. Since you are an M.D., what are your views on the subject? (I know that you have made striped designs) The VinylEase tape is so successful that I would give it up reluctantly, but I am not keen on poisoning my customers--well, most of them.

I follow Ewald Notter's practice (and many others to do the same) and spread the foot first. I think he says to use overtempered chocolate, but in the beginning I misunderstood him and used untempered chocolate--heated to 110-115F, and that has worked well for me. It eventually dries and often looks horrible (it is untempered, after all), but it cuts cleanly with no little pieces broken off. I don't put anything on top. It has always seemed to me that spreading the foot on top (the more common practice) leaves you with the problem of ganache (rather than the chocolate foot) directly on the plastic, and the ganache often sticks like crazy. When I'm dipping, the bottom (with the foot) doesn't stick to the fork so much. As for thickness of the foot, I spread the chocolate as thin as I can without letting any of the plastic underneath show through, maybe 1/16" to 1/8" thick. Hazelnut gianduja (I'm assuming that's what you mean by praliné but am not sure) was my first (and so far only) guitar Waterloo--I broke a wire because I waited too long for it to set. You have to get just the right moment. I stick a little knife in it frequently (the cuts don't show in the end) until the knife comes out almost (but not quite) clean. I would say that having it "under-done" is better than the opposite because breaking a wire will ruin the slab and cause a terrible delay. I also put the ganache on the bottom, let it set, then add the gianduja layer because a ganache will usually remain soft enough to cut and you have the more temperamental gianduja layer on top where you can monitor it. In general, the more temperamental layer should go on top, where you can watch it crystallize.

I have corrected the link.

I have been intending to post about the tape I used. It was recommended to me by @Miriam G (for which I thank her) and was intended to be used with the Cricut machine for making designs. I don't yet have a Cricut but decided to get some of the tape and cut it with a paper trimmer. The downsides: it is difficult to separate the tape from its backing (though the technique can be mastered) and the sheets of tape (it's not on a roll) are not large enough to be able to cut one stripe for an entire row of cavities. But the upside is that the tape really sticks, even better than the vinyl (electrician's) tape used by Andrey Dubovik. It also conforms to the curves of a mold cavity the best of anything I have used. One caveat: It's crucial to leave a tab to grasp the tape when removing it--it sticks so well that it takes some force to remove it.

I used these sea sponges (the closest I could find to what Kirsten appeared to be using). They are tricky to get used to, and the secret seems to be to get a very small amount of cocoa butter on the sponge. If you want, I can enclose one of them with the trays I am sending you (from the Classifieds)--I have a ton of them as I didn't realize how many little pieces of sponge I would get from a single sponge. I used them on the blue egg I made, and they worked really well there, as I wasn't constrained to get a certain design right (such as the galaxy).

Thanks for the kind words. Glad you recognized the galaxy design, and you are right: it's very difficult to get in all the colors on a small egg.

Frankly I can't imagine a good-tasting white chocolate from Kroger (assuming you meant it's the store brand). You might find Lindt at Kroger, but it's going to be expensive. As others have said, you should probably invest in some decent white couverture. You will still most likely have overtempering problems but almost certainly have a better, less-sweet taste. The thickening of white chocolate is just the way it is, and the methods you mention are the ways of dealing with it. I have found that raising the temperature gradually even as high as 90F/32C works to thin it out some, and adding untempered chocolate helps as well. If you do the latter, you can let the chocolate to be added cool to around 90F/32C and add it slowly up to one-half or even more of the volume already in the bowl. Be sure and recheck the temper. Many have found Cacao Barry's Zéphyr one of the easiest whites to work with (and it's also less expensive than the Valrhona offerings). If you haven't done so, you might want to read through the threads on white chocolate (there are some on the best-tasting ones and on tempering problems).

I bought these 6-piece trays to hold chocolates and no longer have use for them. I am giving them away; all you need do is pay the shipping cost. There are at least 250 of them. Note that the cavities are large: 1 7/8" x 1 7/8" (these are intended for "turtles or toffees" or similarly large items).

That's the hope... but sometimes I wonder if all people care about is the look. There are times when I think we should all go back to completely undecorated chocolates--and let the flavors be what it's all about.

Here are my offerings for Easter 2019, first the bonbons: Fillings (clockwise starting with the yellow piece at the top): (1) banana and passion fruit caramel in dark chocolate, (2) apple caramel in dark chocolate, (3) layers of dulce de leche and coffee ganache in dark chocolate, (4) layers of cherry pâte de fruit and pistachio gianduja in dark chocolate, (5) layers of black currant ganache and hazelnut gianduja in milk chocolate, (6) dark chocolate ganache with orange, cinnamon, and habañero pepper, (7) layers of butterscotch and caramelized pecans, (8) layers of dark caramel, almond gianduja, and shortbread. In the center: (9) yuzu and ginger ganache in white chocolate. And the eggs: The fillings (clockwise starting with the red egg at the top): (1) layers of strawberry pâte de fruit and strawberry cream in white chocolate, (2) layers of coffee ganache and rum buttercream in milk chocolate, (3) salted caramel in dark chocolate, (4) crispy hazelnut gianduja in dark chocolate.

You haven't been in business long enough to have reliable statistics, so (as pastrygirl suggested), this will be a best-guess situation--and a note-taking opportunity for next year. If you have the means of freezing bonbons, I would make more and get the unsold ones into the freezer after Easter. On the other hand, if you run out, that (I have discovered) is not a total loss as it creates a kind of "buzz" about your business--these are the chocolates to have, and you have to get there early if you want them!

On the recommendation of @Kerry Beal, I got the Platinum Q4. There are also a few extras that make spraying more tolerable. There is a special small cup that works quite well. I would be glad to tell you what else I bought besides the system itself and the needle that works the best, etc. As far as regular HVLP guns go, you want to look for a mini-spray gun; they will have small spray cups that are tall and thin, thus requiring less cocoa butter. The same is true of the special cup for the Fuji..

Indeed I have a Grex airbrush. You can read my review of it on this page. I have to say, however, that I don't use it as much as I used to. It is still the best airbrush I have used, and for doing gradients, it is still my first choice. But I came to feel that the amount of time I spent reheating the cocoa butter was too annoying. When my sales increased recently, I took the leap (which in that thread to which I linked I said I would never take) and purchased a Fuji sprayer. I haven't yet written a review of it, but many others who use it have said lots. Actually I would suggest you read through that thread, where you will find much discussion of the tools for decorating molds. About the Fuji, I will say at this point, after having used it for nine months, that I am sold on it. It is so quick and stays warm for so long that, even with smaller numbers of molds, it makes spraying them much easier. I keep it warm in a dehydrator, and it is ready to go. It is quite rare that I ever have to stop and give it a thorough reheating with a heat gun. It also does splattering beautifully (which few if any airbrushes can do and some regular HVLP guns can but many cannot). Yes, the Fuji is expensive, but most chocolatiers underestimate how their business will eventually grow and how expensive it is in the long run to keep upgrading from one airbrush system to another (I am now the proud possessor of four airbrushes, one inexpensive HVLP mini-gun, and two compresssors, plus untold cables, connectors, moisture traps, etc.+). And the Fuji isn't as expensive as it first seems because it includes the compressor as part of the package.

That sounds very intriguing. Do you have a source for the recipe?

@pastrygirl, love the marbled bunny. And obviously Jackson Pollock has come back to life to design those beautiful eggs.