Chocolates with that Showroom Finish, 2012 –

DianaM · October 9, 2012

Lime from "Chocolate to Savour" by Kirsten Tibballs, released recently. I shall be making plenty from this book.
Chris

Your mould painting technique is beautiful, and those chocolates look like gems. Really beautiful, keychris!

lironp · October 10, 2012

Lime from "Chocolate to Savour" by Kirsten Tibballs, released recently. I shall be making plenty from this book.
Chris

Those are beautiful!

Where did you get the book from? I haven't managed to find it on amazon..

lebowits · October 12, 2012

Lime from "Chocolate to Savour" by Kirsten Tibballs, released recently. I shall be making plenty from this book.
Chris
Those are beautiful!
Where did you get the book from? I haven't managed to find it on amazon..

The book isn't available in the USA, and checking Amazon UK, it appears to have a 1 - 2 month wait. I looked up the author and she teaches in Melbourne, VIC, Australia. I also went to the school web site which offers to sell you a copy if you provide contact details. I filled out the form and am waiting to hear from them in a few days since we're into the weekend on that side of the pond.

keychris · October 12, 2012

It's not solely chocolate, by the way!

Here's the Contents:

Entremets

Tarts

Petit Gateaux

Macarons

Individual chocolates

Chocolate bars

Chocolate lollipops

Petit chocolate showpieces

and some theory things

pastrygirl · October 13, 2012

Steve, please let us know if we can get the book in the US, and the price. I took a class at Savour (with Paul, not Kirsten) a few years ago and would love to get the book.

The Choc Doc · October 13, 2012

I love my frog moulds! I make "Caramel Poisonous Frogs" and kids love them!

Eggs are also fun to try different decorations - my first Easter as a chocolatier when I started selling I played around quite a bit, had 7 different decorations I think, 3 here (gianduja egg, sea-salted caramel egg and chili egg):

Long way to go to reach show room standard but its all good fun!

TCD

Kerry Beal · October 14, 2012

Hey Choc Doc - tell us more about your business. Looks like you are making some fabulous looking stuff.

The Choc Doc · October 14, 2012

Hey Choc Doc - tell us more about your business. Looks like you are making some fabulous looking stuff.

Hi Kerry, thanks for the comments.

My business is not as active as I'd like but I only do this part time. I've always had a love for baking and cooking and about 3 years ago I became interested in chocolates and so bought a few books, a few moulds, couverature, and never looked back. Last year I developed my own Signature range of 24 flavours of ganaches and was prepared to try it full time as I was being made redundant from my job (was a scientific researcher funded by cancer research UK). I was lucky enough to finally get a job with a company that makes cancer drugs though 1 month after I was made redundant, which is what I'd always wanted to get into so instead of sticking to full time chocolatiering I chose to take a salaried job and put chocolate back as a hobby. Bit too risky to turn down a salaried position when my chocolatiering skills are completely self taught and I have no training in food of any sort except trial and error (lots of that!).

This year I was close to giving it up due to a nightmare relocation and other issues, but I had submitted a few chocolates to some National food awards here in UK (Great Taste Awards 2012) to get feedback from the professionals, and to my surprise 2 of the 4 I submitted received Gold star awards. For example my Sea Salted Caramel won the Gold one-star award, the same award Hotel Chocolat won for their equivalent chocolate. That led me to think maybe I should keep developing some things for fun - I enjoy it very much just limited by time and as such, do not ever push my business nor do I make any profit from it all! Just love making interesting flavours and nice looking chocs when I can. Love seeing what other people get up to as well!

So it is great to see what others get up to on these forums!

TCD

Kerry Beal · October 15, 2012

Interesting how many of us seem to have science backgrounds then get into chocolate (and don't quit our day jobs cause then we can afford to play with chocolate).

Any chance you are free in April to join us at our chocolate workshop in Canada?

The Choc Doc · October 15, 2012

Interesting how many of us seem to have science backgrounds then get into chocolate (and don't quit our day jobs cause then we can afford to play with chocolate).
Any chance you are free in April to join us at our chocolate workshop in Canada?

It is something I find very common - but then again chocolate making (from bean to bar, and bar to hand-made delights) is a VERY scientific process! So it shouldn't be a huge surprise I guess that a lot of scientists end up in chocolate one way or another. Plus the stress of research often lends itself towards overeating of chocolate anyway....

