Molded and Filled Chocolates: Troubleshooting and Techniques

[Kerry Beal]

Tomric does have lots of european polycarbonate molds - however they also make their own molds, thermoformed in two different weights - for hobby and for more professional use. They don't scrape well - so make sure you get the polycarbonate molds if that's what you are after.

[Jim D.]

Tomric does have lots of european polycarbonate molds - however they also make their own molds, thermoformed in two different weights - for hobby and for more professional use. They don't scrape well - so make sure you get the polycarbonate molds if that's what you are after.

Thanks for that tip. I have enough trouble scraping molds clean, so I don't want to make the situation worse.

[Kerry Beal]

Out of curiosity Jim - where are you located?

[Jim D.]

Out of curiosity Jim - where are you located?

I am in Staunton, Virginia (moved back to the family home after 50 years in Boston--so quite an adjustment). After renovating the house, I needed something to do, thus chocolate.

[Kerry Beal]

Jim - there are quite a number of eG chocolatiers in the Virginia just outside Washington area (not quite sure looking at that map how far that actually is from you). A number of them are heading up for our chocolate workshop in April. I suspect they might be a good resource for you as you start molding.

And of course we'd be thrilled if you decided to join us at the workshop. Link here to workshop.

[curls]

Out of curiosity Jim - where are you located?

I am in Staunton, Virginia (moved back to the family home after 50 years in Boston--so quite an adjustment). After renovating the house, I needed something to do, thus chocolate.

Welcome Jim D.! Staunton seems like a wonderful area; I went to their Hot Glass Festival this year; great glassblowing studio and gallery.

[Jim D.]

Out of curiosity Jim - where are you located?

I am in Staunton, Virginia (moved back to the family home after 50 years in Boston--so quite an adjustment). After renovating the house, I needed something to do, thus chocolate.

Welcome Jim D.! Staunton seems like a wonderful area; I went to their Hot Glass Festival this year; great glassblowing studio and gallery.

I was at that festival also, took some Boston visitors to it (one of them bought some beautiful and huge blown martini glasses). I hated this town when I was growing up; it has recently acquired cachet--there is even a chocolate shop here (is that the ultimate sign that a community has arrived?). Getting ingredients for cooking remains a challenge.

Jim

[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 was once again looking through the "Chocolates with that showroom finish" thread and came across some of your chocolates (page 19). If you have the time, could you let me know what molds you used for those? That would give me an idea of what I am looking for. Thanks.

[Jim D.]

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.

Kerry,

In trying to determine the size of molds I want, I was browsing through the "Chocolates with that showroom finish" thread and came across some of your chocolates (page 14). If you have the time, could you let me know what molds you used for those? That would give me an idea of what I am looking for. Thanks.

[Chris Hennes]

I don't recall what brand they are, but my go-to dome mold is #6024 in someone's catalog. It's about the largest size I think would be acceptable for a bonbon, anything larger is too much.

[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.

Kerry,

In trying to determine the size of molds I want, I was browsing through the "Chocolates with that showroom finish" thread and came across some of your chocolates (page 14). If you have the time, could you let me know what molds you used for those? That would give me an idea of what I am looking for. Thanks.

That is Chocolate World 2116 that I would have bought at Chocolat-chocolat. Tomric should have it - they call it I-1433.

[Jim D.]

Tomric does have lots of european polycarbonate molds - however they also make their own molds, thermoformed in two different weights - for hobby and for more professional use. They don't scrape well - so make sure you get the polycarbonate molds if that's what you are after.

I was concerned about how to tell the difference in the types of molds carried by Tomric, but I just learned from Lois in their office that all the ones with an "I" in the item number are imported polycarbonate ones. So they have a huge selection. The 3-4 week availability applies to the molds they don't happen to have in stock, so they really shouldn't say all the molds take that long to arrive. But it is a big advantage that they provide the volume/weight of the individual cavity, something that J.B. Prince does not. Thank you for your help in this process.

