Confections! (2006-2012)

[Kerry Beal]

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So what did I learn - I need to get some rubber stencil sheets that only have 3 or 4 rows of holes closer together.  ...

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Kerry, did you ever find a source for the stencil/templates like we used in class?

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I have a large one with round holes, and the same size with squarish holes. Got them from Qzina. I'm going to look for the smaller ones at the PMCA in a couple of weeks. I suspect Tomric has them, and I'll bet they are made by PCB.

[John DePaula]

...

So what did I learn - I need to get some rubber stencil sheets that only have 3 or 4 rows of holes closer together.  ...

←

Kerry, did you ever find a source for the stencil/templates like we used in class?

←

I have a large one with round holes, and the same size with squarish holes. Got them from Qzina. I'm going to look for the smaller ones at the PMCA in a couple of weeks. I suspect Tomric has them, and I'll bet they are made by PCB.

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Thanks, Kerry!

[Kerry Beal]

...

So what did I learn - I need to get some rubber stencil sheets that only have 3 or 4 rows of holes closer together.  ...

←

Kerry, did you ever find a source for the stencil/templates like we used in class?

←

I have a large one with round holes, and the same size with squarish holes. Got them from Qzina. I'm going to look for the smaller ones at the PMCA in a couple of weeks. I suspect Tomric has them, and I'll bet they are made by PCB.

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Thanks, Kerry!

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Check out Tomric's site, confectionary utensils and supplies - supplies. They have a variety of rubber mats, but you can't tell shape from their description.

[mrose]

Chef Rubber has them under rubber stencils.

Edited April 1, 2007 by mrose (log)

[John DePaula]

...

So what did I learn - I need to get some rubber stencil sheets that only have 3 or 4 rows of holes closer together.  ...

←

Kerry, did you ever find a source for the stencil/templates like we used in class?

←

I have a large one with round holes, and the same size with squarish holes. Got them from Qzina. I'm going to look for the smaller ones at the PMCA in a couple of weeks. I suspect Tomric has them, and I'll bet they are made by PCB.

←

Thanks, Kerry!

←

Check out Tomric's site, confectionary utensils and supplies - supplies. They have a variety of rubber mats, but you can't tell shape from their description.

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Yeah, I found that. I just emailed them to ask what the dimensions are and if they have varying sizes since their web site doesn't really provide, you know... information!

Also discovered that Chef Rubber carries what I'm looking for in varying thicknesses from 1mm to 2.5mm. Do you know how thick the ones were that we used at school?

[alanamoana]

I think the ones we used at school were closer to two or three millimeters thick. The one I got from ChefRubber is exactly one millimeter, which I think is a touch too thin. I like the size of circles I have though, they are 28 millimeters or just over an inch in diameter. I'd like to get some ovals as well. I can't decide if mine are French or American sized though...

[John DePaula]

I think the ones we used at school were closer to two or three millimeters thick.  The one I got from ChefRubber is exactly one millimeter, which I think is a touch too thin.  I like the size of circles I have though, they are 28 millimeters or just over an inch in diameter.  I'd like to get some ovals as well.  I can't decide if mine are French or American sized though...

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Thanks, Alana. That's what I was guesstimating. I will try to get ones thicker than 1mm.

[gap]

John - for what its worth, the "stencils" we used at Savour were referred to as Chablon mats. I did a quick Google but couldn't find a retailer on the Net (I bought mine direct from the school).

[John DePaula]

John - for what its worth, the "stencils" we used at Savour were referred to as Chablon mats. I did a quick Google but couldn't find a retailer on the Net (I bought mine direct from the school).

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Thanks, gap. I didn't see a source either, but I'll keep looking.

[Tweety69bird]

Kerry,

The way you dipped the centers, didn't they stick together once they had dried?

[alanamoana]

I'm not Kerry, but you can soak them in the super-saturated sugar syrup the way she did (all piled up) and after you drain the centers, you separate them and allow them to dry individually.

[Kerry Beal]

I'm not Kerry, but you can soak them in the super-saturated sugar syrup the way she did (all piled up) and after you drain the centers, you separate them and allow them to dry individually.

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Exactly as Alana says, it's great to be able to pile them up like that. Speeds up the process considerably. It does mean that they have to be firm enough to do that.

[HeatherM]

Well, after following this thread for ages, and re-reading the chocolates with a showroom finish thread, I finally dove in. I had bought a couple of moulds from Chocolat Chocolat here in Canada, cocoa butter from Chef Rubber, and was ready to start to play.

I chose the frog mould to start with, since I've seen such great results in this thread, but I wanted to do frogs with a twist.

I didn't have much luck my first time around. My chocolate wasn't in temper, so I got toads, not frogs!

My second batch turned out beautifully!

But for the twist... I decided to fill my frogs with gooey soft caramel. RED gooey soft caramel!

Here's a toad I split open

Almost everyone that I've shown them to has been quite disgusted, but I think they worked out very well!

[Kerry Beal]

Well, after following this thread for ages, and re-reading the chocolates with a showroom finish thread, I finally dove in.  I had bought a couple of moulds from Chocolat Chocolat here in Canada, cocoa butter from Chef Rubber, and was ready to start to play.

I chose the frog mould to start with, since I've seen such great results in this thread, but I wanted to do frogs with a twist.

I didn't have much luck my first time around.  My chocolate wasn't in temper, so I got toads, not frogs!

My second batch turned out beautifully!

But for the twist...  I decided to fill my frogs with gooey soft caramel.  RED gooey soft caramel!

