Transfer Sheets: Tips, Techniques & Care

[WhiteTruffleGirl]

White Truffle Girl, the easiest way to make your own rubber stamp is to use your computer to print the image you want. Using any graphic or font and make it look exactly as you would want it to print out. Then take it to your local rubber stamp store and have them make it up for you. I do this all the time. It gets a bit pricey if you make it intricate, but if it's a simple stamp it shouldn't cost you more than $10. Hope that helps.

←

It does...thanks much. Now, I just have to find my local "rubber stamp store."

[duckduck]

Look in the yellow pages under "rubber" or check out your local stationary or office supply stores. Many of them do stamps such as address stamps with company logos. How far "custom" they will go will vary. You can also google rubber stamps or custom rubber stamps. There are many online sources. And here is a demo on carving your own.

[alanamoana]

Has anyone had the experience where their transfer sheet image is not adhering to the chocolate?

I just bought some PCB transfer sheets and they worked fine on a test run. Today, I'm dipping some chocolates and topping with little squares of transfer sheet. I wait the recommended (okay, not the full two hours) but at least an hour...peel the transfer square off...and nothing! An indented image of where the transfer sheet was, but the cocoa butter has stayed firmly attached to the acetate.

Is it possible that the chocolate was too cool (although in temper) for the transfer sheet? Thus not melting the cocoa butter enough to adhere it to the chocolate?

[rraaflaub]

Has anyone had the experience where their transfer sheet image is not adhering to the chocolate?

I just bought some PCB transfer sheets and they worked fine on a test run.  Today, I'm dipping some chocolates and topping with little squares of transfer sheet.  I wait the recommended (okay, not the full two hours) but at least an hour...peel the transfer square off...and nothing!  An indented image of where the transfer sheet was, but the cocoa butter has stayed firmly attached to the acetate.

Is it possible that the chocolate was too cool (although in temper) for the transfer sheet?  Thus not melting the cocoa butter enough to adhere it to the chocolate?

←

Are you sure you placed the cocoa butter side down? I'm not suggesting you wouldn't know better, but you never know, sometimes it is hard to tell which way is up w/o touching the surface to feel for pattern. I admit that I have done this on an occassional piece in the midst of a long, monotonous dipping session.

Otherwise, unless you waited a while after dipping (or did not reheat the chocolate a bit after achieving a temper, I know some pastry chefs who do this), the cocoa butter definitely should have come off. I also presume you had the transfer sheet at room temperature, not chilled.

[alanamoana]

Are you sure you placed the cocoa butter side down?  I'm not suggesting you wouldn't know better, but you never know, sometimes it is hard to tell which way is up w/o touching the surface to feel for pattern.  I admit that I have done this on an occassional piece in the midst of a long, monotonous dipping session.

Otherwise, unless you waited a while after dipping (or did not reheat the chocolate a bit after achieving a temper, I know some pastry chefs who do this), the cocoa butter definitely should have come off.  I also presume you had the transfer sheet at room temperature, not chilled.

←

I definitely checked to make sure the cocoa butter side of the transfer sheet was the side in contact with the chocolate. I have a feeling the chocolate was just too cool. I didn't think that was possible, but with transfer sheets, i guess it is a consideration. I've looked at the dipped pieces again and it is funny...the indentations, where the transfer sheet design was, have bloomed. The rest of the chocolate seems to be in temper. I'll attach a picture in a minute to show you what I mean. I hope there aren't any more curve balls thrown my way as I have to have 300 of these done for a friend...

eta: image of funny bloom!

Edited May 8, 2006 by alanamoana (log)

[Sebastian]

That's actually a pretty neat phenemenon in and of itself, if it's really bloom (fat or sugar?). It would be interesting to let them sit for a week or so and see if the bloom (if it's fat bloom) changes over that time or if it remains constant.. i've never seen that before.. how long did it take for the bloom to show up after removing the transfer sheet from the chocolate?

[rraaflaub]

I'd like to hear if they change too, as well as how long they took to bloom. By the way, what temperature did you have the couveture at, as well as the transfer sheets? Does the bloomed area feel rough or smooth? What colour were the transfers, and was there not even any partial transfer on any of the chocolates? This is bugging me...here is some of what I'm wondering (ie: don't start into this paragraph expecting something helpful)...

