Molded and Filled Chocolates: Troubleshooting and Techniques

[keychris]

exactly... There was a smear of milk (test looked OK, buta fter 20 minutes the test had bloomed) on the top of the chocolate (base of mold) and it didn't contract away from the surface, stuck, had to bash the bejeezus out of it to get them to come out... luckily there were plenty of people on hand willing to taste test those ones LOL

[pastrygirl]

exactly... There was a smear of milk (test looked OK, buta fter 20 minutes the test had bloomed) on the top of the chocolate (base of mold) and it didn't contract away from the surface, stuck, had to bash the bejeezus out of it to get them to come out... luckily there were plenty of people on hand willing to taste test those ones LOL

Some time, and sometimes some more time, in the freezer will usually help the more stubborn ones come out. Then even if they aren't pretty, they are more intact.

A different kind of disappointment: happily made three molds of bonbons on Tuesday for a catering order I had next week. Checked the banquet menus today, and no more chocolates on that party. Oh well, guess we'll see how well they freeze, and if nothing else they can be part of the spread at my brother's wedding in 6 weeks. That's what I get for trying to stay ahead.

[AnythingButPlainChocolate]

My moulds are driving me mad, my chocolate is in temper (I've checked) and moulding bonbon's isn't an issue, assumed it might be residual heat so moulded in layers (they're solids), made sure they weren't shocked by putting layers between the mould and the kitchen surface, made sure the mould's warm enough, that my colours are in temper (this occurs on non-coloured chocolates that are solids too) and keeping an eye on room temp and humidity. What am I doing wrong? I've even pre-sprayed the moulds with clear cocao butter.

[Kerry Beal]

How warm is the chocolate you are putting behind the colour?

[AnythingButPlainChocolate]

Calebaut milk chocolate at 30. Also having the same problem with dark, but not the white. Can, ironically, mould the lips fine though in any colour which is a rather large mould.

[Kerry Beal]

Calebaut milk chocolate at 30. Also having the same problem with dark, but not the white. Can, ironically, mould the lips fine though in any colour which is a rather large mould.

Try pushing it to 32 and see what happens.

[keychris]

it looks like (from that picture) the milk chocolate is OK - they're contracting away from the walls ok - but the colour isn't contracting away with the chocolate. I know most people around here say that the temperature of cocoa butter isn't important, but I've found it seems to be - if you airbrush it in, what temperature is it before you apply? It was recommended to us in class that you have it at 32-34C before spraying (after stirring it down from 45C).

Was there much time between applying the cocoa butter and the chocolate?

[Chocolot]

I find that if the chocolate is over, or under tempered, it will do this.

[AnythingButPlainChocolate]

I've been playing and think it's either an issue with the cocoa butter or adhesion between the chocolate and cocoa butter, tried plain choc in the moulds, all fine, sprayed half the frog in each mould with the coloured cocoa butter, it left most of the butter in the mould and the choc half was beautifully shiny, looked to be perfectly tempered on cutting, I'm still casting as a thin layer of choc, letting it set and then filling with inclusions and choc.

I took the chocolate up to 32, made sure it wasn't over stirred. I've tried spraying, leaving it for 5 minuted then casting, spraying, putting it in the fridge to set up then casting about 10 mins after, and I currently am testing with 1 I sprayed yesterday and will be casting today.

Is it because there is a lot of cocoa butter being used, or am I barking up the wrong tree?

(Please ignore the bubbles, this was just a test casting so didn't put it on the vibrating table.)

As you can see the highly decorated frog is most damaged, whereas the lesser decorated one has few imperfections, both only where the cocoa butter was...

[keychris]

how are you preparing your cocoa butter colours? (up to the point you spray)

Edited August 7, 2012 by keychris (log)

[AnythingButPlainChocolate]

I've tempered the main bottles, and have transferred some into smaller jars which I put in a yoghurt maker to part melt and am using the solid core to seed by shaking it. When I check it before spraying it's about 30C, however I'm waiting for the delivery of a new IR thermometer to check in case my other one has gone funky.

It's possible the small pots might have gone out of temper I suppose.

[JenBunk]

Whenever I have had the same problem, it has been because I poured the mold too soon and cocoa butter did not have a chance to dry. The more cocoa butter used the longer it takes to dry. I usually decorate the mold and let sit over night and I rarely have any cocoa butter stay in the mold. I am not an expert, but maybe this will help.

Jenny

[keychris]

pure, tempered cocoa butter should set up within 5 or 6 minutes for the amount sprayed in a mold. surely no more than 10 minutes. I've always found it's better to get the chocolate on as soon as possible after the butter has set so that the chocolate and the cocoa butter can contract away from the mold at the same time - that's what it looks like is happening in these pictures, the cocoa butter is not contracting properly and is sticking to the mold. If it is taking an inordinate amount of time to set, you've got the wrong crystals forming (it's not tempered properly).

[Prabha]

I too have suffered from less than beautiful results on far too many occasions. No pics yet, but wait for it; they'll come.

One of the phenomena I've routinely experienced, especially when molding plain chocolate shells (e.g. bittersweet 74%) is that some of the cavities come out looking stunning, while others have a dull finish. The cavities in the mold have been treated pretty much identically during my use and cleaning/polishing.

Is it likely that I either abused the molds in some way to get this or that perhaps some of the cavities weren't perfectly smooth to begin with?

I'm considering ordering a new set just to see what I can get out of them.

Steve, were you able to figure out why this happens? I have the exact same issue. And I have had it happen with brand new molds, so it's not because I've abused the molds.

[lebowits]

I too have suffered from less than beautiful results on far too many occasions. No pics yet, but wait for it; they'll come.

