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I just started a new Craft Chocolate Company and am looking for a source for powdered whole milk on a small scale (3-5kg). Any suggestions? Steve

Some chocolate makers have incredibly intricate chocolate molds that boggle my mind. How do they clean them? Or do they not clean/polish them? Or have an army of interns? Or just do it perfectly every time and polishing molds is for suckers anyway? They are beautiful, but seem so very impractical. What am I missing? The Soma is not bad, mostly thin lines, but the Askinosie ...

So I've been looking for the ultimate matcha brownies (technically blondies but it just doesn't have the same ring to it). I've made chewy and fudgy regular brownies, but I find white chocolate based blondies to be much trickier. I have made a few matcha brownie recipes in the past, but they all came out sad and cakey. So I have taken it upon myself to come up with my own recipe. My matcha brownies came out very moist and "fudgy" but not chewy. I'm thinking next time I should try using vegetable oil instead of butter and only dark brown sugar.

Hi guys. Came across these amazing bon bons on Instagram. How would you say I could replicate the design? thabks.

OK, I know this is sweating the small stuff, but I'm wondering what you see ... Is this rabbit https://www.dr.ca/rabbit-mold-7-5-inches.html holding an egg, or is the oval a fuzzy underbelly?

Is there some simple way to enrobe lemon curd in chocolate? Perhaps by freezing the curd first? Could it easily be wrapped in a ganache? Maybe injected into balls of ganache? Thanks!

At least in Europe comercial chocolate tablets are getting thinner. Usually 6mm thick and of course bigger in area. But I don't manage to find that kind of molds at manufacturer's sites (80 or 100g). Or at least choice is very limited. Why? Maybe too thin for manual unmolding? Or they just use bigger molds and fill partially? Thanks!

I have a box of truffle shells that were not stored properly and have bloomed. If I fill and dip them in tempered chocolate, will the newly dipped chocolate bloom due to the layer underneath it, or will the outer layer seal the under layer and keep them looking nice?

does anyone recognise this grate/grid that Antonio Bachour is using in this picture.....or what the correct name for this bit of kit is....? I like the height and I want one...

Hey there wise E-gullet-ers! I have another question to put out there. I am interested in making a rose jelly - one that I can layer with a chocolate ganache similar to a pâte de fruit. I don't really know how to go about this. Do you infuse water with dried rose petals and make a syrup? What's the best way to gellify it? I'm very curious. Has anyone made jellies with any other botanicals? Is anyone willing to share their recipe as a guideline? Many thanks! Christy

When working with tablets and bar molds how necessary is to heat the molds? What will be the difference doing it or not? How do you heat them when working with a large number? Air gun, heating cabinet? Your help is deeply appreciated!

Good morning! Long story short: I am doing a spin off the coconut/chocolate/almond candy (almond joy), and trying to create a specific shape out of the almond. My hands are cramped after a couple dozen failed attempts whittling roasted almonds, so now I'd like to try a different approach, and instead, create some kind of sub-candy or cookie with roasted almonds that I can put into a mold or use a mini cookie cutter. I'm fairly new to sweets, my knowledge in this area is pretty slim. Some ideas so far, I don't like any, but it might help turn some gears: 1. dusting almond over a stencil, but that's not enough almond nor crunchy enough 2. almond brittle, but that's too hard and sweet, I'd like it more of a soft crunch, and bringing the almond flavor forward 3. meringue with almonds (sort of macaron-ish), however, weather has been humid and raining here, and I'm ending up with a gooey mess instead of that soft crunch In addition to having almond-forward taste and soft crunch texture, it'd be fun to explore something modernish - I have a accumulated a few tools and ingredients not customarily found in homes. There are dietary considerations I will have to account for, however, no need to worry about that now, I am just looking for ideas and a place to take it from there Thank you for your time in reading!

