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I'm relatively new to chocolate making but now that I've finally got the hang of tempering (by hand using the seeding method) I'd like to work on incorporating less air during the process. I mainly make bars at the moment so I can tap out air bubbles after filling but I want to start making dipped biscuits and that's not going to work! I've watched oh so many videos of people stirring their chocolate while tempering and can't pick up any nuances that make their process different to mine, though they clearly have significantly less air in their mixture. Any ideas how I could fix this problem or should I consider incorporating air bubbles into my biscuit design?

Hi! I started tempering chocolate in December despite saying I would never temper chocolate because it looks so complicated. Now I'm whipping up chocolates for every holiday and birthday gift. I'm not the best for sure, but I've been practicing a lot and I'm feeling good about the results (usually)! I'm trying to make a bark that is mainly white with some red feathering. I used titanium dioxide for the first time to try to get the white chocolate whiter, and everything seemed to be going well, but after a half hour, the red chocolate (dark) has set but the white is very tacky. I can't find any information on if titanium dioxide affects the tempering process. Did I blow it?

Hi! I have a SMALL chocolate shop/cafe in Canada and I've just received a grant that I need to apply to my business and am trying to decide where best to put it. I have a chocovision rev delta and it serves us well, but I am planning to upgrade to a 3Z, as that is a higher capacity and will be within my price range. That will leave me with approx $3500 cad to spend on other items. We so far do most things small batch/small scale/by hand. Considering a panning machine or kitchenaid attachment? a vibrating table? an airbrush setup? Guitar cutter? Any other thoughts or suggestions??

Looks like you’re in the Washington Post this morning, Congratulations! 🎊 https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/food/2021/01/31/chocolates-valentines-day/%3foutputType=amp

Hello eGForums, I'm curious if anyone has purchased these ganache and caramel ruler bars (https://www.tcfsales.com/products/658-ganache-and-caramel-ruler-bars-set-of-2-ea/) from TCF before or has experience with this company? Are they a reputable company? It costs $87.96 (not including shipping) to purchase 4 stainless steel square bars, measuring 1/2" x 1/2" x 15" L, which seems like a reasonable price relative to other companies. Correct me if I'm wrong. Does anyone suggest other companies to purchase bars from? On a related topic, I know that a possibly more affordable alternative would be to visit a local metal fabricator and purchase metal bars from them. My concern is purchasing bars that are made from an alloy and finish that is 'food-safe'. Does anyone know what grade/alloy and finish of stainless steel is 'food-safe'? Does anyone know what grade/alloy and finish of aluminum is 'food-safe'?

Several of Greweling's recipes call for the use of a round piping tip. I'm not familiar with what sizing system he's using. When he says to use a "no. [integer] round tip", what does the [integer] correspond to in millimeters or inches? For example, what is the diameter of a no. 3 round tip used by Greweling?

I own a particular Tomric mold, Disc no# I-2023:.16" x 1.30 (dia) .14 oz/4g. 30 cavity. It's been so long since I actually worked with chocolate and this is for mixing in an isolate pharmaceutical and so I need to get it right. I'm not functioning as well as I would wish and am asking for help. I need to make 25 discs in this mold. Can someone please tell me how much chocolate I should use. Does the blurb after the disc number mean that each cavity holds 4 g.? Thanks. Oh I don't have a scale which registers much less than 4 g. It's an inexpensive Starfrit and we use it to weigh the dogs' food.

I made my fifth ever batch of chocolate over the weekend, a 45% milk chocolate. I did the usual warming of everything, and the batch started off without a hitch. After running 24 hours I got ready to cool the chocolate to temper, and the stone seemed awfully hot. Sure enough the chocolate was 147 degrees F. Normally it comes out at around 120. The chocolate seemed kind of thick, but this is my first batch as low as 45%, so not sure if that’s normal. The chocolate tempered just fine, and tastes fine for have gotten so hot. I’m wondering if I got a minuscule amount of water in the batch? I’m not sure how that would have happened, though thinking of everything ad nauseum I can think of possibilities. The ingredients themselves are all ones I’ve used before without issue, though first time with the roasted nibs, but they came from the same reliable source as all my other nibs. Just curious if anyone else has seen this happen.

Hi, I need to make portions of exactly 12g (=0.423oz) of truffle ganache. These truffles will be packed in a cardboard box with the total weight written on the package - so I cannot mess up... What solutions do you have to control the weight of the ganache for truffles? I tried to measure them on the scale but it's time consuming and not very reliable... I bought a silicone mould - the cavities are too small and the ganache seems to stick to the mould. Have you tried to make your own shells for truffles? It's not very clear how many cm in the mould will translate in how many grams in the product.... any suggestion will be appreciated.

I am new to chocolate, but have been a home cook all my life. I have been reading here for awhile as I go on my chocolate journey. I learn a lot from the things I read here, but I really don’t have a lot to contribute since I am such a novice, especially with chocolate, so I thought I’d share something light with the community to hopefully give you something fun to take your mind off of some of our intensity these days. Sunday I made my second batch ever of bonbons, and they’re made with my own chocolate, a lavender ganache filling with a little taste of salted caramel. I saw this little guy on top of one of my leaf bonbons offering to protect it from any renegade bugs as they sat on the counter. I love these little jumping spiders, and they’re welcome in my house any time. Cute little sucker who hung out for quite awhile. Anyhow, something lighter for your day.

