Report: eGullet Chocolate and Confectionery Workshop 2025

[curls]

People are starting to arrive in Texas! @Chocolot @Kerry Beal @Alleguede and many others arrived earlier this week and have been preparing for the workshop!

 

Edited May 15, 2025 by curls
add photo (log)

[Chocolot]

Kerry and Donna getting the melters ready. Gaylene, Willow, Elizabeth and Lauren helped get the space organized. They did a great job! Thanks girls!

[AAQuesada]

I enjoy being a voyeur and watching the event unfold! The closest I get to working with chocolate is making brownies lol

[Kerry Beal]

 

Saw this at home depot - if we have trouble with our fancy panning machine we can run out and get one!

 

Dinner on Wednesday - Stiles Switch near us 

 

 

 

 

Thursday am - Ruth got doughnuts - she will have to provide the name 

 

 

Lunch was In and Out

 

 

 

Dinner at 600 degree Pizza in Georgetown 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And this lovely tree noted while walking around the square after dinner.

 

 

[RobertM]

Friday….started with breakfast at the hotel…

**please note** pastries were NOT supplied by Rodney

 

[Chocolot]

Donuts were Round Rock Donuts. 

[Kerry Beal]

Last night - dinner at Dos Salsa and the show and tell.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[GRiker]

[GRiker]

[GRiker]

[Eat.Choui]

Kerry table tempering demo

[Eat.Choui]

Rodney sugar panning demo

[Smithy]

I am continually amazed at the talent, skill, artistry and no doubt patience that goes into those edible artworks!

 

What are these colored handle-y things? Sponges for daubing color? Dipping sticks? Some fun form of lollipop? Something I haven't thought of?

 

[Jim D.]

23 minutes ago, Smithy said:

I am continually amazed at the talent, skill, artistry and no doubt patience that goes into those edible artworks!

 

What are these colored handle-y things? Sponges for daubing color? Dipping sticks? Some fun form of lollipop? Something I haven't thought of?

 

 

I'm not at the workshop, but they are stencils.  They are made to fit a certain size of mold.  The chocolatier sprays some colored cocoa butter in the cavities, heats the stencil and presses it into the cavities (thus the need for the handle), and lifts it out.  An impression (whatever pattern is on the business end of the stencil) is made in the cocoa butter.  It is allowed to crystallize for a bit, then another tool (it can be just a paper towel) is used to wipe away excess CB in the cavities.  And thus the decoration is made.  Another color of CB is sprayed on top, which makes the pattern pop.

[Chocolot]

The silicone stamps. There is a learning curve!

[Chocolot]

Willow enrobing her carrot cake bonbon.

Edited May 17, 2025 by Chocolot
wrong description (log)

[curls]

BBQ dinner at Stiles Switch. Yum!

 

[Kerry Beal]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was yesterday! Didn't get any pics to day - but I'm sure someone will post. They were very efficient turning out product and what needed to get enrobed today got done. It was a huge display. 

Edited May 19, 2025 by Kerry Beal (log)

[Kerry Beal]

Cleanup today went rather more smoothly than we had anticipated and we left around 1:30 or 2 - everyone took a couple of boxes of product and we left behind around 20 boxes or so for Tom at TCF to find homes for. I had hoped we could drop them at a homeless shelter but given the heat and the fact that no one seemed to know where to find a homeless shelter in Austin they will have to find other places for them.

 

@Alleguede and I headed off to Austin proper to see the sites and find a bite to eat. 

 

 

 

The state capital building - if you want to look around inside you need to go through airport style screening - we decided we weren't that interested. 

 

So back outside we came to check out the grounds. We saw a photographer set up across the way and went to see what was happening and that's when we caught site of these teens out walking their 15 year old friend to her photography session for her quinceanera.

 

 

 

.

 

Couldn't help but think of one of those cakes with a Barbie doll stuffed in the middle

 

 

Then off to dinner at the Elizabeth Street Cafe

 

 

A tasty mocktail 

 

 

Bahn Xeo for me - though they were calling it a crepe. 

 

 

Drunken noodles for @Alleguede.

 

 

 

Gelato from Dolce Neve. 

 

Edited May 19, 2025 by Kerry Beal (log)

[GRiker]

Edited May 19, 2025 by GRiker (log)

[GRiker]

[GRiker]

Got some pictures posted.  Someone please post the group picture!

 

Loved my first eG workshop!  A highlight was meeting wonderful people and coming together to support and encourage each other.  I especially was touched by watching the way those who have chosen chocolate as a profession leaned on and commiserated with each other.  

I was grateful for those willing to support and teach me.  Never would have made nougat without @curls or PdF without @Kerry Beal.  Thanks for your encouragements and hand holding.  

 

It was fun to meet in person those I've only met on this forum and to meet so many others.  Thank you everyone for a fun learning experience. 

[Chocolot]

On 5/17/2025 at 8:32 AM, Smithy said:

I am continually amazed at the talent, skill, artistry and no doubt patience that goes into those edible artworks!

 

What are these colored handle-y things? Sponges for daubing color? Dipping sticks? Some fun form of lollipop? Something I haven't thought of?

 

You heat up the stamp and press into painted mold to remove some cb, then back spray or do luster dust. 

[Chocolot]

Group photos

[Smithy]

What fun! I'm sure y'all had even more fun, being there together, but I've thoroughly enjoyed this trip report. Thank you for bringing us along!