Easter 2019: chocolates, confections, and baking

[heidih]

I am not a confectioner so won't be making the eggs - it was just a lovely memory jolt. I am the kind of nutter who used to routinely do an Easter Village completely filling a fussball table - the only image I can find is in the backgroung of this image. Yes that is my child pointing at the Christmas tree still had up into Apr - odd family. +

[Jim D.]

Here are my offerings for Easter 2019, first the bonbons:

 

 

Fillings (clockwise starting with the yellow piece at the top):  (1) banana and passion fruit caramel in dark chocolate, (2) apple caramel in dark chocolate, (3) layers of dulce de leche and coffee ganache in dark chocolate, (4) layers of cherry pâte de fruit and pistachio gianduja in dark chocolate, (5) layers of black currant ganache and hazelnut gianduja in milk chocolate, (6) dark chocolate ganache with orange, cinnamon, and habañero pepper, (7) layers of butterscotch and caramelized pecans, (8) layers of dark caramel, almond gianduja, and shortbread. In the center: (9) yuzu and ginger ganache in white chocolate.

 

And the eggs:

 

 

The fillings (clockwise starting with the red egg at the top):  (1) layers of strawberry pâte de fruit and strawberry cream in white chocolate, (2) layers of coffee ganache and rum buttercream in milk chocolate, (3) salted caramel in dark chocolate, (4) crispy hazelnut gianduja in dark chocolate.

[Merry Berry]

Beautiful work JD!!  It makes me want to step up my game, haha.  I bet they taste as good as they look.

[Jim D.]

14 minutes ago, Merry Berry said:

Beautiful work JD!!  It makes me want to step up my game, haha.  I bet they taste as good as they look.

That's the hope... but sometimes I wonder if all people care about is the look. There are times when I think we should all go back to completely undecorated chocolates--and let the flavors be what it's all about.

[Tri2Cook]

9 hours ago, Jim D. said:

There are times when I think we should all go back to completely undecorated chocolates--and let the flavors be what it's all about.

There are lots of times when I think that... because in large part, that's what I do. I haven't been able to make myself completely go all-in with it because sometimes it's nice to see the reaction to really nice looking chocolates but there's a significant amount of "she ain't all that pretty but she has a heart of gold" chocolates among what I do.

[tikidoc]

On 4/11/2019 at 8:01 PM, Jim D. said:

Here are my offerings for Easter 2019, first the bonbons:

 

 

Fillings (clockwise starting with the yellow piece at the top):  (1) banana and passion fruit caramel in dark chocolate, (2) apple caramel in dark chocolate, (3) layers of dulce de leche and coffee ganache in dark chocolate, (4) layers of cherry pâte de fruit and pistachio gianduja in dark chocolate, (5) layers of black currant ganache and hazelnut gianduja in milk chocolate, (6) dark chocolate ganache with orange, cinnamon, and habañero pepper, (7) layers of butterscotch and caramelized pecans, (8) layers of dark caramel, almond gianduja, and shortbread. In the center: (9) yuzu and ginger ganache in white chocolate.

 

And the eggs:

 

 

The fillings (clockwise starting with the red egg at the top):  (1) layers of strawberry pâte de fruit and strawberry cream in white chocolate, (2) layers of coffee ganache and rum buttercream in milk chocolate, (3) salted caramel in dark chocolate, (4) crispy hazelnut gianduja in dark chocolate.

Gorgeous as always, Jim. I see you have mastered the stripe! I'd love to know more about your technique for the galaxy eggs. I watched the Savour video but it is hard to translate to a smaller egg.

[Jim D.]

47 minutes ago, tikidoc said:

Gorgeous as always, Jim. I see you have mastered the stripe! I'd love to know more about your technique for the galaxy eggs. I watched the Savour video but it is hard to translate to a smaller egg.

Thanks for the kind words. Glad you recognized the galaxy design, and you are right: it's very difficult to get in all the colors on a small egg.

[tikidoc]

3 minutes ago, Jim D. said:

Thanks for the kind words. Glad you recognized the galaxy design, and you are right: it's very difficult to get in all the colors on a small egg.

 

What kind of sponge did you use? That was the big issue I had working on a smaller egg - an open enough texture to get the right effect, but small enough to have some precision in dabbing color...

[Jim D.]