I do wonder, if either the dipped chocolates or transfer sheet were too cold for the transfer to take place, if there was still enough contact between the setting couveture and the precrystallized cocoa butter on the sheets to start loosely scattered seeding on the chocolates' surface. If they were far enough apart, the newly seeded crystals may have started spreading their structure until finally bumping up against the nearest neighbour, leaving a visible set of crystals. The problem with this is that your couveture was already tempered (with fine crystals already in place). Since you didn't create the transfer sheets yourself, they should have been tempered properly (ie: they shouldn't have been in an improper crystalline structure from setting up in your cooler or something). Nor should they have hopped from their original stable form into a lesser one, unless the sheets were temperature abused...first over-heated then over-chilled, but then they would have likely been smeared. There are a few other problems with this theory anyway.

I'll stop for now...none of this is helping you, but in the long run it would be really nice to figure out what happened here if you can think of any more information. Especially, what temperature do you bring your dipping couveture back up to, and has there been any temperature abuse with your sheets?

[alanamoana]

it is all interesting stuff...

i looked at the chocolates again and the bloom became even more noticeable after another hour or more (it has since stayed about the same). it became visible only about 10-30 minutes after removing the transfer sheets which i had let sit on the chocolates for at least an hour (PCB recommends two hours...i'm a bit impatient).

i always spread out my leftover tempered chocolate onto parchment when i'm done dipping with it so it is easy to break apart and re-melt for later use...this chocolate block is in perfect temper as of right now. there's no noticeable bloom or anything.

to repeat, the sides of the dipped pieces seem to be in perfect temper.

i don't think the transfer sheets were temperature abused...but they were shipped from france directly from PCB. i've had them for less than a month, stored in a cool dark cabinet.

my room temperature was about 68-70 degrees fahrenheit (if my thermostat temperature can be trusted). i don't take the temperature of my chocolate when i work with it (or at least not often). as it was pretty viscous, i'd say it was in the mid 80 degrees fahrenheit. as i said, my theory is just that the chocolate was too cool to melt the cocoa butter and get it to adhere properly. i did place the transfer sheet on each dipped chocolate directly after placing the chocolate on the parchment. one at a time. so they didn't sit long enough for the chocolate to set up too quickly.

i'll try some more later with warmer chocolate and see how it goes.

thanks for your interest in my screw-ups...whatever i can do to forward everyone's progress

[jturn00]

I've had a similar issue with the PCB transfer sheets. Not sure why? I was making my easter chocolates using their post cards and puzzles. The post cards came out ok (for the most part) and the puzzles didn't come out. I think it had to do with the temperature of the tempered chocolate. I was working in a similar environment as you. (I let my molds sit overnight to set.) Keep us posted on anything you find.

Thanks,

Jeff

[alanamoana]

well...i'm an impatient ass...

i had one piece of dipped chocolate left from yesterday that still had the acetate/transfer sheet on top. i removed it this morning and the design stayed...absolutely perfectly. so, although i still think it had something to do with working with the chocolate at a cooler temeprature, it just needed to sit on the chocolate for a longer period of time (overnight).

do you think i'll learn patience after this?!

i doubt it

Jeff,

maybe letting the chocolate sit in the jigsaw puzzle molds longer than you might think...overnight...would help.

[Desiderio]

well...i'm an impatient ass...

i had one piece of dipped chocolate left from yesterday that still had the acetate/transfer sheet on top.  i removed it this morning and the design stayed...absolutely perfectly.  so, although i still think it had something to do with working with the chocolate at a cooler temeprature, it just needed to sit on the chocolate for a longer period of time (overnight).

do you think i'll learn patience after this?!

i doubt it 

Jeff,

maybe letting the chocolate sit in the jigsaw puzzle molds longer than you might think...overnight...would help.

←

Haha well I have to tell you that I did the same thing , with my home made transfe sheets and I didnt wait so no transfer .Yesterday I tryed to wait and tada!

Talking about impatience I really need to learn that soon .

Anyway the chocolate somehow for me was too warm so the immage was ok but the chocolate was streaky , will try again with moreeee patiente next week after mother's day is over what I got myself into ).

[sote23]

i have no experience with the pcb transfer sheets. but the tranfer sheets i've worked with, i don't even have to let them dry for an hour. they are done in about 30 mins.

well...i'm an impatient ass...

i had one piece of dipped chocolate left from yesterday that still had the acetate/transfer sheet on top.  i removed it this morning and the design stayed...absolutely perfectly.  so, although i still think it had something to do with working with the chocolate at a cooler temeprature, it just needed to sit on the chocolate for a longer period of time (overnight).

do you think i'll learn patience after this?!

i doubt it 

Jeff,

maybe letting the chocolate sit in the jigsaw puzzle molds longer than you might think...overnight...would help.

