Valentines day

I'm practicing for Valentines day. I got the airbrush out and started playing.

I used a new heart mold and sprayed it red and filled it with dark chocolate just to see if it would work.

I also have pearl colors that should really be fun.

Two other molds came in so I'll be using them soon.

One is a Aztec design in a dome mold and the other is a round hollow shell 2 piece.

I plan on using a Cayenne/cinnamon ganache in the Aztec and the hollow can be used to make many different soft fillings.

More fun!

Growing up in the 70's I got into using an airbrush with car paints. I'm still addicted to it so I got one to spray colored cocoa butter. I'm building a heating cabinet to keep it at the right temperature. I'm using a non programmable digital thermometer and a few light bulbs mounted in a small cabinet to keep a constant heat. The compressor is oil free and I'll be using double water traps to keep the air moisture free.

Valentines day is coming up soon so I ordered heart shape molds. They will be colored with the airbrush. The colors are really fun. I ordered some pearl colors to add to the solid colors I have. Egg molds will be ordered soon.
The next Valentines day adventure is chocolate covered cherries. It's a warm fondant that a cherry is dipped into then coated with chocolate or a shell filled with a cherry and fondant and capped. after 7-12 days the fondant liquefies.

Cherries

Practice starts soon. I'll be making chocolate covered cherries for Valentines day.

I made 3 jars of cherries. One has sweet cherries in brandy, one sweet cherries in cherry vodka, and on the far right is sour cherries in brandy. Each has a cup of sugar added.

I'm thinking until they are ready I would practice on some purchased candied fruit .

done for the night.

Ellen finished packaging at midnight.

They look really nice!

More pictures than text.

I made an order of Pretzels and potato chips from a request.

The potato chips messed with my cocoa butter but I got it done. I would rather not do that again because now I have some chocolate with a weird tempering degree. Eutectics is very important in chocolate and confections. It's the way fats respond to temperature when one fat is mixed with another. On with the order of the day. Pictures.

more new picts

Packaging night. These are the caramel boxes ready to go.

This is an order for chocolate covered pretzels and potato chips. It's the first time I've had this and it's pretty good! The small square ones are the peanut butter filled ones. I'll add stripes to the rods, bows, and chips tomorrow.

new flavor

I tried to replicate a childhood favorite. Cream sickle.
The white vanilla is on the outside and the orange is the center.
That's the piping bag with the leftover ganache. There is just a slight bit of alcohol in it it form the liqueur. The center is very soft right now. It should firm up slightly but not too much.