My first class this quarter is called Chocolate, Confections, and Centerpieces. This week we began with the fundamentals of chocolate, tempering, and creating some decorations.
Tempering chocolate is a bit of a pain but after a few tries, I was able to get it okay more than once so I guess I have the hang of it. There are a few methods to temper chocolate, we learned by doing the "tabling method", which involves heating the chocolate then cooling a portion of it on a marble or granite slab and then adding it back to the rest of the portion. That lowers the temperature of the chocolate in the bowl and raises that which was just cooled, bringing it to the ideal temperature that is then maintained. The result is a shiny, flowing chocolate that is easy to work with, tastes smooth, has a clean snap, and sets very quickly.
We also did a little practice making various chocolate decorations. Namely we made chocolate cigarettes, fans, and some things using acetate. There was also acetate with designs on them-they are made with cocoa butter that gets transferred to the chocolate, but none are in the picture.
Yum! Can't wait to see what your center pieces are going to look like.
ReplyDeleteHow do you make this stuff wothout eating it? U John..
ReplyDeleteLuckily for me, I don't really like sweets, I just like making them so temptation isn't much of a problem for me.
ReplyDelete