How'd they do this bonbon decoration?

[pringle007]

The pyramid shaped bonbon in this... how'd they do that?

Ive seen a decoration similar to this a few times now. I actually bought this assortment, and the red and white stripes are very precise. I don't think they were done freehand with a brush, as they are straight across the chocolate and even in pigment.

I was thinking they might have used some type of food safe tape to tape off the inside of the mold (sort of like making a stencil), hit it with red cocoa butter, then widen the span and re-tape, hit with white, then just do the whole thing in the grey cocoa butter. However, I think a food safe tape would leave a residue on the mold.

Any ideas? Does anyone here do anything like this?

[Marmalade]

Probably fine line airbrush tape...in the following order: tape, spray in red, allow to dry, then spray in gray on sides (and any gray that gets in the red area won't show up behind the red). Remove tape, spray in white. I've done similar stuff, but the time involved usually is too costly to justify this method for large-scale production.

[ejw50]

Somebody must be a Buckeye fan?

[Marmalade]

That would be paint in the red first with the tape in place, then do the airbrushing.

[prairiegirl]

I agree Marmalade, nice look to the product but not worth the time.

[Karri]

It might also be done with a transfer:

http://www.fancyflours.com/site/chocolate-transfer-sheets.html

We used to do similar looking stripes and just finish it off with a polishing agent.

[Marmalade]

Can you elaborate on the polishing agent?

Edited November 17, 2010 by Marmalade (log)

[lebowits]

It might also be done with a transfer:

http://www.fancyflours.com/site/chocolate-transfer-sheets.html

We used to do similar looking stripes and just finish it off with a polishing agent.

I've never seen a transfer sheet used in a 3D mold cavity. Only on flat pieces (even molded ones).

[Marmalade]

I agree, no way to get a flush piece all around inserting a transfer sheet into that shape mold. You would get ridges in the spaces where there is no transfer.

[Karri]

Unmolded and then used the sheets. Some are very flexible, and I remember one instance where the chocolatier even used a burner to melt the transfer sheet on top of a truffle and it turned soft and coated the truffle. I'm sorry but I can't remember the name or the brand of the agent. It was a mixture that we added to a hand pressure-pump system, one of those hardware models used to apply lacquer on wood surfaces. Completely foodsafe I assure you.

PS. Theoretically shouldn't the shine be possible with a simple hard-knack syrup? Never tested it myself, shelf-life would be an issue ofcourse...

Edited November 17, 2010 by Karri (log)

[Karri]

I retract my comments, just checked some images and indeed a transfer would leave ridges and a bit of a raised image. But also wouldn't a spray leave it a bit uneven? The different colors look to be exactly on the same level, unless the shine causes it to look even.

[lebowits]

I retract my comments, just checked some images and indeed a transfer would leave ridges and a bit of a raised image. But also wouldn't a spray leave it a bit uneven? The different colors look to be exactly on the same level, unless the shine causes it to look even.

If you had more than one layer of masking for the cavities, each successive color would hit the "clean" part and thus look to be at the same level. It would certainly be "painful" to do this repeatedly for many molds over serial batches and make them look the same. There will always be minor differences in how you lay down the tape.

[Karri]

One more question, is the whole thing the same color, or is it merely a coating?

[pringle007]

Great comments! Using tape was what I suspected, but wouldn't the tape leave a residue on the bonbon? I cant imagine spray painter's tape is food safe..or is it?

[pringle007]

Somebody must be a Buckeye fan?

Yeah, its from a newer shop here in Columbus, O-H-I-O. Im not interested in recreating the Buckeye effect, but the technique. Ive seen it done another piece of a different chocolatier's website (can't for the life of me remember whose site it was) and since this was the second time I'd seen it, I thought maybe someone here knew the "trick"

[Marmalade]

Pinstriping tape for airbrushing doesn't leave any residue on molds. It peels off absolutely clean without leaving any trace.