This year’s resolution - Chocolate Making
After getting over my fear of tempering chocolate and making ganache for Hub’s Birthday Cake I’ve decided this is going to be the year I master chocolate making. Going on the Artisan Chocolate course on the School of Artisan Food last year has given me a great foundation.
Thanks to some Christmas money I’m now the proud owner of a proper polycarbonate chocolate mould. None of those silicone moulds here, I despise them plus I was informed on the course last year that they are inferior to polycarbonate moulds. I got the mould from Home Chocolate Factory. A fabulous, albeit naff looking, website I was told about that sells all you need for chocolate making and also has wholesale options. I liked that they included a helpful little booklet with the order giving their chocolate making tips and recipes. The liquid liqueur chocolates WILL be made here soon!
For my first batch of experimental chocolate making I defrosted the white chocolate ganache left from the birthday cake (another reason why ganache is so much better on cakes than buttercream!) and flavoured it with lime juice and zest. I added the juice slowly so the chocolate wouldn’t split. I’m really pleased with the shine I managed to get with the chocolate along with the snap, but it still needs work. Most of the chocolate had little bubbles on the top and I over filled them slightly meaning the base of the chocolates were too thin. I think this may become an addiction. I’m already planning to buy some dark chocolate on the way back from work later to play with tonight and fill with the last of the lime ganache. You can’t complain about experimenting with a technique when you can eat the creations afterwards.
Jules
Is there a picture of the finished chocolates?
Hi Maxine, no there isn’t a picture of the finished chocolates as I wasn’t happy with the photo and we scoffed them. May try and get a better pic with tonight’s batch.
Hey - that’s my resolution too :-)
http://allthethingsieat.blogspot.com/2011/12/this-coming-year.html
Great minds think alike! What chocolates have you tried so far?
I’m intrigued about chocolate making. I made some truffles at Christmas and they were delicious. Look forward to reading more about your experiment.
Sounds like an excellent new year’s resolution. I must get round to trying to temper chocolate. It doesn’t usually last long enough round here to be tempered, but perhaps I’ll try and follow your lead!
What a great idea. With Easter on the way we are sure there will be plenty of excused to practice. We can’t wait to see the pictures.
You have chosen a great new years resolution. I dream of going on a chocolate course at William Curley, my favourite chocolatier……maybe someday!
Will be checking in to see your progress, sounds like a good challenge :-)
That certainly does sound like a great course to do. Have you seen he’s recently brought out a new chocolate cookbook?