Confections! (2006-2012)

[tammylc]

Stunning and gorgeous as usual, Vanessa!

What size paper cups are you using?

[BakingBee]

Anna and Kerry,

Thanks for the info about the color cocoa butter. I will try this weekend.

Bakingbee

[Desiderio]

Stunning and gorgeous as usual, Vanessa!

What size paper cups are you using?

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Tammy, thank you .

I think those cups are less than one inch, I cant remember the size , I got them in a tube of 500 at country kitchen web site , they were the cheaper ( because smaller :-P )

[mrose]

Stunning and gorgeous as usual, Vanessa!

What size paper cups are you using?

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Truffles that are about 1" diameter work well in a #8 cup & molded chocolates try a #5 cup. Here is a good source Cybercakes

Mark

[tammylc]

Stunning and gorgeous as usual, Vanessa!

What size paper cups are you using?

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Truffles that are about 1" diameter work well in a #8 cup & molded chocolates try a #5 cup. Here is a good source Cybercakes

Mark

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Thanks, Mark. My truffles are closer to 3/4" diameter, so I was using #4 cups for those. But they don't fit the molded chocolates very well, so I'll pick up some #5 for this next round.

[Kerry Beal]

and kerry, such nice packaging, and chocolates.  i hope everyone appreciates all the work you do for them.  this was a donation, right?  you have more energy than i can imagine.

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They reimburse me for the ingredients and supplies. They seem to appreciate the work I do.

[alanamoana]

Stunning and gorgeous as usual, Vanessa!

What size paper cups are you using?

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Truffles that are about 1" diameter work well in a #8 cup & molded chocolates try a #5 cup. Here is a good source Cybercakes

Mark

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this source is about half the price. i think they do have a minimum order, and they only have like two sizes of the different colors (limited), but at $4/1000 cups, they are very cheap.

they also are pretty cheap on basic boxes. i bought some two piece boxes (white bottoms with clear acetate tops) very inexpensively. and lollipop sticks which i use for cookies.

[patsikes]

This is a great company:

http://www.qualitapaper.com/html/CandyCups_QCup.htm

[Anna N]

Some days you just gotta have fun!

[Rhubarb]

Ooo, I love the hedgehog! I was thinking of getting that mold. adorable--

[luvchocolate]

My daughter thanks you all - now can one of you tell me how to get her off the ceiling? 

I am actually amazed at what can be done with the powdered colours and melted cocoa butter without an air gun and without the expense of the premixed colours.  I encourage any newbies to give it a try - who knew you could get such amazing results with such a small outlay.

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Hi Anna,

I am a newbies for making chocolate. Could you tell me how to coated a chocolate just like your daughter did with the powdered colours and melted cocoa butter without air gun. Can I subsitute melted cocoa butter with'Mycro'? What is the formula? I did try to melt the Mycryo and added the powdered colours. Then brushed it on the chocolate mold and poured in the well-tempered chocolate. What turn out was the chocolate pieces were not shining. I would appreciate if you can give me some hints!

Thx!

Bakingbee

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I cannot help you with Mycryo as I have never used it and don't really understand what it is. We use cocoa butter and dry powder colours. We melt the cocoa butter and mix in the colours we want. To get the red, my daughter added some black and some white (for opacity) into the red until she liked the colour after trying it out on a white background. She then painted the molds quickly, let them dry and then painted them once more. A day or so later, we filled them with tempered chocolate in the usual way. I hope this helps!

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Hi Anna,

Where can I get the dry powder colours? Is there any special brand?

Thanks!

[Mette]

Some days you just gotta have fun!

Those frogs are excellent - my very own frog mold arrived today (+ a mini frog mold because I couldn't resist) and I can't wait to try and replicate your mottled frogs - the kids are very eager to help.

Are you using coloured cocoabutter or dyed white choc?

Edited February 1, 2007 by Mette (log)

[Anna N]

. . .

Are you using coloured cocoabutter or dyed white choc?

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Coloured cocoa butter.

[Anna N]

. . .

Hi Anna,

Where can I get the dry powder colours? Is there any special brand?

Thanks!

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I got some of mine from a store selling baking supplies for cake makers and others from a chocolate supplier. I have heard that you can get them in Michaels but I have had no luck there. They are Wilton brands and Lorann brands - I believe you can order them on-line from Lorann. Make sure you get the powdered colours - not the gels or the pastes! Let me look up the link for Lorann and I will post it shortly.

This link should get you to Lorann.

Edited to add link and again to fix typos.

Edited February 1, 2007 by Anna N (log)

[mrose]

You can also use oil based liquid colors, Elaines Candy Color. You can get it through Chocovision and some other places. Can't remember where I also have seen them.

Mark

[David J.]

It's not the best picture, but I was amazed at how intense the colors are - last time I did this I was using colored white chocolate.  The straight cocoa butter behaved differently in the mold, it was thicker and stayed more in one place.  I wasn't thrilled with the results - the red is so dark that it mostly blends into the chocolate, and looks like blood where it doesn't!  And the white is rather garish as well.  So I need to play with my technique some.  This was done using a brush, but I'm thinking a finger smear would be better at giving me the look I want (the opposite was true with the colored chocolate).  And next time I'll mix some of the white into the red to get a dark pink, which I think will show up better.

