understandingcocoa

Thanks Teo, I'll try to track whether it's always the pans that go in the oven later. Kitchen temp approx 19C, no idea on humidity but I'd say pretty low (UK based)

Hi all, I very occasionally have the following problem, and I can’t for the life of me work out why. The two photos are from the exact same batch just split into two separate identical pans. It seems to happen randomly and doesn’t happen with a particular flavour/ any certain toppings etc. First pan in the oven - perfect shine, second pan in the oven - almost grainy appearance? Still taste the same. TIA

Kerry you're a dream thank you, I felt like I was back at school failing at chemistry. So for sucrose you literally use a granulated sugar, with the idea that it will dissolve in the heat?

I'm trying to create some Wyabauw recipes but when trying to find the ingredients I'm coming up short. Based in the UK, any potential suppliers would be hugely appreciated as mine haven't got a clue what i'm talking about. Sucrose - is this a liquid ingredient? I'm assuming you can't just use sugar? Sorbitol - I've found liquid, does anyone know if Wyabauw recipes are expecting powder form instead? Dextrose - does this have another name in the UK? Glucose - I've noted the distinction in the book between glucose syrup and glucose, does anyone use pure glucose? Thanks in advance to anyone who can shed some light!

I think this is definitely the issue, it's a recipe for a bonbon filling, and it is pipeable so it's not the recipes fault, I just want to be able to create a more liquid version. Would you recommend making a wet caramel & starting off with more water in the sugar, or just adding more cream?

Jim i've had this exact same issue, using the same recipe and sometimes getting little blobs of fat. I realised it was from adding the butter all in one go, now I add chunks at a time, stir that in, then the next etc, and it hasn't separated since.

Thanks Bentley, from my experiments I think it must be that I need more liquid in my recipe, I tried the heating after adding cream method, however as soon as I added the cream it was already at 225F! So no way to cook to a cooler temp. I will keep you updated on my liquid addition experiments

This is a huge help, thanks so much. I'm going to read Kerry's lesson & have a good experiment.

Thanks Bentley, just to confirm, 104 Celsius not F correct? do you find it reaches an amber colour at this temp? and so you also put it back on the heat after adding cream?

I love anything with peanut butter so that sounds heavenly - do you layer it or mix them together? This method is new to me - do you mean you carry on cooking the caramel after the cream has been added? and does this create a consistency that pools out of the bonbon when cut open? I usually heat the sugar, glucose & a little water, then as soon as that reaches colour I immediately take off the heat and add in warmed cream & butter, then leave to cool.

Thanks Jim, I don't cook to a particular temp, I've always just done it by eye to an amber colour. I usually add the cream and take the sugar off the heat as soon as it reaches colour so I'm unsure how I could cook it to a lower temp... sounds like it's experiment time

I caramelise the sugar alone with a little water, then once to colour adding the cream & butter. Thank you i'll try another batch now and up the cream - do you use a recipe where it's more cream than sugar? P.s Thanks Pastry Girl, I always see your name popping up on the threads helping others

Hi guys, as the title suggests, I'm trying to make a more liquid caramel filling for bonbons. I make a salted caramel which as soon as it starts to cool gets too difficult to pipe very quickly, I've tried upping the cream & reducing the butter but still seem to have the same issue. Ideally I'd like a really runny caramel, the sort that pools out when you bite into a bonbon, can anyone provide any tips? Current recipe - 200g sugar, 180g cream, 40g butter - tastes beautiful but sets too hard! (Cooked until sugar turns amber) thanks in advance!

Late to the party but hi! If I'm understanding correctly i've had the same issue. If you want to keep placing face down, scrape way before it's set, just firming up enough that no more is dripping down. That way the excess you're scraping away isn't as cemented to the side that you're then pulling away with it - does that make sense?

Congrats, so exciting! Can you tell us a little more about your shop? What size is it? Do you have a huge counter/ lots of shelves to fill? What have you been doing up until this point chocolate wise - markets etc? Do you have any best sellers? Our little shop opened 4 months ago and the opening weekend was absolutely manic & I sold out of pretty much everything. My advice would be to make masses of your long life products i.e bars then you can just focus on truffles if you end up selling more than you think. When it comes to a schedule, to be honest as yet there isn't one, especially as everything sells at such different rates from week to week I just go with the flow. If you're worried about having bonbon wastage, you always have the option of running a competition to win free bonbons etc, bit of promo and gets rid of excess stock. Best of luck!

It is overwhelming isn't it! Do you have any community groups (facebook etc.)? I've been posting on there about the launch and had a huge response, people seem to really like getting behind a local business, so if you can, involve them as much as poss and let them get invested in you. Do other businesses in the same area do well? Yes I do online, but to be honest it needs far more marketing. I think if you can find something low risk enough (you can afford and not tied into a lengthy contract) it's worth a chance, chocolate is at least an easy thing to get people excited about!

Good advice thank you. I do a range of chocolate lollies that are great as "add ons" so hopefully this will cover that market!

@gfron1 Were these left to set in the fridge? I've had this on exposed chocolate i.e. bars when i've left them in too long, or truffles have sometimes developed a sticky sheen after tap out due to being left too long in the cold (I have the memory of goldfish)

Funny you should say this, it's an old security shop so it currently has bolted on bars across the whole front of the shop too

Haha yes, it won't last for long! And as the buildings are stone round here they stay pretty cool luckily. Wine fridge it is, thank you

Another question - what does everyone do in terms of truffle storage? My counter won't be refrigerated, I'm wondering whether to store the truffles in a wine fridge or some such when the shops closed, or at least boxed away to keep fresh as the counter won't have a back. P.s. the shop will be cool, it's the North after all

Good point, it was such a good feeling to turn down a wholesaler trying to batter me down on prices because I've started to recognise when things aren't worth my time - took a long time not to just grab every opportunity with both hands. Haha I'd love to have something that fancy, however I think a max of about 8 people could fit in the shop at once 😂

I know you're right, I've just got to build up that confidence!

Oh yeah I'm totally with you here. Something that held me back was the fear of investing everything I have and losing it all - and the huge amount of extra pressure that comes with knowing you've spent so much! This shop is sort of the perfect stepping stone, lower rent & lack of various other normal fees means it's the least risk I could have taken. Fingers crossed kitting out the premises is actually going to be fairly reasonable from current projections, I'll be building as much as possible myself, I think the main cost will be the custom counter, and the only thing I won't be able to take away with me is the paint on the walls and the flooring! Haha yeah I'll give the 20k selmi a miss for now, hoping just to carry on with my current equipment for as long as poss with a few extra basics. Yes that's the plan, really hoping to be up and running by October and start off with a bang for Christmas.... I'll keep you posted 😅

You're right, I think i've accepted that it's going to be a bit of trial and error. Does anyone else use izettle? I use them for markets so think I will continue on for the shop, perhaps link it up to an ipad to use as the till screen. Just had a browse on fiverr, thanks for the tip!