Hello, hoping someone can help me with some workflow questions. I've recently taken over the pastry role in a small tasting menu restaurant and we'd like to produce molded chocolate truffles for either mignardise or take-aways. We have 5 poly trays of molds that hold 40/tray and we'd like to produce roughly that many per week (200). Time and space is tight so I'd like to do this in one go, once per week. The problem I'm having is I don't know the proper workflow for creating this many candies at once. We do not have a tempering machine so it would be stovetop tempering. Is it possible to do that in one go with one big bowl of chocolate? In the past I've made truffles, but always discarded the chocolate after filling the molds. Is it a bad idea to put chocolate from the molds back into the large batch of tempered chocolate? (i.e. fill the molds with chocolate, let the shell set (1-2 mins) then when tipping the chocolate out, can that be tipped back into the large batch?) Also, any tips for large batch tempering of chocolate? We don't have a marble slab so the seeded method is really the only one. The real question is how can I keep a large batch of chocolate tempered for the time it takes to produce 200 molded candies? We have minimal equipment for this kind of operation and I'd be tempering over a double boiler then using ambient heat from a frenchtop to maintain temperature. Is this too much to do without a tempering machine? I'm worried about maintaining the temperature of the tempered chocolate during the time it takes to fill 200 molds with filling. I know I can retemper if I lose it but I really need to work fast and efficiently to get this done in the timeframe that I have (~1hr). If anyone has some insight into a workflow it would be much appreciated. Thanks, Jesse

Hey All! I remember having a conversation with someone a few years ago and they said something to me about a technique they heard about that involves infusing cold cream with various flavors overnight. This cream could then be used to make chocolate ganache fillings. I think the idea was that the cold infusion method somehow imparted a better or cleaner flavor to the final product. Can anyone one tell me more about this technique? I am playing around with various herbs and citrus fruit these days for ganache flavors and I would like the taste to come through as strong and pure as possible. I am curious to know, even if the cream is infused while cold, wouldn't some of that effort be lost when heating the cream to mix with the chocolate in the ganache? I'd love to be enlightened! Thanks!

Hi everyone, I'm a little pastry chief in France, still learning and really passionate. It's been five months that I did'nt studiy or practise and I miss that so much. I never stop talking about this. I decided to travel in south america to learn everything I can. I'm actually in Central Colombia, and I will travel to Ecuador, Galapagos, Peru, Bolivia and maybe a little bit more if I want to. I have time until march, more or less. My project is to go in the farms and meet the people who grow up the raw material I use for make my pastries, Talk to them and see the plantation would be really helpfull for me to understand how does it works. If people need, I'm volunteer for work in exchange with accomodation and food for a few days. My spanish is not good yet, but I'm learning and sometimes it's more funny to not speak the same language. I'm interested about everything, exotic fruits, citrus, coffee, cacao, sesame, pepper, spices... If some of you is, knows or works with farmers or pastry chiefs in those countries, I would be glad to meet you/them and learn everthing about the work. We can exchange good recipe too. Thank you very much, Loubna

Yesterday I made my familiar go-to simple lime/cream cheese pie with one egg, some milk, lime juice & zest, etc, covered with a dark chocolate ganache: heavy cream, a dollop of butter. It's in the fridge covered with a plastic topper but I can cover it with plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Today's lunch guest is not coming...onslaught of sleet, freezing rain, and now snow...oh goodie...winter's here... Now she is slated for next Thursday. Is there any possibility that the pie can last that long and not poison or at least revolt us? Thanks.