1 minute ago, tikidoc said:

 

What kind of sponge did you use? That was the big issue I had working on a smaller egg - an open enough texture to get the right effect, but small enough to have some precision in dabbing color...

I used these sea sponges (the closest I could find to what Kirsten appeared to be using). They are tricky to get used to, and the secret seems to be to get a very small amount of cocoa butter on the sponge. If you want, I can enclose one of them with the trays I am sending you (from the Classifieds)--I have a ton of them as I didn't realize how many little pieces of sponge I would get from a single sponge.  I used them on the blue egg I made, and they worked really well there, as I wasn't constrained to get a certain design right (such as the galaxy).

[Jim D.]

1 hour ago, tikidoc said:

I see you have mastered the stripe! 

 

I have been intending to post about the tape I used. It was recommended to me by @Miriam G (for which I thank her) and was intended to be used with the Cricut machine for making designs. I don't yet have a Cricut but decided to get some of the tape and cut it with a paper trimmer. The downsides:  it is difficult to separate the tape from its backing (though the technique can be mastered) and the sheets of tape (it's not on a roll) are not large enough to be able to cut one stripe for an entire row of cavities. But the upside is that the tape really sticks, even better than the vinyl (electrician's) tape used by Andrey Dubovik. It also conforms to the curves of a mold cavity the best of anything I have used. One caveat: It's crucial to leave a tab to grasp the tape when removing it--it sticks so well that it takes some force to remove it.

Edited April 13, 2019 by Jim D.
To correct link (log)

[tikidoc]

21 minutes ago, Jim D. said:

 

I have been intending to post about the tape I used. It was recommended to me by @Miriam G (for which I thank her) and was intended to be used with the Cricut machine for making designs. I don't yet have a Cricut but decided to get some of the tape and cut it with a paper trimmer. The downsides:  it is difficult to separate the tape from its backing (though the technique can be mastered) and the sheets of tape (it's not on a roll) are not large enough to be able to cut one stripe for an entire row of cavities. But the upside is that the tape really sticks, even better than the vinyl (electrician's) tape used by Andrey Dubovik. It also conforms to the curves of a mold cavity the best of anything I have used. One caveat: It's crucial to leave a tab to grasp the tape when removing it--it sticks so well that it takes some force to remove it.

 

The link for the tape did not work. I do have a Cricut, so if you want me to cut anything for you, let me know.

Edited April 13, 2019 by tikidoc (log)

[Jim D.]

4 minutes ago, tikidoc said:

 

The link for the tape did not work. I do have a Circuit, so if you want me to cut anything for you, let me know.

 

I have corrected the link.

[tikidoc]

Just plain adhesive vinyl? I have a bunch of it. That stuff is made to stick to stuff permanently. You didn't have an issue getting it off or leaving a residue? If you have a design you want made, let me know, I can cut it for you and pop it in an envelope. 

[Tri2Cook]

3 hours ago, Jim D. said:

and was intended to be used with the Cricut machine for making designs. I don't yet have a Cricut but decided to get some of the tape and cut it with a paper trimmer

The more I come here, the more I learn. I had one of those. Not sure if it was that specific brand, I can't remember, but it was for doing the same job. I bought it for my late wife because she was into scrapbooking and other crafts. She never got to use it before she passed away. I'm not a craft person and it was brand-new so I donated it to a local group that has activity days for the kids at the local women's shelter. I in no way regret that decision even after seeing this, I'm sure they're making much better use of it than I ever would have... but who knew it had a purpose in the chocolate world? 

[Kerry Beal]

 

 

Tiny little army of Ruby bunnies for work tomorrow. Thanks to @patris for the Ruby. There was none available at TJ's when I dropped in the other day - but she had quite the stash that I raided.

 

 

 

 

[pastrygirl]

35 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

 

 

Tiny little army of Ruby bunnies for work tomorrow. Thanks to @patris for the Ruby. There was none available at TJ's when I dropped in the other day - but she had quite the stash that I raided.

 

 

 

 

 

Did you add extra red, or is it the lighting?  That's actually a decent color!  (I'm not a fan of pink)

 

[Kerry Beal]

12 minutes ago, pastrygirl said:

 

Did you add extra red, or is it the lighting?  That's actually a decent color!  (I'm not a fan of pink)

 

No added color. 

[patris]

8 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

 

 

Tiny little army of Ruby bunnies for work tomorrow. Thanks to @patris for the Ruby. There was none available at TJ's when I dropped in the other day - but she had quite the stash that I raided.

