sbain

@Desiderio can you help me understand how you use your mol d’art? I got one but still trying to work it into my routine (I make small batches, usually tempering only 1-2 kg at a time, tabling method.) do you melt in the mol d’art then temper by tabling? Or seed method? Then back into the melter for working? That’s what I tried but I had issues with the chocolate getting to thick in the melter (over-tempered?), then I left it in overnight and the top half of my chocolate hardened (bottom was still melted. Weird). I want to love my mol d’art like you, but I think I need to learn to use it better. Thanks for any (detailed) advice!

That’s a lovely shine. Looks like polished alabaster!

I don't have any answers for you (I'm relatively new to chocolate myself), but I love the sound of your experiments and I share your curiosity about keeping inclusions crunchy. I'm interested in putting some crispy inclusions in my bars and also into my molded bon bons (but worried about the ganache making everything soggy). Let me know if you have any wisdom to share on the topic -Seth

What a great looking bonbon (and photo)!

Happy Earth Day! These little guys are filled with yuzu pate du fruit and milk chocolate ganache. Hope you are all having a great weekend

Trying a whole new style: “open face bonbons”! (These were inspired by the geniuses over at Bonbonbon Chocolates).

Hmmm. It is dark chocolate and it did take some whacking to get them out. Might have been the chocolate temper, though I made several different types with the same batch and it was only theses that had issues, so I am inclined to blame the CB. My tempering is usually pretty good, but come to think of it, I did just buy a fancy new Mol d’art melter and this was my first batch using it to temper(seed instead of my usual tabling), so maybe it was off.

Sad night. I just made a big batch of bonbons where my colored cocoa butter stuck to my molds. Tragic i think i might might have overheated my Chef Rubber bottle in the microwave and lost my temper? Is there a way to salvage the bottle of CB? Can I melt the whole bottle up to 122F then table it down to 82F (like dark chocolate?)

WANTED: Chocovision tempering machine. Looking for a gently used tempering machine. Anyone have one they like to sell? thanks!

Thanks! I’m gonna try it the meltaway layer was a easy: 560g milk chocolate 95g coconut oil 95g peanut butter 1.5 teaspoons chipotle powder i melted and tempered it all together (I use slab method), then poured it onto my peanut nougat layer. It took a long time to set (almost 24 hours). You can find the whole recipe in this article about David Chow: https://www.thestar.com/life/food_wine/2015/12/24/how-david-chow-makes-his-delicate-sweets-and-chocolates.html

Made some bars this weekend. These are a peanut nougat layer with a chipotle and peanut butter milk chocolate meltaway layer on top (dipped in dark and splattered with cocoa butter). Inspired by a David Chow recipe. There came out pretty yummy!

Those look lovely. Can you share more about your delicious praline filling? I’ve never attempted it. Love to get your recipe

Wow! what a great collection of confections. In particular, I am intrigued by your prickly pear pate de fruit. I've never made pate de fruit and would like to try it. and assuming that's what you incorporated into your lemon ganache bon bons? how's they come out? Nice work!

Thanks. That recipe is a favorite of mine too, but it definitely needs more lemon and mint, especially when using only a small quantity as I did (maybe in a big truffle its fine?). The mold I used was a Martellato 30mmx30mm (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06Y59SY1M/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1) everyone loves it (I should probably buy a few more). And glad you like my colors. I don't own a airbrush, so splattering with a toothbrush is my preferred/only technique at this point Thanks again for the encouragement!

Loving my new small square molds. Nice and thin so only a small layer of filling, so I went with something strong: a meyer lemon and fresh mint in a white chocolate ganache (from Greweling, but I pumped up the flavors a bit).

I love the green swirly one (Venus?). Nice technique!

Nice wrapping! Any inclusions or flavors in your bars? I am thinking about doing some bars for the first time and looking for ideas.

Sounds delicious. What’s in a “chocolate malted”?

Late to the party on the dendrite technique, but I followed y’all’s advice and got some of that putty and tried my first batch. I’m practicing for my first time trying to sell (at a local holiday craft fair). These are filled with a dark chocolate peppermint ganache. I think I like the blue ones better (looks more like frost). Half of them looked terrible but these are my four best

When you say "spatula" I am assuming you aren't using a regular 'ol spatula (offset or otherwise). I don't think that will give you good results. get yourself one of these scrapers (or something like it) that can do the whole mold in one go. And If my scraper gets dirty I simply wash it (hot water, then completely dry) before scraping. It's got to be clean if you want a smooth surface. And I second what others have said: press down firmly and evenly and try to do it one smooth, fast, hard swipe. going back and fussing over each one will lead to problems... Good luck!

Those are fantastic! Nicely done. I love Great Red Spot

Hello Chocolate Geniuses. I have been experimenting with adding toasted nuts to my molded bon bons. I’m filling with a cream ganache, and sprinkling chopped nuts in to try to get some “crunch” but instead everything is pretty soggy Thinking about adding a whole hazelnut instead of chopped bits but worried about it getting soggy too. Any advice? Do I have to pre-coat the nut? Or just drop it in? Help!

Ah! What a clever idea to mould the two demis into a full sphere. I've got to try that. And of course feel free to "adopt" my coloring I tried several techniques and had the best luck with using a bit of sea sponge to dab in the colors (first gentle swooshes of white clouds, then a few dabs of light green, then slightly larger/harder darker green right on top of the first dab) then filled it all in with finger swipe of blue. Let me know how they turn out!

are your earths spheres or demi-spheres (like mine)? they look completely round in your photo...

Love it! Have you ever tried other planets? I am dreaming about a box of 9. Jupiter and Mars would be fun:)