Confections! What did we make? (2017 – )

[RWood]

5 minutes ago, Jim D. said:

Delicious-sounding assortment and beautiful decoration.

 

Just one downside:  I just learned that Valrhona has discontinued Orelys.  I have used it in several of my fillings and am very disappointed. 

Thanks! 
Well, that sucks. I love that stuff 😕

[GRiker]

14 minutes ago, RWood said:

Thanks! I colored some white chocolate with Colour Mill Raspberry oil color and pipped them on.

The piping dot on the heart made me think they were piped on, but the symmetry made me think otherwise.  They look so nice. 

[Jim D.]

19 minutes ago, RWood said:

Thanks! 
Well, that sucks. I love that stuff 😕

I do know a very smart eG member who has figured out the recipe and has made it in a melanger.  A reason enough to get a melanger.  What irritates me is that you just know Valrhona has a warehouse full of the stuff sitting on the banks of the Rhone.  I used it for my pecan pie, cinnamon bun, and more.  My Valrhona supplier suggested I substitute Dulcey, but of course they aren't anywhere near the same.

[RWood]

12 minutes ago, Jim D. said:

I do know a very smart eG member who has figured out the recipe and has made it in a melanger.  A reason enough to get a melanger.  What irritates me is that you just know Valrhona has a warehouse full of the stuff sitting on the banks of the Rhone.  I used it for my pecan pie, cinnamon bun, and more.  My Valrhona supplier suggested I substitute Dulcey, but of course they aren't anywhere near the same.

I have a couple things I use it for as well. But, Dulcey won't be the same. I'll have to eek out the 1/2 bag I have left.

[Rajala]

22 hours ago, Jim D. said:

I just learned that Valrhona has discontinued Orelys

 

Really? I really liked it, although I didn't use it much and I can understand it not being a huge seller.

[Jim D.]

1 minute ago, Rajala said:

 

Really? I really liked it, although I didn't use it much and I can understand it not being a huge seller.

If you recall, I started using Orelys in your cinnamon bun recipe, a recipe that has been insanely popular.  An eG member has formulated a recipe for making Orelys in a melanger.  I'm thinking of giving it a try.  It will probably end up costing more than a 3kg bag shipped by Valrhona to me (via many in-between people, I am sure), but I will really miss having it.  @Rajala, since you are so close to the Rhone Valley (I know, typical U.S. concept of geography), why don't you make a trip over and find the Orelys warehouse?

[Chocoguyin Pemby]

On 1/11/2024 at 2:00 AM, Altay.Oro said:

 

How do you brew coffee with dairy?
Is it possible for you to share the ganache recipe with us?

 

 

I add instant coffee to the cream and butter as it warms - works great - and you can add a touch of kahlua as well.  

[pastrygirl]

 

Valentine's box, this year I went with all of my flavors that were already pink and red instead of re-inventing the wheel.   Ginger, vanilla bean, raspberry, passion fruit, and earl grey. 

[Rajala]

On 2/6/2024 at 11:55 PM, Jim D. said:

If you recall, I started using Orelys in your cinnamon bun recipe, a recipe that has been insanely popular.  An eG member has formulated a recipe for making Orelys in a melanger.  I'm thinking of giving it a try.  It will probably end up costing more than a 3kg bag shipped by Valrhona to me (via many in-between people, I am sure), but I will really miss having it.  @Rajala, since you are so close to the Rhone Valley (I know, typical U.S. concept of geography), why don't you make a trip over and find the Orelys warehouse?

 

It's like 1127 miles to travel to get there

[Rajala]

Carrot cake!

 

[Jim D.]

5 hours ago, Rajala said:

Carrot cake!

 

Will you share your recipe?  I'd like to see how your approach differs from mine.

[Rajala]

1 hour ago, Jim D. said:

Will you share your recipe?  I'd like to see how your approach differs from mine.

 

Of course, you can find it here (but it's probably more a Swedish carrot cake more than anything haha): https://www.instagram.com/p/C3NDp6jMXv1/

[rotuts]

@Rajala

 

thank you for the referent to your videos

 

I love watching them 

 

outstanding technique 

[Rajala]

12 minutes ago, rotuts said:

@Rajala

 

thank you for the referent to your videos

 

I love watching them 

 

outstanding technique 

 

You're welcome! I'm glad you like them.

[Altay.Oro]

On 2/7/2024 at 5:42 AM, Chocoguyin Pemby said:

I add instant coffee to the cream and butter as it warms - works great - and you can add a touch of kahlua as well.  

 

Thank you, worth to try.

[Jim D.]

3 examples of the "dreaded dome"--you know, the mold that looks wonderful in theory, is easy to decorate--and loves to stick to the mold before reluctantly dropping out.  @Kerry Beal once said she thought the dome fit so well in its mold that a sort of suction formed.  Whatever it is, it's a pain.

 

Fillings are (clockwise from top left:  "cookies & cream," sesame crunch, cherry & almond ganache.

 

 

 

[GRiker]

16 minutes ago, Jim D. said:

Whatever it is, it's a pain.

Agreed.  I have only a few types. One that shape that is a pain and your hemisphere mold that I have to work with carefully because the piece sometimes wants to come out before I’m ready for it to. Quite the contrast. 

[Jim D.]

3 hours ago, GRiker said:

Agreed.  I have only a few types. One that shape that is a pain and your hemisphere mold that I have to work with carefully because the piece sometimes wants to come out before I’m ready for it to. Quite the contrast. 