I wish I was able to hop over to Canada in April! I'm actually in Vancouver on an International Cancer conference the end of Jan/beginning of Feb and will no doubt try to seek out some chocolatier shops on my visit! However living in the UK and the arrival of a little one anytime in the next 2-3 weeks means I probably wouldn't be able to afford the costs (or time off work!) to get over to Canada from the UK for April unfortunately!! Shame! What part of Canada are you from?

TCD

Kerry Beal · October 15, 2012

That is a shame - would be delightful to meet you. We are in Ontario - we hold the eG workshop in Niagara on the Lake. Now in alternate years so far we have held it in the Washington DC area - but there is some discussion about Las Vegas next year.

So when you are in Vancouver - Chocolate Arts is one of the ones I like - there is also Thomas Haas and Chocolate Nymph is owned by a girl I did a course in Montreal with - she has two locations now - certainly worth a look especially at her marketing which I think is where she really shines. I'm sure there is a number of others that aren't coming to me right now. Of course there is the very long established Roger's Chocolates - big honking buttercreams that played a part in many Canadian childhoods.

The Choc Doc · October 15, 2012

Thanks very much Kerry, will be sure to check those out! I have family in PA so not too far from Washington and also my sister/brother-in-law/nephew are in Las Vegas on USAF base.

Am looking forward to my Vancouver conference as I've never been to Canada in my adult life (was 2 yrs old when my parents took me to Niagra!!).

TCD

Chocolot · October 15, 2012

While in Vancouver, be sure and go to Granville Island. In the public market is ChocolaTas. They make them in Abbotsford. Very good chocolates.

dhardy123 · October 18, 2012

Thanks very much Kerry, will be sure to check those out! I have family in PA so not too far from Washington and also my sister/brother-in-law/nephew are in Las Vegas on USAF base.
Am looking forward to my Vancouver conference as I've never been to Canada in my adult life (was 2 yrs old when my parents took me to Niagra!!).
TCD

I just returned from Vancouver and spent ALOT of money on chocolates, macarons and madeleines.

The best places to go are:

Thomas Haas

Thierry's (I asked for a tour of his pastry kitchen and he showed me around and we talked for over an hour plus lots of samples )

Chocolate Arts

ChocolaTas

I also tried a few other places: Minks, Rogers, Purdys, Daniel, Shokolade

I took pictures from all of them..I will post them someday

keychris · November 14, 2012

A macadamia nut praline slab, with bee pollen for texture and a honey flavour.

Pity about that those fingerprints in the metallic dust Shoulda been wearing my gloves!

DianaM · November 15, 2012

Beautiful chocolates, keychris!

Are you using bee pollen granules? Do they give a bit of chew to your bonbon, is that why you use them?

keychris · November 15, 2012

exactly a wonderful honey flavour with that textural component, all in one ingredient... wonderful!

not to mention how good it is for you, too.

pastrygirl · November 30, 2012

Out of all the chocolates I made last weekend, i thought these were the sexiest.

Edited November 30, 2012 by pastrygirl (log)

DianaM · November 30, 2012

Out of all the chocolates I made last weekend, i thought these were the sexiest.

Those are very sexy indeed, Pastrygirl! :-) What is their filling? And did you use a pastry brush to splatter?

pastrygirl · November 30, 2012

Out of all the chocolates I made last weekend, i thought these were the sexiest.
Those are very sexy indeed, Pastrygirl! :-) What is their filling? And did you use a pastry brush to splatter?

:smile:

Yes, I used a trimmed-down pastry brush scraped against an icing spat to splatter. There is a smear of dark on one end before they were molded in milk.

The filling is milk chocolate, Armagnac, and orange. Unfortunately the texture is a little grainy. But hey, this thread is all about looks, not what's inside, right?

DianaM · December 2, 2012

Now that you mention the dark choc smear, I think I can pick it out in some of the chocolates. And the flavours sound great too! :-)

emmalish · December 4, 2012

I just returned from Vancouver and spent ALOT of money on chocolates, macarons and madeleines.
The best places to go are:
Thomas Haas
Thierry's (I asked for a tour of his pastry kitchen and he showed me around and we talked for over an hour plus lots of samples )
Chocolate Arts
ChocolaTas

Glad to hear you made it to Chocolate Arts, and that you rank it highly. It's definitely my favourite.