 

 

 

The staffer you talked to steered you wrong! They still have quite a bit, but they moved it over near the baking stuff. I doubt I will be adding more to my stash, though... still haven’t used more than a couple packages.

 

[Jim D.]

On 4/13/2019 at 8:54 AM, tikidoc said:

Just plain adhesive vinyl? I have a bunch of it. That stuff is made to stick to stuff permanently. You didn't have an issue getting it off or leaving a residue? If you have a design you want made, let me know, I can cut it for you and pop it in an envelope. 

You have got me thinking about the food safety issue. Of course, I have yet to see any plastic adhesive tape that is certified food safe--I can't imagine the manufacturers have ever thought about crazy chocolatiers using it in the way we do. Since you are an M.D., what are your views on the subject? (I know that you have made striped designs) The VinylEase tape is so successful that I would give it up reluctantly, but I am not keen on poisoning my customers--well, most of them.

[jbates]

Working on a bunch of stuff for my Easter charity sale at the office.

 

Some tasting bars made from TJs Ruby:

 

 

I found the little mendiant/disc characters at Michael’s (US craft store), the missing third one is a bunny face. They were the lids in a small dough shaping kit for kids; threw away the dough and the containers.

 

Metallic eggs, with a handful of candied pecans inside:

 

 

The luster was lovely and shiny (a thin spray of pure CB, then luster dust, backed with off-white pearlescent CB), but a bit muted by the dark chocolate shell. I think I’ll do another layer of white CB or a very thin white chocolate shell before casting the dark next time.

 

And some milk tablets using Cacao Barry’s new mold for Ruby:

 

 

More to follow.

[Haley]

Eggs are so much fun to paint!  Flavors are:

*Milk chocolate cookie butter meltaway with a chocolate and biscoff crunch layer.

*caramel, pretzel, dried cranberry, and dark chocolate pecan gianduja

*peanut butter

*caramel, honey roasted peanuts, and peanut butter  

[jbates]

16 minutes ago, Haley said:

Eggs are so much fun to paint!  Flavors are:

*Milk chocolate cookie butter meltaway with a chocolate and biscoff crunch layer.

*caramel, pretzel, dried cranberry, and dark chocolate pecan gianduja

*peanut butter

*caramel, honey roasted peanuts, and peanut butter  

So much gorgeous detail in the flowers. Your artistic skills are waaay better than mine.

[tikidoc]

On 4/15/2019 at 4:59 PM, Jim D. said:

You have got me thinking about the food safety issue. Of course, I have yet to see any plastic adhesive tape that is certified food safe--I can't imagine the manufacturers have ever thought about crazy chocolatiers using it in the way we do. Since you are an M.D., what are your views on the subject? (I know that you have made striped designs) The VinylEase tape is so successful that I would give it up reluctantly, but I am not keen on poisoning my customers--well, most of them.

 

If there is no visible residue (and the chocolate or cocoa butter that is applied after removing the tape still comes off shiny), I would guess that the amount of stuff that you could consume from eating the chocolate would be pretty minuscule. If the tape didn't come off really clean, it wouldn't work for chocolates. If a small amount of the adhesive was seriously toxic, I would think that the label would be covered with warnings. 

[Jim D.]

1 minute ago, tikidoc said:

 

If there is no visible residue (and the chocolate or cocoa butter that is applied after removing the tape still comes off shiny), I would guess that the amount of stuff that you could consume from eating the chocolate would be pretty minuscule. If the tape didn't come off really clean, it wouldn't work for chocolates. If a small amount of the adhesive was seriously toxic, I would think that the label would be covered with warnings. 

There is no tape I have found that says it is food safe. There was a post on eG some years ago from someone who said he had such tape and would post the name of it within a couple of days, but he never did and I had no success in tracking him down. Both Avery and 3M deal in food-safe adhesives, but I don't think they cater to the small consumer with these products. There is a company that makes specific shapes explicitly for use in making decorated chocolates. I bought a sampler pack, and they are cut not for rows in the mold but for individual cavities, which, of course, is a pain in the neck, and to top it off, they did not stick well at all. I read through their website, and there is no statement whatever about food safety. I saw no residue with using the VinylEase tape, but I didn't look with a magnifying glass or anything like that.

[tikidoc]

if there was much residue, I would think you would not get a shine there on the finished piece...