Andrey Dubovic online classes

[Tri2Cook]

This course discussion has done nothing to reduce my ever-increasing pull towards just doing plain shells and calling it good enough. I've done chocolates during every season, warmer or colder than ideal, humidity higher than ideal, and had very little trouble at any point along the way as far as shine, snap and release go. So my mind is slowly starting to cast the colored cocoa butter in the role of the villain. 

[Jim D.]

4 hours ago, gfron1 said:

So getting back to the class....I'm wrapping up the 3rd and 4th assignments and I'm realizing how much I appreciate mixing my own cocoa butter colors - yes, to create what I want, but today I realized how many of my old Chef Rubber ones were rancid. I am sure they were fresh once, but it has become crystal clear the fresh new ones versus the old rancid ones. For the extra 5 minutes it adds to make my own, I'll just stick to new from here on out. The one challenge that i haven't rectified yet is how to strain the solids out after the initial mixing. Andrey goes through what looks like a paper towel. I tried that and it blew out when I squeezed it. Then I tried a coffee filter and had the same problem. Right now I'm straining through my nut milk bag which works but ruins the bag no matter how I try to clean it.

I've found cheesecloth works fine for straining, and it's not expensive.

[Avachocolate]

4 hours ago, Tri2Cook said:

This course discussion has done nothing to reduce my ever-increasing pull towards just doing plain shells and calling it good enough. I've done chocolates during every season, warmer or colder than ideal, humidity higher than ideal, and had very little trouble at any point along the way as far as shine, snap and release go. So my mind is slowly starting to cast the colored cocoa butter in the role of the villain. 

Heresy ! ...Comments like that may get you banned from this discussion...lol

 

[Kerry Beal]

As previously mentioned I'm plugging away at my own speed because I'm heading north at the end of the month. 

 

These two are 'fireworks' - not crazy about the red and yellow ones (doesn't help that I ended up with orange by not cleaning the red applicator before changing to yellow). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The filling was browned butter bourbon with a gianduja/feuillitine layer. 

 

His response "even though you made them in other way from me, I really like the result"

 

 

 

[Rajala]

Looks great!

 

Damn you sun, I want to do some chocolate as well but it's too warm in my kitchen.  

[Jim D.]

@Kerry Beal, your red and yellow "fireworks" are very close to Dubovik's (with lots of white showing). I wasn't crazy about the design. Mine turned out with less white showing, and I am warming up to the look. I really like the technique. Who knows how he will react to my "deviation"--I will submit this and another assignment this weekend.

[gfron1]

Here are my next two assignments. On one level I don't care what he thinks - these turned out really cool. Maybe not exactly what he had but my temper and shine are perfect and they're still beautiful. On the one on the right I added gold luster to the yellow because I thought it would look good.

[curls]

1 hour ago, gfron1 said:

Here are my next two assignments. On one level I don't care what he thinks - these turned out really cool. Maybe not exactly what he had but my temper and shine are perfect and they're still beautiful. On the one on the right I added gold luster to the yellow because I thought it would look good.

Rob they look very nice. What did you fill them with? Also, what are the mold sizes... around 14 grams?

[gfron1]

48 minutes ago, curls said:

Rob they look very nice. What did you fill them with? Also, what are the mold sizes... around 14 grams?

Thanks. I don't know my volume. The one on the right is Chocolate World 2116 and the one on the left is a half sphere so about half of the other. I filled them both with his coffee cardamom caramel. I'm out of season so I'm not selling these. I have a fundraiser that I'll donate a monster box of bonbons to next weekend.

[Kerry Beal]

2 hours ago, gfron1 said:

Thanks. I don't know my volume. The one on the right is Chocolate World 2116 and the one on the left is a half sphere so about half of the other. I filled them both with his coffee cardamom caramel. I'm out of season so I'm not selling these. I have a fundraiser that I'll donate a monster box of bonbons to next weekend.

I've got year end for rug rat coming up - making fillings with sufficient shelf life so I can give them to teachers, EA's, bus drivers etc. 

[Daniel D]

8 hours ago, gfron1 said:

Here are my next two assignments. On one level I don't care what he thinks - these turned out really cool. Maybe not exactly what he had but my temper and shine are perfect and they're still beautiful. On the one on the right I added gold luster to the yellow because I thought it would look good.

 

These look fantastic, Rob! You mentioned that you’ll begin mixing your own colors into cocoa butter from now on. Do you mind sharing where you sourced your colorants?

[gfron1]

45 minutes ago, Daniel D said:

 

These look fantastic, Rob! You mentioned that you’ll begin mixing your own colors into cocoa butter from now on. Do you mind sharing where you sourced your colorants?

Mine are all from Chef Rubber (although they severely pissed me off many years ago so I hadn't ordered from them in like 6 years). I believe the white is no different than the Titanium Dioxide that I already had in stock which I bought on Amazon a few years back. You don't need much. I bought the primaries plus black and white. 

[Jim D.]

Now that I have completed the course assignments for the first two weeks, here are a few photos:

 

Photo #1:  An impossibly angled mold holding passion fruit caramel with fresh tarragon.

 

 

Photos #2 and 3:  A much more sensible half-sphere decorated in one of Dubovik's signature looks (this one called "Outer Space"), filled with prune, cinnamon, and red wine ganache.