Hello, I've been asked to make a cake with an edible film strip style ribbon (NOT made of fondant) and I'm trying to work out a solution given limited time (2 weeks) and limited skills (a lifetime's worth of lack of decorating skills and attention to detail!). Ideally I'd love to use a chocolate transfer sheet ... but the only ones I can find are in the USA (I'm in Australia) and the shipping time makes that impractical. I've been googling and not seen a decent alternative that I think I can do (actually I haven't even found something that is edible that I think looks good, even from professionals!!)! Fondant would be the most obvious solution but I've been given the instructions of no fondant (but maybe they wouldn't notice a strip?!) ... but chocolate seems possible. Some ideas I've thought of and would love feedback ... Could I use old film negatives as a transfer? Cut out the frames and then use the strips? (am I going to kill anyone with chemicals?!!) Could I create acetone strips by trying to stamp/cut out something that sort of looks like a film strip? Use it as a stencil instead? Piping on to acetate using an image behind as a guide? I can't say I have very steady hands so am thinking it would be very wonky?!!! If I did the outline in dark chocolate would I need a white chocolate layer to make it transfer onto a buttercream cake? I have a chocolate tempering machine, most likely to be using Callebaut 54% but could use Lindt 70%/85%/90%. I've really only used transfer sheets directly on to dipped chocolate, and acetate to create random curls for decorations ... I'm wondering about the logistics of getting the chocolate on the strips, keeping it shaped for the cake (I think the cake is square ... but maybe it might be round?!) and also transferring them on to the cake? (back up plan ... plain ribbon!!!) Would love any advice! Thanks!!

Looking for your opinions and experiences... I am planning to put some wire shelving in my chocolate & confections kitchen. The kitchen has a concrete floor. This shelving will hold ingredients, colored cocoa butters, and packaging. Wondering if I should get casters for this shelving... what are your thoughts on this oh so important question? ;-)

I've used Valrhona Ivoire white chocolate as a base for various ganache recipes for some time after failing to create a good ganache with other white chocolate including Callebaut, a brand I otherwise like. Valrhona is expensive compared to other brands available here in England but Vente Privée offers it at a good discount several times each year. There is a Valrhona sale this week: https://secure.uk.vente-privee.com/ns/en-gb/operation/57934/classic/3642874/catalog That link is to the English site but I know the company operates in other countries. You need to become a member to buy from the site, not sure why but it is free and you aren't obliged to buy anything. I've already placed an order, popular products sell out fast. Since ordering I have read various posts in the Pastry and Baking thread that have left me wondering if I should be using Opalys as my white chocolate rather than Ivoire. Do any of you have experience of both variants of Valrhona's white chocolate? I would be grateful for any advice you can provide on using them in baking or chocolate making.

To all the chocolate lovers, manufactures and those experimenting with chocolate - have a happy day! So, to celebrate the day I have an order for a batch of Chocolate Peppermint Crisp Tarts for one of my retail outlets. What are you doing to celebrate the day?

I have been looking for self-sealing plastic bags like Soma uses for chocolate bars. Interested in a rectangle vs. the squares Soma is using. Have not found anything at Gleurp or Nashville Wraps (but I may be using the wrong search terms). Anyone know where to find these bags (in a variety of sizes) that have a flap with a bit of adhesive on the end for sealing the package? Any other chocolate bar packaging ideas that don't require going custom?

I was going through ideas for bonbons and was thinking a bon bon using a lemon curd as a filling layer. I am curious if this would present shelf life issues. The curd would be baked until set then piped. Does anyone have any experience with this or water activity tests they've done?

I know this question gets asked frequently, and I've done my research, but I can't believe that I can't find a less expensive option for packaging to hold 2 truffle-sized bonbons. The two options I liked (from Nashville Wraps and BoxandWrap) come to over $1.60 each when factoring in shipping. There is no way to price them at that cost. Am I missing some options out there?

I want to make a liquid caramel filled small easter eggs - I'll be using polycarbonate moulds. Any thoughts on how I can assemble these without having the caramel run out?

Does anyone here know what the story is with Lumette? I was just at a chocolate event and a local caterer was featuring these chocolates. I doubt that Ewald Notter is working for a caterer in Seattle, so is this a wholesale line he's doing? The website seems to be just a landing page for now. Just curious, it was odd to see the name at a local event.