←

Haha well I have to tell you that I did the same thing , with my home made transfe sheets and I didnt wait so no transfer .Yesterday I tryed to wait and tada!

Talking about impatience I really need to learn that soon .

Anyway the chocolate somehow for me was too warm so the immage was ok but the chocolate was streaky , will try again with moreeee patiente next week after mother's day is over what I got myself into ).

←

[sote23]

your chocolates still look good. I can never get mine to look that good. yours seem to be taller than mine, what are you using to get the shape?

Are you sure you placed the cocoa butter side down?  I'm not suggesting you wouldn't know better, but you never know, sometimes it is hard to tell which way is up w/o touching the surface to feel for pattern.  I admit that I have done this on an occassional piece in the midst of a long, monotonous dipping session.

Otherwise, unless you waited a while after dipping (or did not reheat the chocolate a bit after achieving a temper, I know some pastry chefs who do this), the cocoa butter definitely should have come off.  I also presume you had the transfer sheet at room temperature, not chilled.

←

I definitely checked to make sure the cocoa butter side of the transfer sheet was the side in contact with the chocolate. I have a feeling the chocolate was just too cool. I didn't think that was possible, but with transfer sheets, i guess it is a consideration. I've looked at the dipped pieces again and it is funny...the indentations, where the transfer sheet design was, have bloomed. The rest of the chocolate seems to be in temper. I'll attach a picture in a minute to show you what I mean. I hope there aren't any more curve balls thrown my way as I have to have 300 of these done for a friend...

eta: image of funny bloom!

←

[alanamoana]

thanks sote23, the dipped chocolates are actually caramels. i poured the caramel into an acrylic frame i special ordered from a plastics company. it is 3/4 inch tall and 10"x10". this way, i get exactly 100 pieces all at exactly the same height (i've calculated my recipe so it exactly fills the frame). you can do the same thing with caramel rulers, but this is easier as it is only one piece and won't slide apart as you pour the caramel.

yeah, usually the pcb transfers shouldn't take as long. i think these are different because they are somehow thicker. the actual design isn't as flat on the acetate as other designs i've seen and it is pearlized so maybe different than other single, matte colored transfers. who knows? it's a gamble each time

[sote23]

very interesting. you think that would work with ganache, instead of caramel? i've been thinking of getting a frame, something like this http://pastrychef.com/Catalog/confectioner...mes_3152850.htm

i was thinking of getting that same transfer sheet. do you not recommend them. is this happening to you on just this one pcb tranfer sheet, or on other pcb sheets you have used?

thanks sote23, the dipped chocolates are actually caramels.  i poured the caramel into an acrylic frame i special ordered from a plastics company.  it is 3/4 inch tall and 10"x10".  this way, i get exactly 100 pieces all at exactly the same height (i've calculated my recipe so it exactly fills the frame).  you can do the same thing with caramel rulers, but this is easier as it is only one piece and won't slide apart as you pour the caramel.

yeah, usually the pcb transfers shouldn't take as long.  i think these are different because they are somehow thicker.  the actual design isn't as flat on the acetate as other designs i've seen and it is pearlized so maybe different than other single, matte colored transfers.  who knows?  it's a gamble each time 

←

[alanamoana]

the acrylic frames work with ganache, caramels, pate de fruit...whatever your heart desires. the thing i like about them is that you can get them custom cut in whatever size you need. they aren't too cheap though. my small frame cost about $40. but tap plastic (the company i bought it from) is very expensive.

if you live in nyc (or near enough to make a trip) "canal plastic" in chinatown does a great job. but also not cheap. but they make the corners perfectly square. the company i used made the interior corners rounded (they claim their router just works that way...).

the transfer sheet does work. just need patience. it is really beautiful when it comes out nicely.

i only bought the transfer sheets about a month ago and haven't really used them yet. this was the first real trial. today, i tested another design (i bought four different designs). i'll let everyone know how that one came out...i'm going to try to be good and let it sit overnight.

[jturn00]

alanamoana,

I did let them sit overnight. So I am not sure why they didn't come out. The transfer sheets I used (the post cards and puzzles) have thick images. I felt that possibly the transfer sheets should have been a little warmer, (Or the chocolate warmer?). Anyway, keep me posted. I may not be using these molds until christmas time or next easter (I have the christmas and easter post cards and puzzles.)

Jeff

[alanamoana]

well, on the new design (which doesn't have as thick a coating of cocoa butter), i used milk chocolate and let it sit overnight. the design didn't transfer perfectly. again, my chocolate was very cool as i was just messing around with it and not doing anything serious for production. so, i really think it has something to do with chocolate temperature.

will work on it some more!

