Chocolates with that Showroom Finish, 2012 –

[RobertM]

The Red is a Merlot Truffle and the Blue is a variation on a formula by Wybauw; I think he called it a Helli. It's a mixture of Caramel; dark chocolate and xtabentun

[DianaM]

Thanks, Robert! I had never heard of xtabentun before, but the definition on wikipedia made me curious. Perhaps I could find it here in Canada, I really like the flavour of anise and chocolate.

[lironp]

After everything I saw and learned in the conference, I had to get around to buy an airbrush, and start playing!

I went to our local Michaels store and saw that they were all in clearance . I bought the 2 possible models, and am trying to decide which to keep- one is a Badger 350- $20, single action/external mix, and the other is Badger Crescendo 175- $45, that is dual action, internal mix, and has a fine and larde paint tip.

Is the dual action needed for chocolates?

For spraying cocoa butter, will the internal mix even work?

From the 350 specification, I can't understand what paint tip it has (fine? large?), are they both ever used?

[lebowits]

After everything I saw and learned in the conference, I had to get around to buy an airbrush, and start playing!

I went to our local Michaels store and saw that they were all in clearance . I bought the 2 possible models, and am trying to decide which to keep- one is a Badger 350- $20, single action/external mix, and the other is Badger Crescendo 175- $45, that is dual action, internal mix, and has a fine and larde paint tip.

Is the dual action needed for chocolates?

For spraying cocoa butter, will the internal mix even work?

From the 350 specification, I can't understand what paint tip it has (fine? large?), are they both ever used?

I was using a Badger 175 during my demo at the conference. As long as your cocoa butters are warm and you warm up the brush prior to first use, you should be fine. You may need to hit the brush with a heat gun (or hair dryer if that is what you have) in case it gets too cool.

[lironp]

Thanks Steve! I'll keep the 175 then, I also bought a heat gun this week so will probably work a lot with that. Next on my list- Dehydrator

[tikidoc]

A little OT, but I talked with a few people about this at the recent candy convention/workshop. That heat gun you just bought also makes an excellent coffee roaster. I got fed up with consumer grade (but still expensive) coffee roasters dying after 1-2 years, and this works great. All you need is a stainless bowl and a colander.

Last weekend, I was thrilled to learn that my "coffee roaster" was useful in my chocolate-making endeavors!!!

http://www.homeroaster.com/heatgun.html

Jess

[patti_h]

passion fruit honey butter ganache.

[curls]

patti_h, very pretty chocoaltes! What did you do to achieve that effect?

[patti_h]

Thank you Donna! I splattered with Pink Quartz and then yellow topaz, then swirled some bronze with my finger not trying to get even coverage with it- these are my favorites so far. Several other molds did not go so well- the colored cocoa butter stuck to the mold.

[confiseur]

Many apologies if this question has beeen answered on the thread, if so please point me to the right page as I cannot find it!

Here goes then: ( sorry, no picture)

I have sprayed cocoa butter into the molds and then have no problem molding the chocolate and releasing the chocolates from the mold:

..however,the cocoa butter finish is really dull and not beautifully shiny as on the pictures on this thread..

Am I using the (PCB)cocoa butter too warm or too cold? I spray it at about 32c as instructed. Do I have to temper the cocoa butter before using?

Any assistance much appreciated!

[rod rock]

Chris this is awesome!!!

[tikidoc]

Never thought I would be able to post something on this thread, but here are today's chocolates!

I also dipped some wonderfully tart dried apricots from Trader Joe's with the tempered chocolate I had left over after capping, but those are considerably more, um, rustic. They sure taste good though!

Edited April 28, 2012 by tikidoc (log)

[Kerry Beal]

Beautiful!

[Chocolot]

VERY nice!!

[tikidoc]

Thanks! I have some awesome teachers, Ruth and Kerry! Looking forward to learning more from y'all next year!

[Prabha]

Very nice, Jess! What flavors are they?

[tikidoc]

The domes are dark chocolate and blood orange ganache in dark chocolate shell, the tear drops are milk chocolate hazelnut praline in a dark chocolate shell.

[curls]

Beautiful and the flavors sound great too!

[tikidoc]

The blood orange is pretty much the same as what Mette made at the conference - dark chocolate, cream, butter, and the blood orange compound from Amoretti. They were nice enough to send me a few samples to play with.

[lironp]

tikidoc- these are beautiful, I love these colors, it makes the chocolates look like jewels!

I also have a question for whoever works with luster dust- I usually clean each cavity, then smear a thin layer of cocoa butter on the molds, then apply the luster dust with a brush, and then pour in the tempered chocolate. I find that if I don't apply the layer of cocoa butter, the dust doesn't stick well enough to the mold, and the chocolates don't come out as shiny, but on the other hand this process is very time consuming... Does anyone have a better method? Has anyone tried airbrushing the dust with alcohol and found that successful?

[tikidoc]

Thanks, lironp.

I'd love to hear more about use of luster dust too. I have used it on dipped chocolates with good results, but never successfully with molded chocolates.

Jess

[Kerry Beal]

I've always put in on after with a plushy makeup brush. I seem to recall that one of Greweling's Chocolates (Green Fairy) I think used luster dust - do you have that book that you could check how he does it?

[DianaM]

tikidoc- these are beautiful, I love these colors, it makes the chocolates look like jewels!

I also have a question for whoever works with luster dust- I usually clean each cavity, then smear a thin layer of cocoa butter on the molds, then apply the luster dust with a brush, and then pour in the tempered chocolate. I find that if I don't apply the layer of cocoa butter, the dust doesn't stick well enough to the mold, and the chocolates don't come out as shiny, but on the other hand this process is very time consuming... Does anyone have a better method? Has anyone tried airbrushing the dust with alcohol and found that successful?

Hi lironp,

I never brush my mold with cocoa butter. With the mold that I am using, it would pool in corners and at the edges. So I just brush the luster dust into the cavity with a fluffy brush, then mold as usual.

It's true that the first time I've used the luster dust, only little of it stuck to the mold. But I've kept on using the same mold (without washing it, obviously), and now, after a few uses, the cavities have a layer of residual cocoa butter and luster dust which makes the newly-applied dust stick better. I hope this is making sense.

Also, I found that the brand of luster dust makes a difference. I used CK before and was NOT happy with the result. I switched to a different product, and now I'm really happy with the result. It's a Spanish brand called Sosa, I'm using their copper-coloured dust.

Diana

Edited May 14, 2012 by DianaM (log)

[Mette]

Diana, those are beautiful.

I've finally got around to playing with the new toy from the conference - the atomizer.

The colours are red, orange and gold, to go with the mandarin orange filling. The red and gold are mixed from cocoa butter and PCB's powdered colours, and they came out nicely. The orange is Wilton colour powder, and it is very, ehmmmmmm, subtle.... Looks like I hit the temper spot on - my normal downfall

My best shot with the mobile camera

[DianaM]

Cool speckles, Mette! The temper really is spot on, the shine on the chocs is awesome.