Jenjcook

I took this to the show too

Plain old caramel. Cheap. Long shelf life. No danger of expanding and cracking.

Well here it is. It was a pain, but it turned out pretty well.

Wow. I know I'm a chocolatier, not a baker, but I really didn't think working with fondant would be outside my skill set....uuug. After five hours I eventually wadded it up in a ball, threw it the corner and quit! I clearly need to find something else to cover my cake dummies. I'd sooner spray them in cocoa butter that try the fondant against.

I was planning to make the chocolate shells as usual. The chocolate will last a long time if stored properly, just looking for a filling that wont rot in that time. If that's the case, why not just mould up solids? Then there's no issue at all with spoilage. I'm definitely considering that. I was just thinking of the most economical solution

I was planning to make the chocolate shells as usual. The chocolate will last a long time if stored properly, just looking for a filling that wont rot in that time.

I need some advice. I have made wedding truffle towers before (on something similar to a cupcake stand), however i am going to a big bridal expo this month and I want to attempt to make something similar to a "cake bite wedding cake" (http://www.thedailymeal.com/wedding-cake-day-steampunk-cake) but with molded chocolates. I know the basic idea is a foam cake dummy covered in fondant with the cake bites, or in my cake molded truffles, stuck in place with tooth picks. Has anyone ever attempted one of these? and if so any tips to pass along? It seems relatively straight forward, but it is going to take ALOT of product to make so Id really rather avoid pitfalls and waste. I am thinking of using the 8 sided geodesic mold because it seems like the pieces would stack nicely side by side (http://www.jbprince.com/chocolate-and-sugarwork/geodesic-dome-40-cavities.asp) Also has anyone ever made "dummy" chocolates for displays? ie something with a filling that wont spoil like a homemade play dough or the like (http://fun.familyeducation.com/sculpting/recipes/37040.html) Im thinking if I manage to pull off this display I might try to make it out of something I can keep for future displays. If i use regular product (it will take about 300 pieces) they will have had a tooth pick stuck in them and basically be trash afterword.

You could use a compound chocolate like Merkens coating that does not require tempering. If you want a thin coat paramount crystals work well to thin it out. Vegetable oil tends to make compound coatings rather soft in my opinion.

Ooooh. duh. I wasnt thinking water activity. Which is stupid ive read it written in that shorthand a hundred times before. i agree that could be an issue, but i followed notters recipe to the T. well almost, i infuse my lime zest into the cream then strain because i dont like the way it feels gritty in the final product, but didn't change any key ingredients. I dont know the exact water activity, but i wouldnt think notter would publish one prone to ferment. i made another batch and let it sit overnight before filling my shells this time, thinking that maybe if there was some expansion as it crystalizes thing going on, maybe it would happen then instead of inside the shells. ill let ya know how that works. as for the design. I rub the yellow into the grooves, some inevitably gets on the flat part too, so after it sets I polish that clean leaving only the yellow grooves, then spay it green.

What is "Aw"???It is a texture sheet in a magnetic mold. I rub one color into the grooves of the sheet, let it set, then polish the flat parts clean, so that the color is only in the grooves then airbrush the second color. Snap it in the back of the mold and pour chocolate.

What is going on! I made Notter's key lime pralines. They tasted great....but a week later they did this! It's like the key lime filling expanded. The shells aren't all that thin bc the Callebaut I was using is pretty viscous. Anybody know what happened, and what I should do to keep it from happening again?

My zebras are getting better!

I was so disappointed when tomric said my molds were on back order and I'd have to wait a month. So when ups brought the package today (after 2 weeks) ....i swear it was like I was five years old again on Christmas morning and saw that Santa came!

Oh whoops no. Sorry, I use white for the ganache and pipe into white or milk.

Ok, here is the problem I'm having. My magnetic molds work absolutely beautiful with transfer sheets and sprayed texture sheet...BUT. If I try to use it like a regular mold and just airbrush, it sticks to the metal back piece every time. Is it the metal? I don't warm it, but I don't pre warm any of my molds when airbrushing and this is the only one that sticks.