Jim

[pastrygirl]

Jim,

Cacao pods: http://www.dr.ca/?subcats=Y&status=A&pshort=Y&pfull=Y&pname=Y&pkeywords=Y&search_performed=Y&q=bc93&x=11&y=9&dispatch=search.results

Pyramids: http://www.jbprince.com/chocolate-and-sugarwork/pyramid-design-32-cavities.asp

The red flowers are a mold from a company in India, but I don't see them on the site: http://www.ipfco.com/

[curls]

Jim, you can also search the Chocolate World site for molds and filter the results by a various criteria http://www.chocolate...=praline moulds. If Tomric does not have the mold in stock or in their online catalog, just give them a call and they will order it for you. Looks like they have quite a few 13 gram molds, also a lot of 15 gram molds.

Edited December 1, 2012 by curls (log)

[Jim D.]

Jim, you can also search the Chocolate World site for molds and filter the results by a various criteria http://www.chocolate...=praline moulds. If Tomric does not have the mold in stock or in their online catalog, just give them a call and they will order it for you. Looks like they have quite a few 13 gram molds, also a lot of 15 gram molds.

Thanks for that info. The problem is that when I contacted Tomric today with a rather long list of the molds in which I am interested, they did not have a single one of them in stock. Unfortunately I need these for Christmas, so their 3-4 week delivery time won't work. Among other molds, I am looking for a simple dome, and it's surprising how difficult it is to find. Prince doesn't carry one at all (just a flattened dome). I found one at Chef Rubber, but they don't say if their molds are polycarbonate or not, so I have inquired about that.

Jim

[Kerry Beal]

Check Kerekes too. They carry a number of molds. The Chef Rubber bonbon molds for $32 are all polycarbonate. The 18 gram dome sku number 1004501 is the mold mentioned above - the CW2116 or I-1433.

The flattened dome makes a pretty chocolate - I think it's the one that Chris was talking about 6024.

[Jim D.]

Check Kerekes too. They carry a number of molds. The Chef Rubber bonbon molds for $32 are all polycarbonate. The 18 gram dome sku number 1004501 is the mold mentioned above - the CW2116 or I-1433.

The flattened dome makes a pretty chocolate - I think it's the one that Chris was talking about 6024.

Thanks very much for that information. You do appear to know just about everything--at least in the realm of chocolate! I do plan to get both a regular dome and a flattened one. It appears that the simpler molds are much better for decorating than the otherwise more interesting ones.

Jim

[jrshaul]

I'm going to pick up one of the I-1433s. Very good price. Thanks for the tip!

[Jim D.]

I am a beginner at molding chocolates (have made about 10 batches) and have some questions on technique. I realize that practice is required, and I think I am getting a bit better at the process, but am still having some issues and so seeking advice from those with more experience. I apologize for the length of the questions and will appreciate any help at this busy time of year for confectioners.

I find cleaning off the mold (both when initially filling the mold and especially when capping the chocolates) a problem. I have a long flat spatula as well as a broad scraper (a drywall tool actually), and with one of those I can usually get most of the chocolate off the top and sides of the mold, but find that as time passes, the chocolate thickens (a sign that it is tempered, I suppose) and sticks to the scraper, which therefore removes less chocolate, tending to make a mess of the mold that I had mostly cleaned off. So I placed a heavy pot nearby and scraped the blade on the edge of that, but still the chocolate built up too much on the blade. If I stop to put down the scraper and clean it off, the chocolate hardens too rapidly in the mold. So do others have any technique for cleaning off the blade quickly and thoroughly? I have watched several videos that show experts doing this, and they appear to have no trouble at all. I have added cocoa butter (around 7%) to the chocolate (Callebaut, which I know tends to be rather viscous), and that helps keep the chocolate liquid longer, but still have the problem. I should add that I have succeeded in making some nice and thin shells (the cocoa butter helped with that), but with the chocolate left on the top of the mold, I am getting "feet" on the pralines (which does not bother me too much, since I have a little knife that trims them off easily, but sometimes they make unmolding difficult).