Hello everyone. Ive encountered some issues with my truffles. I use truffle shells and have made a caramel recipe and it seems to be leaking. Any tips on what i should do? Attached is a photo to show a clear image of what i am describing! Thankss 😀 IMG_6005.pdf

I'm making another cooking video, this time about a chocolate cake from The Geeky Chef Cookbook. And the frosting recipe is basically garbage: 1 stick of butter to 165 grams (1 3/4 cups!!!!) of cocoa powder. So in the video I need to say something along the lines of "A normal frosting recipe has more like XX cocoa powder per stick of butter." So can I get a quick spot-check here? For your preferred cocoa-powder-based frosting recipe, how much cocoa powder per stick of butter? I don't actually know how much I added in the end, the cameras were rolling so I just added cocoa and sugar until it tasted good!

Has anyone worked with the Agostoni chocolate couverture? Mainly interested in experience with moulding bonbons. I found a post here from 2012, but with only one reply, so I thought I’ll ask the question again. Agostoni is an Italian chocolate maker that apparently has been around since the late 40’s, but I only just heard about them, when I found out they have a supplier in my home country of Norway.

I want to make sugar-free bars with Callebaut cocoa liquor and Erythratol. Any advice on ratios? Should I make it in my melanger or would just melting, adding and tempering work? I made the mistake of buying Callebaut sugar-free with Maltitol and it is definitely a laxative. Now still stuck with a lot of it. Any advice is most appreciated.

Hi there, I’m looking for some interesting flavours for truffles. Any combination of filling and coating ideas? For lemon, dark ganache, orange and caramel example. I also realised that when deciding to use ready made truffle shells filling needs to have a creamy texture. Any advice on this?

Hello! I am doing some spring cleaning and am selling some of my used polycarbonate molds. I've attached pictures and dimensions below. The mold prices do not include shipping fee. I will ship these via USPS priority mail. For estimation purposes only, 4 - 5 molds can fit in a medium box and it costs $15.05 to ship. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you. Charlotte W.

Hello everyone! I was wondering if anyone could help me out with these design attached? I manage to make it on the table somehow and then when trying it into the mould it just doesnt work Any tips on this ? Thank you!!

I am wishing to purchase some black cocao butter, but it is scarcer than hobby-horse sh*te here in the UK. I do have some cocao butter, and some black fat-soluble powder. Tips and tricks for the making of black cocao butter at home would be most welcome... ptw1953

I successfully demold finished chocolate pralines. ??? I pour chocolate into cavities to form shells for my next pralines. Question is simple: what is step 2.? Polish with cottom/ and alcohol/ wash in hot water/ use dishsoap/ do nothing/ somethig else? Does it depend if it was chocolate bar or praline/ if I used coloured CB or not? What if demolding was not that easy or successfull? I always washed in hot water with soft sponge and dish liquid. Dried, polished with cottom and used again. But I read I should clean my molds 1 or 2 times per year only! I thought residual fat will make demolding more difficult and inhibit shine. Where is the truth please? Whats correct?

Hi everyone! I am new in the forum. I would like to ask you if you have any tool or trick to get even colour layers without using an airbrush. I have tried brushes and sponges but it is quite hard to get something even. I know the answer would be: buy an airbrush and a compressor, but at the time present I cannot get one. If you use any specific brush that makes more even colour layers I would appreciate if you post the picture of it (or from any other tool). Thanks in advance!:)

Here's where I'm at with baker's percents: 150% Salted Butter 58% Trader Joe's 72% Belgian Chocolate (I don't enjoy super chocolate-y brownies) 240% Sugar 100% All Purpose Flour 91% Eggs Melt butter with chocolate (I take it to 170F). Mix in everything but eggs. In separate bowl, whisk eggs and then add eggs to everything else until just incorporated. Bake at 275F for 70 minutes My goal is Two Bite Brownies. I'm looking for an end product that's chewy and a bit dry with a homogenous texture. I don't want any fudgyness- at all, and, right now, even with 70 minutes at 275, my end product has a super fudgy crumb and a crispy exterior. I don't want a cakey texture either. This is the territory that I'm shooting for: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKDujihI6Es&app=desktop These are not exactly Two Bites, but, if you look at the beginning, you'll see that the crumb is pretty dry. The only major difference I'm seeing between their process and mine is that they add the flour last, while I add the egg last. They don't show the flour being mixed in, but they do show the batter being dispensed into the baking pans and it definitely looks a bit thick- not cookie dough thick, but definitely not batter-y either. The goal is a brownie with more of a cookie texture, which might mean less eggs, but, before I take that direction, I wanted to see if anyone here had some thoughts on this.

Hey everyone. So im looking for the most affordable chocolate shaking table that actually works.. does anyone have experience with the ones from AliBaba or china in general? i bought a $100 dental table from amazon but i guess its not the right hrtz cause it kinda works, but not well enough. im looking in the $500 range or under.. any advice? Thanks

I was just wondering what PSI you all generally use for your compressors for molded bonbons? I'm sure the effect you're trying to get influences how high or low you run the compressor, but to just get a general nice even coat, what PSI do you all recommend?

My name is Silvia,and I love cacao transformation, and always willing to learn new ways to do it. www.nomnomcacao.com