 

Chef Kalle Jungstedt's own mold, which is a somewhat flattened dome, helps prevent the dome's suction effect.  Chocolate World has a similar one but larger.  When I am making something with several layers, those molds tend not to be large enough.

 

The hemisphere shares the issue you mentioned with all the shallow molds I have--the one often called a quenelle and also egg shapes.  They are a test of one's ability to keep a steady hand when moving the mold--and not tapping the mold too enthusiastically.  They also have another irritating characteristic:  some chocolate often gets between the shell (with any color it has) and the mold when sealing the mold is taking place.  I did learn (I forget where) that a little heating of the mold with a heatgun before sealing the cavities helps prevent that.  I think this melts the top edge enough so that the fluid chocolate can't get behind it.  Ah, what we go through for beauty.

[Saltychoc]

Valentine's, St. Patricks, big eggs for Easter, Spring bonbons.

Valentines - blackberry/lychee, caramel/caramel ganache, passion fruit, black forest (kirsh buttercream, morello cherry pate, dark choc).

St. P's - Honey mead milk choc, whiskey caramel.

Big eggs - berry tart (triple berry pate, strawberry buttercream, raspberry dark choc, lemon almond shortbread), caramel hazelnut (caramel, hazelnuts, hazelnut gianduja).

Spring - cherry/pistachio, caramel/malt milk choc, matcha/raspberry, carrot cake (spiced caramel, mascarpone ganache, almond carrot shortbread). Thanks to @Rajala for the oven dried carrot idea, I blitzed them and added to the shortbread layer). No aw for the mascarpone ganache - I used VT creamery mascarpone (43% fat), iviore, glucose, honey, salt, vanilla and the water content was only 14% so I felt pretty good about it, 39% sugar, 33% fat. In retrospect I could have added some cocoa butter.

 

 

[Rajala]

54 minutes ago, Saltychoc said:

I used VT creamery mascarpone (43% fat)

 

Interesting! I've never seen a mascarpone with more than 36% (I think the one I get is that). With that said, I haven't really searched for other variations - but good to know they exist.

[Jim D.]

@Saltychoc, a beautiful collection of chocolates.  I especially admire the decoration of the blue and gold eggs.  Do you mind telling how you got this effect?

[Saltychoc]

22 hours ago, Rajala said:

 

Interesting! I've never seen a mascarpone with more than 36% (I think the one I get is that). With that said, I haven't really searched for other variations - but good to know they exist.

 

This one has 12g fat per 28g mascarpone. It's a local(ish) creamery so was significantly more expensive than most other brands. They also make a 5lb food service tub which they claim is 50% butterfat. My supplier could only get the smaller containers though.

[Saltychoc]

On 4/3/2024 at 5:54 PM, Jim D. said:

@Saltychoc, a beautiful collection of chocolates.  I especially admire the decoration of the blue and gold eggs.  Do you mind telling how you got this effect?

 

@Jim D. Sure thing! The mold is chocolate world 1252 but I imagine any mold with a good amount of surface area would work. I laid tape on sticker backing paper and cut out the shapes, then stuck the shapes inside the molds to form the resulting "cracks"/lines. I only pressed it down along the line portion. Speckled some white, placed some dots of gold leaf mixed with cocoa butter, very lightly sprayed some brown so it covered about 1/2-1/3 of the blank space, sprayed white + pearl white over the rest of the area, then drew a line with a skewer and sprayed the back with gold, then removed the tape, polished the unpainted areas and sprayed the blue. Blue is a mix of chef rubber med blue artisan, jewel white, plus a light blue and light green that I made.

 

It is time consuming to place the tape shapes in the mold but once you do that the spraying is very quick. Like anything you get better with practice so taping the last few molds didn't take nearly as much time. I'd like to figure out some other molds to use for this sort of thing, I don't think cw2295 would work. I have seen people on social media do something similar and achieve a sort of geode look by using a mold with a shorter cavity and simply breaking the tape and pressing it down. The eggs are quite tall so that wouldn't have worked here.

Edited April 6 by Saltychoc (log)

[Jim D.]

On 4/4/2024 at 4:44 PM, Saltychoc said:

 

@Jim D. Sure thing! The mold is chocolate world 1252 but I imagine any mold with a good amount of surface area would work. I laid tape on sticker backing paper and cut out the shapes, then stuck the shapes inside the molds to form the resulting "cracks"/lines. I only pressed it down along the line portion. Speckled some white, placed some dots of gold leaf mixed with cocoa butter, very lightly sprayed some brown so it covered about 1/2-1/3 of the blank space, sprayed white + pearl white over the rest of the area, then drew a line with a skewer and sprayed the back with gold, then removed the tape, polished the unpainted areas and sprayed the blue. Blue is a mix of chef rubber med blue artisan, jewel white, plus a light blue and light green that I made.

 

It is time consuming to place the tape shapes in the mold but once you do that the spraying is very quick. Like anything you get better with practice so taping the last few molds didn't take nearly as much time. I'd like to figure out some other molds to use for this sort of thing, I don't think cw2295 would work. I have seen people on social media do something similar and achieve a sort of geode look by using a mold with a shorter cavity and simply breaking the tape and pressing it down. The eggs are quite tall so that wouldn't have worked here.

Thanks for the details.  I am in awe of the amount of work you did for this design--and of how beautifully it turned out.  I'm afraid my customers will not see an egg anywhere near this level of artistry.

[Rajala]

Strawberries and matcha. Accidentally made the world's thinnest bottom on the one pictured.