pastryani

Will do JohnT!! Thanks all!

Thanks Kerry - it does look similar, though the sides on CS2207 look more angled than in Chris' pics, but maybe that's just the picture. So hard to tell.

Airbrush troubleshooting: so I got a dual action gravity feed 0.5mm airbrush and hooked it up to my Airmaster compressor. I heated the gun and the plain cocoa butter, but when I tried to spray it, nothing came out (I could feel air flow but no cocoa butter) and there were bubbles in the cup. Anyone know what's going on? So frustrating!!

Hi Chris - just wondering what mold you used for the Plum and the Toscana? I have bonbon molds that are deeper and shallower, but these are a great in-between size. Thanks!

Thanks for the info. It's hard to decide on a pricey book without being able to flip through it. I think given the uncertainty of the recipes, I'll hold off for now.

I've got the red Airmaster compressor and spray gun set from Kopykake. I'vo only ever used it with water-based colors intended specifically for the airbrush gun. The compressor apparently goes up to 30 psi. I'd really like to try airbrushing with colored cocoa butter, but buying another compressor and airbrush seems a bit redundant. Is it possible to use what I've got to spray cocoa butter, or are there issues with the compressor not being powerful enough and/or the spray gun not handling cocoa butter very well? Has anyone out there tried this? The last thing I want to do is ruin a perfectly good airbrush gun. Tks.

Thanks it was an interesting read! Cheap it is!

Hi All - I'm considering the following Wybauw books: Fine Chocolates 2 - Great Ganache Experience Fine Chocolates Great Experience 3 - Extending Shelf Life I currently have "Fine Chocolates Great Experience" (with the cross-section of the cinnamon truffle on the cover), but would like to know if each of his books have different recipes or if he recycles some of them (ie- uses the same recipes in multiple books). Does anyone out there own these books and if so, would you mind taking a pic of the Index so I could compare with mine if there are duplicate recipes? Also I'd like to see if the recipes are interesting enough to spend so much $$ on them. Thanks much!

I don't drink alcohol, but I eat it in boozy sweet treats. I'd like to make two boozy caramels, one with cognac and one with cabernet. What brands of cognac and cabernet would pair the best with the flavor profile of caramel?? Thanks!

After much cleaning and buffing, here are the results from round 2 (using milk chocolate). This time they came out without those strange marks (sorry I didn't take any pre-lustre-dust pics, someone couldn't wait to start decorating!). ;-). Thanks again all!

Wow, thanks everyone for your replies! Edward & Sebastian: it's possible that the molds may have been dusty. I keep them in storage boxes but I did not wipe them before using them. Will remember to do that next time. Kerry: thanks for the welcome, and there's no color added to the molds - I wish!! ;-). Adding color will likely be my next series of questions for you all. I'm learning that chocolate is far more complex than I previously thought, but that said, challenge accepted!! (Something tells me this will be a steep but delicious learning curve). Glad I have you folks at eG as a resource!!

Thanks keychris and gfron1... I did check my temper and it looked okay, but I may have rushed into it (it was beginning to set just fine but was taking longer than usual. I figured that we as due to the warmer-than-usual temps that day so I called it done). The shells were regular thickness I think (photo attached). The filling was a lemon ganache. And it was a polycarbonate mold. Thanks for your help both! Ani.

Hi folks at eGullet! This is my first post here and it's a question for you chocophiles out there. Lately I've really been into molded chocolates and been practicing tempering (by seeding) and playing around with molds. I unmolded my bonbons yesterday and found these strange marks on the surface. Any idea (a) what this is and (b) what caused it? I did put stick the molds in the fridge for 10-15 minutes after casting, fillings, and capping; but I've done that before with no such issue. Ideas? Thanks! Ani.