Leveling the bottoms of the chocolates is the most difficult part of the job. As I try to scrape the extra chocolate off the mold, the blade drags chocolate with it, making the bottoms rough in texture. If I keep trying to smooth them, the situation gets worse since some of the filling can be dragged out of the cavities. I end up patching the places where the chocolate is gone, and that makes it worse. I left the chocolate on the mold in one case, and the bottoms were smoother, but unmolding was a nightmare. I am wondering if the chocolate is too thin and I need to wait a few minutes. The problem is that there isn't a lot of time to think and try different techniques as the couverture is hardening quickly.

Which brings me to the unmolding issue. I have read many threads on this forum and elsewhere about this problem and realize that it is quite common. When I don't do any decorating of the mold with cocoa butter, the pralines often release without a problem, but the batches where I used cocoa butter were a different story: some chocolates came out of the molds with no difficulty, others required much effort. All of them did finally come out without any damage, but what a job it was! I am fairly certain the chocolate is in temper. I leave the molds at room temp. for about 15 minutes, then put them in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes. If they stick after repeated refrigeration, I put them in the freezer for a few minutes and that often helps. Eventually I get them all out, but it is a major issue.

The last problem has to do with decorating the molds. I like the simple look of lines of cocoa butter (or chocolate) crisscrossing the praline. I watched a video from a British source named Keylink (excellent series of videos on every aspect of chocolate making), and the instructor just waved a cone of cocoa butter over the mold and all went well. When I did it, the cocoa butter came out sporadically with some good lines, others interrupted by little blobs and spaces with no cocoa butter. Considering that the cavities have sides, I think making lines is a challenge, but it is one that others have conquered. Any ideas what I could be doing wrong?

As I said earlier, I will be very grateful for any suggestions.

Jim D.

[Kerry Beal]

Backing off plates - the chocolate should be as warm as possible for the working temperature. I give one or two quick scrapes with my ateco flat spatula, then one scrape with the drywall knife. I heat the spatula and drywall knife with my heat gun and clean off the excess with a paper towel when they need cleaning.

So warm chocolate and working fast will give you the smoothest, thinnest bottoms without any excess chocolate.

Leave the shells at room temperature until you see them starting to firm up around the edges - that is the time to pop them in the fridge. I usually leave then in for 10 to 15 minutes - often I will take them out and see if I can see some indication that the chocolate is starting to separate from the mold before I take them out. Then I fill, back off and put them back into the fridge when I see the chocolate on the back starting to firm up. I'll leave the in until I see the shells have clearly separated. If I'm having trouble - 3 minutes max in the freezer.

Making lines is indeed difficult in some molds because of the shape.

What temperature is the cocoa butter when you are drizzling it in? It needs to be in temper if you are using it for lines. You can either temper on a marble slab or half melt the bottle so that it is not too warm.

[pastrygirl]

Lacking a heat gun, I scrape the build-up off my scraper between every few molds. If you try to keep the blade vertical (or perpendicular to the mold) that helps too, because then you are only scraping the edge against the mold, and not dragging all the excess built-up chocolate through your bottoms.

[Jim D.]

Leave the shells at room temperature until you see them starting to firm up around the edges - that is the time to pop them in the fridge. I usually leave then in for 10 to 15 minutes - often I will take them out and see if I can see some indication that the chocolate is starting to separate from the mold before I take them out. Then I fill, back off and put them back into the fridge when I see the chocolate on the back starting to firm up. I'll leave the in until I see the shells have clearly separated. If I'm having trouble - 3 minutes max in the freezer.

*****

What temperature is the cocoa butter when you are drizzling it in? It needs to be in temper if you are using it for lines. You can either temper on a marble slab or half melt the bottle so that it is not too warm.

Thanks for those tips. I knew you would have some good ideas. Responses to the two paragraphs above:

So you put the molds with the choc. shells in the refrigerator before you fill them? I had thought that shells and filling were supposed to be at room temp. Greweling even calls for warming the shells a bit before filling them--so that the bottoms will stick to the sides, he says.