One of the phenomena I've routinely experienced, especially when molding plain chocolate shells (e.g. bittersweet 74%) is that some of the cavities come out looking stunning, while others have a dull finish. The cavities in the mold have been treated pretty much identically during my use and cleaning/polishing.

Is it likely that I either abused the molds in some way to get this or that perhaps some of the cavities weren't perfectly smooth to begin with?

I'm considering ordering a new set just to see what I can get out of them.

Steve, were you able to figure out why this happens? I have the exact same issue. And I have had it happen with brand new molds, so it's not because I've abused the molds.

I tried an experiment recently of spraying a few of my molds with plain cocoa butter. The pieces came out with a near mirror finish. I don't think this is sustainable simply due to the cost of cocoa butter. I did buy some new molds for my larger heart pieces and frankly, I'm getting good results. I believe that most of my issues related to the temper of the chocolate and how I prevent excess heat build up in the cavities as the chocolate crystallizes.

[lebowits]

I too have suffered from less than beautiful results on far too many occasions. No pics yet, but wait for it; they'll come.

One of the phenomena I've routinely experienced, especially when molding plain chocolate shells (e.g. bittersweet 74%) is that some of the cavities come out looking stunning, while others have a dull finish. The cavities in the mold have been treated pretty much identically during my use and cleaning/polishing.

Is it likely that I either abused the molds in some way to get this or that perhaps some of the cavities weren't perfectly smooth to begin with?

I'm considering ordering a new set just to see what I can get out of them.

Steve, were you able to figure out why this happens? I have the exact same issue. And I have had it happen with brand new molds, so it's not because I've abused the molds.

I tried an experiment recently of spraying a few of my molds with plain cocoa butter. The pieces came out with a near mirror finish. I don't think this is sustainable simply due to the cost of cocoa butter. I did buy some new molds for my larger heart pieces and frankly, I'm getting good results. I believe that most of my issues related to the temper of the chocolate and how I prevent excess heat build up in the cavities as the chocolate crystallizes.

[Prabha]

After some experiments with Bob M, I too think it's a heat transfer issue. Polishing the molds or not didn't seem to make a difference. I'm going to experiment more with methods of cooling the shells.

[Jim D.]

I have just begun to make molded chocolates (and just joined this forum). The first batches turned out OK (not spectacular but OK). I have a few technique questions that I will post separately, but one of my concerns is very basic: the significant difference in size of the cavities in the molds I purchased. I got 6 polycarbonate molds from J.B. Prince. In the images online, all the resulting bonbons appear to be more or less the same size, but when the molds arrived, the cavities varied from a one-bite size to two (or more) bites. The small cavities are very difficult to work with and (in my opinion) don't hold enough filling (vs. chocolate shell). I notice that many people on this forum use molds with what appear to be larger cavities. Is there a site to purchase polycarb molds that provides dimensions or capacity of the cavities? This would seem to be a basic consideration since boxing chocolates with greatly varying sizes looks a bit odd. And the molds are too expensive for me to make any more mistakes. Any help would be appreciated.

[Darienne]

The catalog from Tomric, http://tomric.com/ , gives complete dimensions for every mold. Very helpful.

[pastrygirl]

JB Prince gives the dimensions as well, you just have to click on the item. I try to avoid anything shallower than about 18mm. You gotta have room for filling!

[Kerry Beal]

Also worthwhile posting a link here on eG to any molds you are interested in - one of us probably has the mold or has seen it and can give you a better idea of the relative size of the cavity.

And welcome to eG by the way.

[Jim D.]

JB Prince gives the dimensions as well, you just have to click on the item. I try to avoid anything shallower than about 18mm. You gotta have room for filling!

I guess I didn't notice that in using the word "form" J.B. Prince was providing the measurements of the individual cavity; It could, I think, be clearer--which dimension is which, for instance. I would find it more useful if vendors gave the volume of the individual cavities since that is what really matters.

[pastrygirl]

Chocolate World (another site to peruse) does give the weight of the pieces - I think if molded with solid chocolate? (results may vary depending on fillings). I consider 10 g or less pretty small, prefer closer to 15 g. Yes, shopping for chocolate molds can be dizzying. Trying to find matching boxes is even worse!

My favorite molds tend to be the rounder, easier to polish shapes with no sharp corners for bubbles to stick in, like domes, geodesic domes, and cacao pods. Also those with more cavities per mold. I recently picked up some used magnetic molds, which offer the vesatility of transfer sheets, but with only 15 cavities per mold they are not very efficient in either transfer sheets or labor.

Edited November 28, 2012 by pastrygirl (log)

[Jim D.]

The catalog from Tomric, http://tomric.com/ , gives complete dimensions for every mold. Very helpful.

I have now looked through all the Tomric molds. The site doesn't say what kind of molds they are; I'm assuming polycarbonate. I am put off a bit by the statement (given for every mold I looked at) "call for availability 3-4 weeks"--so all their molds take that long to get? I am also assuming the last dimension given is the depth of the mold. The weight given really varies a lot, and in that case I am assuming "weight" is "capacity." Pastrygirl prefers molds with close to 15g capacity, but I didn't find a lot that were that large.

Not to complain too much about these mold sites, but somebody should design a website that pictures each mold next to a recognizable object that will provide perspective on the mold's true size.

[pastrygirl]

Pastrygirl prefers molds with close to 15g capacity, but I didn't find a lot that were that large.

That was just a guess, they are probably more like 10-13 grams. The last time I shopped for molds I decided 13g was my ideal size. It can be hard to visualize dimensions, I usually have to look at a ruler or even draw the shape to help decide.