[sote23]

alanamoana,

I'm assuming the chocolate was in temper right.

well, on the new design (which doesn't have as thick a coating of cocoa butter), i used milk chocolate and let it sit overnight.  the design didn't transfer perfectly.  again, my chocolate was very cool as i was just messing around with it and not doing anything serious for production.  so, i really think it has something to do with chocolate temperature.

will work on it some more!

←

[alanamoana]

yup...

[alanamoana]

well...tried again...dipped 100 pieces of caramel in tempered dark chocolate and left the tranfer on top of the chocolate for two days. when i tested the corners of some pieces, i was encouraged as it seemed the transfer stuck. when i removed the plastic, the transfer came right up with it! again with the funny design left on top. i think i'm going to just use texture sheets for this run as i need 300 pieces and i can't deal with the waste anymore. it took me three batches to get the caramel texture what i wanted it to be!!! ugh!

[sote23]

that must be so frustrating. is it just for that one specific transfer sheet? or all pcb sheets in general?

well...tried again...dipped 100 pieces of caramel in tempered dark chocolate and left the tranfer on top of the chocolate for two days.  when i tested the corners of some pieces, i was encouraged as it seemed the transfer stuck.  when i removed the plastic, the transfer came right up with it!  again with the funny design left on top.  i think i'm going to just use texture sheets for this run as i need 300 pieces and i can't deal with the waste anymore.  it took me three batches to get the caramel texture what i wanted it to be!!!  ugh!

←

[tan319]

caramel/candy "bar" set

These might be a bit more what you're looking for, sote.

Expensive?

yes.

I wonder if you could get a Home Depot or something to cut and sand some?

You can also size down or up just by adjusting.

very interesting. you think that would work with ganache, instead of caramel? i've been thinking of getting a frame, something like this http://pastrychef.com/Catalog/confectioner...mes_3152850.htm

i was thinking of getting that same transfer sheet. do you not recommend them. is this happening to you on just this one pcb tranfer sheet, or on other pcb sheets you have used?

thanks sote23, the dipped chocolates are actually caramels.  i poured the caramel into an acrylic frame i special ordered from a plastics company.  it is 3/4 inch tall and 10"x10".  this way, i get exactly 100 pieces all at exactly the same height (i've calculated my recipe so it exactly fills the frame).  you can do the same thing with caramel rulers, but this is easier as it is only one piece and won't slide apart as you pour the caramel.

yeah, usually the pcb transfers shouldn't take as long.  i think these are different because they are somehow thicker.  the actual design isn't as flat on the acetate as other designs i've seen and it is pearlized so maybe different than other single, matte colored transfers.  who knows?  it's a gamble each time 

←

←

[Kerry Beal]

caramel/candy "bar" set

These might be a bit more what you're looking for, sote.

Expensive?

yes.

I wonder if you could get a Home Depot or something to cut and sand some?

You can also size down or up just by adjusting.

I went to The Metal Supermarket and had them cut some stainless steel bars for me 2 short and 2 long. Cost about $50 CDN as I recall, they aren't quite as smooth as the fancy ones, but they work nicely. I would use thinner bar next time and it would be just as effective as the really thick ones I had made.

[sote23]

it might work. i will have to look into it.

caramel/candy "bar" set

These might be a bit more what you're looking for, sote.

Expensive?

yes.

I wonder if you could get a Home Depot or something to cut and sand some?

You can also size down or up just by adjusting.

very interesting. you think that would work with ganache, instead of caramel? i've been thinking of getting a frame, something like this http://pastrychef.com/Catalog/confectioner...mes_3152850.htm

i was thinking of getting that same transfer sheet. do you not recommend them. is this happening to you on just this one pcb tranfer sheet, or on other pcb sheets you have used?

thanks sote23, the dipped chocolates are actually caramels.  i poured the caramel into an acrylic frame i special ordered from a plastics company.  it is 3/4 inch tall and 10"x10".  this way, i get exactly 100 pieces all at exactly the same height (i've calculated my recipe so it exactly fills the frame).  you can do the same thing with caramel rulers, but this is easier as it is only one piece and won't slide apart as you pour the caramel.

yeah, usually the pcb transfers shouldn't take as long.  i think these are different because they are somehow thicker.  the actual design isn't as flat on the acetate as other designs i've seen and it is pearlized so maybe different than other single, matte colored transfers.  who knows?  it's a gamble each time 

←

←

←