For the cocoa butter: Using the microwave I partially melted the CB in the plastic bottle, then shook it (as many people advise), then poured out the melted portion into a small plastic cup, which I use to store it. When I am ready to use it, I melt the CB gently over warm water and use it to decorate. I think it is still in temper as it begins to harden quite soon. I got a heating pad to keep it fluid, and I am sure the heating pad is not warm enough to take the CB out of temper (it's barely warm enough to keep it fluid).

After last night's bad experience with unmolding, I am now fairly sure that the CB decoration is not the issue since I had the worst experience yet with unmolding undecorated chocolates. Again, they all eventually came out, but I think it's fair to say I have now given polycarbonate molds the ultimate test of sturdiness. And yes, I did clean the molds and polish them with a cotton cloth before I began. I think next I am going to try using a little CB to polish them before starting.

I must say this process is very discouraging. There are so many variables and a lot of guesswork involved.

Jim

[Jim D.]

Lacking a heat gun, I scrape the build-up off my scraper between every few molds. If you try to keep the blade vertical (or perpendicular to the mold) that helps too, because then you are only scraping the edge against the mold, and not dragging all the excess built-up chocolate through your bottoms.

Thanks for the perpendicular suggestion. I think that may help. Could you estimate how clean your molds are when you finish scraping? I've seen videos where the molds are almost as clean as they were before use (as in:

), others where there is some thin covering of chocolate.

[Kerry Beal]

Leave the shells at room temperature until you see them starting to firm up around the edges - that is the time to pop them in the fridge. I usually leave then in for 10 to 15 minutes - often I will take them out and see if I can see some indication that the chocolate is starting to separate from the mold before I take them out. Then I fill, back off and put them back into the fridge when I see the chocolate on the back starting to firm up. I'll leave the in until I see the shells have clearly separated. If I'm having trouble - 3 minutes max in the freezer.

*****

What temperature is the cocoa butter when you are drizzling it in? It needs to be in temper if you are using it for lines. You can either temper on a marble slab or half melt the bottle so that it is not too warm.

Thanks for those tips. I knew you would have some good ideas. Responses to the two paragraphs above:

So you put the molds with the choc. shells in the refrigerator before you fill them? I had thought that shells and filling were supposed to be at room temp. Greweling even calls for warming the shells a bit before filling them--so that the bottoms will stick to the sides, he says.

For the cocoa butter: Using the microwave I partially melted the CB in the plastic bottle, then shook it (as many people advise), then poured out the melted portion into a small plastic cup, which I use to store it. When I am ready to use it, I melt the CB gently over warm water and use it to decorate. I think it is still in temper as it begins to harden quite soon. I got a heating pad to keep it fluid, and I am sure the heating pad is not warm enough to take the CB out of temper (it's barely warm enough to keep it fluid).

After last night's bad experience with unmolding, I am now fairly sure that the CB decoration is not the issue since I had the worst experience yet with unmolding undecorated chocolates. Again, they all eventually came out, but I think it's fair to say I have now given polycarbonate molds the ultimate test of sturdiness. And yes, I did clean the molds and polish them with a cotton cloth before I began. I think next I am going to try using a little CB to polish them before starting.

I must say this process is very discouraging. There are so many variables and a lot of guesswork involved.

Jim

I do put them in the fridge before I fill them. They are back to room temperature before I fill them usually. I have not found it necessary to heat the edges before putting on the backs.

I usually scrape with my spatula and scrapers angled towards me at about 45 degrees. If you angle them forward you over fill, perpendicular fairly flat, 45 degrees back then a bit more chocolate gets scraped out.

Frustration is all part of the process - remember it's only chocolate! People will still eat it.

[curls]

Theses videos may be of help, Chef Derrick Tu Tan Pho giving a chocolate molding demo and a chocolate dipping demo. We were lucky enough to learn from him at our eGullet 2011 Chocolate Workshop at Niagara-On-The-Lake.

http://www.derrickph...io/vstc3=videos

If your going to fill larger molds (bunnies, santas, etc.) here is a demo by Chef Peter Greweling.

(edited to correct link)

Edited December 8, 2012 by curls (log)