Bentley

I am curious which 3 colors you used for the ombre effect.

I had a request for a coffee flavored bon bon. I am not a coffee fan, so I've never made anything with it. I've seen two types of recipes - one that infuses the cream with the beans and one that uses brewed coffee. I'm curious which type of recipe is used by most people here. If you infuse the cream, are you straining the beans out or are you using a fine enough grind to not create textural problems in the ganache? If you use brewed coffee, are you reducing the cream by the amount of the coffee liquid on a one to one basis? Thanks!

Absolutely gorgeous. Please go into a little detail about how you did the decoration.

My latest from the Ecole Chocolat class. They are actually shinier than they look in the picture. I need better lighting! I feel like I'm learning a lot - but so much more to go. This is a milk chocolate hazelnut gianduja in a milk chocolate shell.

Very nice Kerry. I have an opening on my staff for a dropper and dragger if you'd like to apply Can you show me what that clay tool looks like?

I suppose that is easier than doing the yellow first, but it is still extremely time consuming. At his production volumes, I imagine he has a full time staffer doing nothing but this

These are the first molded chocolates that I made for my Ecole Chocolate class. It's a milk chocolate raspberry ganache with a dark chocolate shell. I had a few that got stuck in the mold and damaged when they came out but overall, I was really happy with how they turned out. The color is red cocoa butter applied with a brush then backed with white.

I've been looking at Norman Love's chocolates and I can figure out how to do the designs for just about all of them. The Lemon Bar Bon Bon has me stumped. Anyone have any ideas on how he achieves the look of that one? My initial thought was that he sprayed in the yellow, then used a tool (sponge-tip or q-tip to remove some of the color, then sprayed in white. I could not replicate the technique, as I could never remove the color cleanly enough or remove color precisely enough to create the thinner lines. It was also extremely time consuming - not efficient for large scale production. Here is a screenshot taken from Norm Love's website (www.normanloveconfections.com).

I bought some of the small bottles of colored cocoa butter from Chef Rubber. Do they generally arrive in temper or will I need to temper them for first use? I'll be using a brush to apply it, not an airbrush.

That's an interesting tip - not one I would have guessed. The spinach makes sense - although I worry it might darken it even more, but I didn't realize the citric acid would have any impact on the color.

Well, my first attempt was a success. I made two batches...a strawberry and a kiwi. They both set up beautifully and tasted great. The only issue was the color of the kiwi pate de fruit. I made my own puree, and it was a brownish green and the finished candy was a dark yellow/brownish....not a super attractive look. I think maybe the seeds that got blended into the puree may have darkened it. Perhaps I will try to strain it next time before pureeing the fruit. Has anyone else tried a kiwi pate de fruit? Did you get a nice green color on it, and if so, how?

Thanks Kerry. For now, it's small batches for me because I'm just experimenting.

One further inquiry: the Boiron recipes say to use 25g Tartaric acid for the particular one I'm making. Is that 25g of solution (12.5g of TA and 12.5g of water) or 25g of TA in solution with 25g of water?

I love that rectangular mold. What a great find. I wonder if you can use a heat gun to make clean up easier. Can I ask which gold luster dust you use. I'm still learning which ones are food grade and edible and which aren't.

Beautiful!!! And wonderful flavors as well. can you describe your decorating technique for the mint ganache bon bon and the lime cream?

I was going to try making some pate de fruits. I have the Boiron recipes which call for 1 kg of puree and a little more than 1 KG of sugar. That sounds like it will make a significantly bigger batch than I need. Can I scale it down by just cutting the recipe down, say by half?

I've read through a lot of threads on the forum about airbrushes, most of which are quite old. I am curious if there are any changes in recommended airbrushes. I am not sure what the difference practically speaking between a gravity fed and siphon/bottle fed brush and which is best for spraying chocolate molds. There's also double action vs single action. I've been looking at the Badger 105 line as well as the Badger 100LG line. There is also a badger 250 line which is siphon fed and was popular on the forum at least as of a few years ago. Then there is the POwermate HVLP spray gun at Home Depot (http://www.homedepot.com/p/Powermate-3-Piece-HVLP-Gravity-Feed-Spray-Gun-Kit-010-0029CT/202591393). Sounds like people like the HVLP guns because they avoid a lot of overspray. No idea which to choose.

I've been looking at some new chocolate molds and am not sure what is the right size. I see some shapes I like with various shapes from 10gr to 20gr. I can't visualize how big the finished bonbon would be. What size is the typical chocolatier using?

Indeed. That's the fun part.

Here is a picture of what I was thinking of.....a ganache layer with a caramel layer where the caramel isn't firm but doesn't ooze. And I notice they piped the caramel in first. The photo is a screenshot of the Banana Fosters bonbon from http://www.ghyslain.com/.

So much to learn. Thanks for the replies.

Thanks Kerry. The kind of caramel I'm thinking about is one that doesn't ooze out of the candy when cut or bitten into. I'd like something that is soft and chewy but firm enough to retain its shape.

I thought the caramel would set at room temperature (isn't that how they cut it to enrobe caramels?) Would Greweling's recipe for soft caramel using fresh dairy be a good starting point for a caramel for molded chocolates?

So you want to make a molded chocolate with a 2 layer filling of a caramel and a ganache. What is your workflow? What do you start first and how do you time everything out so that the components are all ready to come together at the right temperatures given that the caramel and ganache need to be pipe-able.?

Thanks Kerry. Heading to that thread now. Looking forward to hearing from you "a l'ecole."