Pastrypastmidnight

If it’s not, it’s almost identical—thanks! Now, does anyone know anybody who sells JKV molds in the US?

It looks very similar but I’m not quite sure that’s it. It’s hard to tell from the tiny picture, but I think the feet look different and face seems not quite as cute. I just loved the look of these—they remind me of illustrated Easter and baby animal picture books from my childhood :).

Does anyone recognize this duckling mold? I messaged the chocolatier but didn’t receive a reply.

Preaching to the choir—I have a degree in Art History and I can’t even draw stick people ;).

I guess I feel like there are people who go, “I wonder what would happen if I...” Or “I wonder if I can figure out a way to...” I think that’s great. Trying to figure out what’s possible or trying to find a way to translate something from your head to reality. I wouldn't take a class to learn that technique. Because it’s just not practical. But I can look at it, admire the creativity and artistry and move on doing my own thing ;).

In production, it helps to have a second person to scrape. Spray 4-5 molds, then the other person can start scraping while the sprayer continues spraying, starting with the first mold sprayed. Then the cocoa butter is set up enough that it won’t drip into the cavities, but not so set that it chips off the edges. Alternatively, a single person could spray 4-5 molds, then scrape them all—always starting with the first one sprayed and working backward. Then work on the next handful of molds. At work we sprayed 60-100 molds of the same design at a time. If you want a good tricep workout, scrape 4-5 designs in a day .

Bob’s Red Mill makes a really fine unsweetened shredded coconut. It was much easier to cut because of the smaller pieces of coconut. I agree with @curls that it would be difficult to pipe—it’s super sticky and viscous, like cookie dough consistency. I’ve had no problem cutting it with a knife. It holds its shape really well. I think her idea of spooning it in is wise. Maybe for a molded piece, spoon the coconut filling in, then pipe caramel or caramel ganache on top and then close.

Oh. My. Gosh. We just left Nathaniel Reid Bakery on our way through St. Louis. I would encourage everyone to make time to go when you’re there for the workshop. We ordered, like, 6 things and they were all fantastic!

Super cool! I’m excited!

You want to make a tray out of chocolate—so you need a mold that size? Or you want the chocolate pieces in a plastic tray within the box?

I got some Cocoa Noel butter like that. I upped my machine all the way to 33.9 and it was still lumpy. I had to melt it all the way out, let it solidify, then keep my machine at 33.7. I think it must have been a little old and formed type 6 crystals. I freaked out when I got my Cacao Barry cocoa butter because at 33.7 it melted almost completely. I lowered it one tenth of a degree at a time and found 33.5 is perfect.

I’d love to learn about sugar work as well. And I’m interested in panning, although I’m not sure if any of that kind of equipment is available. Also, if anyone knows how to keep a stupid candy bar with a caramel layer from exploding out any weak spot in the stupid enrobage, I’m totally all ears (grrrr ).

At Melissa Coppel she said to just wrap the box they’re packaged in with about 5 layers of plastic wrap. Maybe try that and see how it goes.

The workhorse chocolates (Satilia 35 and 62) come in 12kg boxes. If they make custom couverture it comes in 12kg boxes as well.

I did have the thought the other day that I’d love to hear from anyone already in business how they track and manage inventory of both raw ingredients and finished products. I know it must be done, but I don’t really know how one does it.

I don’t know if it’s changed, but I do like the dark and 72% pound plus, taste wise. It’s more viscous than couverture, but I did shell with it when I first got molds almost 2 years ago. I don’t love the taste of their milk chocolate.

ChocoTransferSheets.com sells sample packs of cocoa butter (like, sets of 6 colors). That’s what I started with. They’re a pain in the rear to heat in the microwave because the containers are so thick, but they do well in a toaster oven on low heat. And if you have to microwave it’s not the end of the world. It’s jusr slow. The metallic set is gorgeous!

Oh no! Best wishes to your KA for a speedy recovery!

Sigh. I guess I’ll have to get some liquid soy lecithin now. I’m running out of space in my house for specialty ingredients 😂.

But soy tastes better? Ugh. I’m so frustrated. I bought soy lecithin granules the first time I tried this last year because I didn’t know any better and they didn’t incorporate and they scorched. And I thought that batch tasted a bit weird too. I really don’t want to buy $20 of liquid soy lecithin just to try it out. Grrrrr. Oh well. Onward and upward.

So I made the 11/29 recipe (with a bit less lecithin than was called for) last night when I made 6 different caramel recipes/methods for comparison. The Genin one was the very least favorite. It just tasted off. I’m wondering if it was the sunflower lecithin. That was the only kind I could find locally in a smaller container. Does anyone know if sunflower lecithin tastes significantly different from soy lecithin? I was super disappointed.

I wish—it didn’t have a temperature. Just low, medium, high kind of thing. The other warmer in the other room was set to 117F but that was for holding equipment used to measure chocolate so the chocolate wouldn’t crystallize before using again—like moving melted chocolate from the holding tank to the tempering machines or from the tempering machines to the 1-shot, etc.

It’s not perfect or 100% effective, but I’ve already had to change the filter and I notice when I forget to turn it on, so it’s doing something.

I don’t heat my molds at all if I’m painting them. I’ve messed around with heating them for molding bars. When I worked at a shop nearby they kept the mold in heat cabinets for molding bars.

That’s what my husband and kids and I were brainstorming about. My husband suggested an inside out chocolate covered strawberry—strawberry covered chocolate ganache, but I’m not sure the Ruby is strong enough to carry it. We also talked about strawberry lemonade. That’s basically what it tastes like to me. White chocolate strawberry lemonade. I remember reading that, here actually, years ago when I first got interested in chocolate. Long before I actually got up the guts to join all of you suuuuuuper intimidating people