 

 

 

Photos #4 and 5:  A dome swirled with multiple colors (not all of which, alas, show up in my rendition) filled with caramel flavored with lime and vanilla (substituted for the tonka bean called for).

 

 

 

Photos #6 and 7:  A half-sphere painted with two translucent colors and backed with white, a very useful technique. The filling is a ganache flavored with Oolong "milk" tea leaves (unfortunately too subtle for my tasters to detect).

 

 

[dhardy123]

6 hours ago, Jim D. said:

 

 

Are you using your Grex for the yellow spots?

[Jim D.]

11 hours ago, dhardy123 said:

Are you using your Grex for the yellow spots?

Ah, the yellow spots. They took longer than the rest of the colors put together. Dubovik recommends the low-tech method of a toothbrush against a plastic scraper. Try though I might--and I used every type of scraper I own--I could not make a decent splatter. So I went to my mini-spray gun. It worked, but there were too many tiny splatters. So I finally succeeded with rapidly moving a firm-bristled toothbrush against my gloved finger. It makes a terrible mess, and I don't know why it works and the scraper did not (for me), but that's what I used.

 

Alas, the Grex does not do splatter. There is a discussion of this in an eG airbrush thread.  Adjusting the air flow on the Grex produces either a fine spray of cocoa butter or nothing at all--no in between. The Grex tech support people said it splatters paint but not cocoa butter, and they recommended the method of spraying the cocoa butter onto a spatula or wooden stick and letting it ricochet onto the mold. That worked for me, but the results were erratic. @gfron1 reported that Dubovik's method worked fine for him, and @Kerry Beal said that her Fuji sprayer did a good job.

[tikidoc]

I’m really looking forward to picking all of your brains in St. Louis next year.

[gfron1]

43 minutes ago, tikidoc said:

I’m really looking forward to picking all of your brains in St. Louis next year.

and we haven't even gotten to the fun stuff yet

[Kerry Beal]

Not completely happy with the gradients I produced on the 'Bob Marley' - I repeated with some other colors - still not perfect but I'm getting a bit better.  Nice Strawberry Rhubarb filling though.

 

 

 

 

 

[Jim D.]

2 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

Not completely happy with the gradients I produced on the 'Bob Marley' - I repeated with some other colors - still not perfect but I'm getting a bit better.  Nice Strawberry Rhubarb filling though.

 

 I love the look of the gradient. I've been trying to think of other molds where it would work, but haven't come up with anything yet. The cocoa pod is a difficult mold--it produces a chocolate that is too long (about 2") to fit in ordinary trays or even in candy cups and, because of the necessary elongated shape, makes a bonbon that is rather small in weight (the Chocolate World mold is 8g; Cacao Barry has one that is sightly fatter and makes 10g).

 

I have tried strawberry and rhubarb many times and have never been satisfied that the rhubarb actually contributes anything. Even a relatively small amount of strawberry overpowers the rhubarb. With the water content of both, the Aw is also a problem. How did you make your filling?

[Kerry Beal]

2 hours ago, Jim D. said:

 I love the look of the gradient. I've been trying to think of other molds where it would work, but haven't come up with anything yet. The cocoa pod is a difficult mold--it produces a chocolate that is too long (about 2") to fit in ordinary trays or even in candy cups and, because of the necessary elongated shape, makes a bonbon that is rather small in weight (the Chocolate World mold is 8g; Cacao Barry has one that is sightly fatter and makes 10g).

 

I have tried strawberry and rhubarb many times and have never been satisfied that the rhubarb actually contributes anything. Even a relatively small amount of strawberry overpowers the rhubarb. With the water content of both, the Aw is also a problem. How did you make your filling?

It's a buttercream - I'll e-mail it to you. 

Edited June 13, 2018 by Kerry Beal (log)

[gfron1]

Here's my latest projects. I had a bit of trouble with colors sticking on the cacao pod which doesn't surprise me since I had to adjust my colors mid-spray when they seemed too translucent. 

[Jim D.]

16 minutes ago, gfron1 said:

Here's my latest projects. I had a bit of trouble with colors sticking on the cacao pod which doesn't surprise me since I had to adjust my colors mid-spray when they seemed too translucent. 

 

Both the gold on black and the cocoa pod are beautiful and as close to Dubovik's as it is possible to get. Congratulations!

[gfron1]

6 minutes ago, Jim D. said:

 

Both the gold on black and the cocoa pod are beautiful and as close to Dubovik's as it is possible to get. Congratulations!

Thanks. I had to brush the gold since the sponge wasn't doing its job. But I figured whatever it takes to make it work. I'm looking forward to his answer on the opaque questions since that's what is related to my sticking issue.

[Jim D.]

57 minutes ago, gfron1 said:

Thanks. I had to brush the gold since the sponge wasn't doing its job. But I figured whatever it takes to make it work. I'm looking forward to his answer on the opaque questions since that's what is related to my sticking issue.

Glad to know that you used a brush. Mine came out with much more gold than black showing--the sponge just delivers more cocoa butter to the mold.

[Je33]

I have been following this thread with admiration and envy ! I would love to do his class but have neither the time or money but its so amazing to see what you are producing( all of which are amazing) Will he be showing his coveted technique for the half spheres ? Hopefully you guys will share some secrets