Tammy,

You might try spraying white cocoa butter in the mold as a last step before pouring the chocolate for the shells. The white background will keep the dark chocolate from making the darker colors disappear so much.

[tammylc]

Tammy,

You might try spraying white cocoa butter in the mold as a last step before pouring the chocolate for the shells.  The white background will keep the dark chocolate from making the darker colors disappear so much.

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Thanks David. I have yet to invest in an airbrush, but it is next on my list. Now that I've worked with them once, I think I'll be able to better get the effect I'm looking for, but an airbrush is an excellent idea.

Question for folks about colored cocoa butter - the cocoa butter on my chocolates seems to have gotten kind of tacky. The color comes off on fingers, or rubs off on the inside of the box. Is this normal, or a sign that there's something amiss with my application?

[Kerry Beal]

Question for folks about colored cocoa butter - the cocoa butter on my chocolates seems to have gotten kind of tacky.  The color comes off on fingers, or rubs off on the inside of the box.  Is this normal, or a sign that there's something amiss with my application?

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I don't think it's normal. The cocoa butter layer doesn't usually rub off. In terms of what caused it, I wonder if moisture (condensation) may be a factor. Do you put your molds in the fridge between the cocoa butter application and the application of the chocolate? I usually don't, just wait for the cocoa butter layer to dry thoroughly then after the chocolate layer, pop them in the fridge for a couple of minutes.

I have had problems with tackiness, mostly with white chocolate, and it happens most often when I have put the molds in the fridge and forgotten about them for a while. I find if I take them out as soon as the chocolate has clearly crystallized, fill them, back them, and put them back in just long enough to crystallize again, that I can usually avoid this. Some of my molds give me more problems than others with this.

[tammylc]

I didn't refrigerate them between applying the cocoa butter and pouring the shells. I was doing a really quick rush job on them however - I was just playing around with the colors and some lingering bits of ganache I had in the fridge. I had friends over and wanted to send them home with chocolates, so I didn't give the fillings much time to dry before I backed them - probably only an hour or so. I wonder if that's where the moisture's coming from, after the fact. Especially since they were in a sealed container, so if there was some evaporation it would have nowhere to go... The shells were very thin, so I could believe that there could be significant evaporation. Does that sound plausible?

[Kerry Beal]

I didn't refrigerate them between applying the cocoa butter and pouring the shells.  I was doing a really quick rush job on them however - I was just playing around with the colors and some lingering bits of ganache I had in the fridge.  I had friends over and wanted to send them home with chocolates, so I didn't give the fillings much time to dry before I backed them - probably only an hour or so.  I wonder if that's where the moisture's coming from, after the fact.  Especially since they were in a sealed container, so if there was some evaporation it would have nowhere to go...  The shells were very thin, so I could believe that there could be significant evaporation.  Does that sound plausible?

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Quite possible. I have had significant problems, again with white chocolate, when the shells were too thin. Last years valentines hearts - aka 'the bleedin' hearts o' jesus' . A lot of them also suffered from moisture on the surface.

[tammylc]

Here's some of what I've been working on last night and this afternoon:

We're going to the anniversary party for our community tonight, so I used it as an excuse to try out three recipes from Carole Bloom's book, Truffles, Candies, and Confections. At the bottom are Espresso Caramels, in both wrapped and chocolate covered versions. To the left, wrapped and chocolate dipped versions of the Honey Nut Caramels. To the right and in the middle (with the chopped nuts on top) is a slightly overcooked Hazelnut Butter Crunch. It's definitely edible, but darker than I would have preferred. The caramels are both good, but the honey nut is the best.

Here's what the caramels look like inside:

The other thing I've been doing this afternoon is playing around with my newest acquisition - a Badger 250 airbrush. But I need to finish filling and capping the mold, so no pictures until tomorrow.

[Kerry Beal]

Tammy,

Try the Krokant recipe from Carole Bloom's book. It is great bashed up and used as an inclusion with solid chocolate (tastes like toblerone).

Also with the airbrush, careful that you don't suck in a lot of atomized cocoa butter until you get the air pressure right, I suspect it is not good for your lungs.

[alanamoana]

kerry, would you recommend wearing a mask in general when airbrushing? even airbrushing with colors makes me nervous when i blow my nose and bright purple snot comes out (or whatever color it is you're working with).

[Kerry Beal]

kerry, would you recommend wearing a mask in general when airbrushing?  even airbrushing with colors makes me nervous when i blow my nose and bright purple snot comes out (or whatever color it is you're working with).

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I think it's a great idea. The only time I haven't had a lot of aerosols is when I was playing around with the little can of propellant that came with the airbrush, and apparently it is not food safe. Even when I've made myself a little spray booth out of a cardboard box, there has been a lot of cocoa butter in the air and I've had the same snot issues as you, as well as some wheezing which makes me haul out a puffer. I can't think it's good for us in the long run.

[tammylc]

If the propellant that comes with the airbrush isn't food safe, what are you supposed to use with it? Is there another brand that is safe?