I made it pretty much as written, without the grand marnier. I generally leave out most liqueurs, or use them sparingly. It does set a bit soft. I would not want to attempt to roll and dip. But it pipes beautifully into molds. I haven't as of yet had much worries for shelf life as I've made them for weddings and events where they were consumed right away, rather than sitting on a shelf for days.

So a few of my recipes are adapted from the usuals suspects, Notter's key lime, Grewelings egg nog, both the peanut butter and the jelly come from two different greweling recipes as well. And pecan pie is a pecan version of his walnut bon bon, minus the almond paste. A lot of them I've just made up using the basic ganache ratios in greweling and experimenting with adding things. I also troll the Internet for ideas, one of my best finds is the recipe I use for pumpkin spice... http://dyingforchocolate.blogspot.com/2011/11/pumpkin-pie-truffles.html I like this version a lot better than Grewelings caramel one, its more traditional pumpkin flavored. A lot of mine are double layer, creme brûlée is a vanilla bean ganache and a caramel white chocolate ganache. The cream cheese recipe is fairly easy, you basically just use the cream cheese as your emulsifier instead of heavy cream. 8oz cream cheese, softened 1cup confectioners sugar 12 oz white chocolate, melted and tempered Beat the cream cheese and sugar together. Mix with tempered white chocolate. Pipe into molds!

Ooh those are beautiful!!

Thanks! The zebras are tricky, I can't seem to do them as we'll as others lol! I've been making chocolates since my mama put me to work bottoming chocolate covered cherries when I was seven, however I took about a decade break to go to medical school and pursue a career in that field. A few months ago I discovered shell molding, which wasn't all that popular a decade ago, and fell in love with the artistic aspects available. I've been on a medical sebatical to raise kids and have picked up chocolates again. The red velvet is a double layer red milk chocolate and cream cheese ganache. The other flavors are White chocolate - key lime pie, birthday cake, cookies n cream, egg nog, and pumpkin spice Milk chocolate - honey hazelnut, peanut butter n jelly, lemon pie, strawberry cheesecake, roasted Almond chew, pecan pie, caramel cappuccino, cinnamon roll, and s'mores. Dark - creme de menthe, raspberry, tiramisu, creme brûlée, pistachio, chocolate chip cookie dough, mimosa, salted caramel coconut, and bananas foster. The idea for the single strip came right from that discussion on this forum. I tried several ways to replicate it, including someone's suggestion of a qtip, which works, but the line isn't very clean. Ultimately I found some food safe plastic adhesive sheets in a local cake craft store. I cut a strip, stick it to the mold and airbrush my main color. After it sets I peal off the strip and paint the second color, or leave blank if I want the color if the chocolate to come through. As for the cocoa butter, I did end up buying a few of chef rubbers jewel tones such as gold and silver because I couldn't replicate the glittery pigment in them. I tried adding luster and pearl dust to my colors but for some reason that made the cocoa butter stick to my molds pretty badly. Other than that, I made most of the colors.

Finally finished all 24 flavors!

Grrr I ordered 4 from them yesterday and somehow missed the "it'll take us four weeks to get them in stock" disclaimer. I was so disappointed today when I got the email tell me I have to wait.

The zebra is amazing! How did you do that? They all sound delicious.

Here is some of my homemade cocoa butter, works pretty well, but it is hard to make certain colors, so I guess I'll just order those from chef rubber

I'm on a quest to make my father in law homemade chocolate covered cherries for Christmas, but here is the crux, he like Cellas, with the CLEAR center, not cordials like queen Anne's with the milky white liquified fondant centers. I can't seem to figure out how they do it, but tonight I was looking at the picture of starch molded sugar crusted alcohol pralines in Notter's "the art of the chocolatier" and I'm wondering if it isnt done by some kind of process closer to that. Any thoughts?