Here's a toad I split open

Almost everyone that I've shown them to has been quite disgusted, but I think they worked out very well!

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Great looking frogs!!! What sort of colouring are you using? It's wonderfully intense.

[HeatherM]

Great looking frogs!!!  What sort of colouring are you using?  It's wonderfully intense.

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I just used the Wilton no taste red gel colour added to the caramel as it was nearing it's final temperature (after I'd added the cream).

[alanamoana]

and the exterior? it looks like chefrubber jewel cocoa butter...did you spray the entire interior of the mold after making the yellow spots and stripes?

they look great! i can see how someone might be disgusted, but the outsides are totally cute.

[Anna N]

. . .

But for the twist...  I decided to fill my frogs with gooey soft caramel.  RED gooey soft caramel!

. . .

Almost everyone that I've shown them to has been quite disgusted, but I think they worked out very well!

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I know a bunch of 7 and 8-year-olds who would think that these were absolutely the neatest thing ever.

[miladyinsanity]

. . .

But for the twist...  I decided to fill my frogs with gooey soft caramel.  RED gooey soft caramel!

. . .

Almost everyone that I've shown them to has been quite disgusted, but I think they worked out very well!

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I know a bunch of 7 and 8-year-olds who would think that these were absolutely the neatest thing ever.

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I think they are the neatest thing ever, and I'm way past that age. I think maybe I have too many little cousins.

[HeatherM]

and the exterior? it looks like chefrubber jewel cocoa butter...did you spray the entire interior of the mold after making the yellow spots and stripes?

You're right - it's a thin layer of clear cocoa butter, then all the colour is in the chefrubber jewel cocoa butter. The spots / stripes are the yellow topaz, and then two layers of green (green crystal). I backed everything up with a layer of the white from the artisan colours, just to make sure that the colours popped. I've had some bad luck in the past with the coloured cocoa butters getting lost against the chocolate, but I don't know if that was really necessary this time around.

Unfortunately I don't have an airbrush (yet!), so I used a paintbrush to paint the cocoa butter onto the molds.

I know a bunch of 7 and 8-year-olds who would think that these were absolutely the neatest thing ever. 

I think they are the neatest thing ever, and I'm way past that age. I think maybe I have too many little cousins.

Thanks! I seem to be getting either one of two reactions, that they're really neat or really disturbing, but I like them.

[alanamoana]

HeatherM, I do have a question for your regarding flavor. With all those layers of cocoa butter and colored cocoa butter, does any of that come across when you eat the chocolates? I know that colored and jeweled cocoa butters (and actually cocoa butter itself) don't really smell all that great and I can't imagine eating a mouthful of the stuff on its own. Since you couldn't get a super thin layer (you painted rather than airbrushed) did you notice this when tasting? Just curious.

[HeatherM]

HeatherM, I do have a question for your regarding flavor.  With all those layers of cocoa butter and colored cocoa butter, does any of that come across when you eat the chocolates?  I know that colored and jeweled cocoa butters (and actually cocoa butter itself) don't really smell all that great and I can't imagine eating a mouthful of the stuff on its own.  Since you couldn't get a super thin layer (you painted rather than airbrushed) did you notice this when tasting?  Just curious.

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I haven't tried any of the frogs yet - they're for this weekend, but I did try a couple of the "toads" which aren't as nice looking. I really didn't notice the cocoa butter flavour on those, but I'll let you know what the consensus is about the frogs. I used a fairly strongly flavoured chocolate (cacao barry Cuba single origin), so that may help in overpowering the cocoa butter.

[John DePaula]

I think the ones we used at school were closer to two or three millimeters thick.  The one I got from ChefRubber is exactly one millimeter, which I think is a touch too thin.  I like the size of circles I have though, they are 28 millimeters or just over an inch in diameter.  I'd like to get some ovals as well.  I can't decide if mine are French or American sized though...

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Thanks, Alana. That's what I was guesstimating. I will try to get ones thicker than 1mm.

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I got my stencils yesterday. I bought two kinds: 1mm squares and 2.5mm circles. The latter is exactly what we used at school, though the mat is larger i.e. more cavities. Can't wait to try them out.

[Kerry Beal]

One of the nurses in emerg is having a shower this week and asked me to make a couple of dozen chocolates for the event. Her only requirement was that they should have some pink and green on them to fit with the colour theme of the shower.

I got to choose the filling. I was intending to make ginger and lemon centers, however discovered I was lacking both the lemon puree and freeze dried lemon. I did have some calamansi puree and some powdered calamansi drink mix. so they ended up ginger and calamansi. Quite delicious. The attempt to paint the mold with the flowers just using quick strokes resulted in a rather sad looking effect, but they will get eaten for sure.

[Desiderio]

Couple of days ago I tryed the sleeping beauties for Greweling book ( spellin?)

And they didnt came out at all , probably something went wrong along the way becuase I made nougat before and mars bar and I never had a problem.Anyhow I had some liquor filled shells that cristallized too much and I kept them to something late , so I mixed the mess of sleeping beauty and the shells plus brown sugar some butter and corn syrup , getting the idea from Wybauw book for the black devils, of reusing pralines or production discards.So i made my version of black devils and they came out very very nice , chocolate caramel that tastes like chocolate cake caramels.I cook the caramel to 248 to a nice firm chew.From now on I know what to do with left over of bad experiments.

[alanamoana]

Vanessa,

I was wondering how it would come out to cook down all that stuff into caramels/fudge...thanks for posting your results.

Would you cut that up and dip it in chocolate?