Confections Ahoy!

[parisbaby_2003]

Hi! Intro post: I'm a Chef School student in Toronto, Canada, in my final year of a Baking and Pastry Arts Management diploma. I usually post all my baking successes (and failures) in my personal blog, but I was asked to x-post here, since I'm doing confections work at school right now and it makes sense to post here too! :o

Comments

[tuxedo_elf]

Oh wow, they're amazing! I'm only just starting to dabble with chocolate and find it really hard, so I'm really impressed by those! The fan is especially impressive!

[rodabug]

I saw these in the cake decorating community. They look wonderful.

I am currently a cake decorator/baker, but when I dream, I dream of going to school for Baking and Pastry Arts. The sad part is you can only take the classes full time:( And I have to work.

Maybe in my next lifetime:)

[parisbaby_2003]

Meh, that's not *quite* the case, as least if you live in proximity to my school.
The college offers the first year of my program as evening courses; it takes you 2 years of night school to complete 1 year equivalent of the program, and then if you like you can transfer into the 2nd year.
Then again, if you live in the US, this would be quite the commute. ;o)

[unkle_social]

those fruits are adorable!

[schneckerock]

yay! you posted!

so, um, how do you make truffles without a mold? I tried once and they were so messy...

[parisbaby_2003]

There are several methods to make truffles; for example, the ones above show three different ways (the turtles are considered pralines, so they're not truffles).

The white chocolate truffles are a semi-liquid ganache poured into pre-made white chocolate shells and dipped in white chocolate then rolled across a cooling rack to make the "pointy edges".

The ginger pops are made by making a semi-liquid ganache, pouring it into a flat rectangular mould and letting it set until solid. It's cut into pieces then dipped in tempered chocolate and chocolate pop-rocks added to the edge.

The heart-shaped filled chocolates are made with a silicone mould; tempered chocolate is poured into the mould and drained out to create a shell, left to dry then filled, capped, and tapped out.

I have made truffles that involve making a chocolate ganache, cooling it then whipping it until it's stiff; rolling it into balls, dipping it in tempered chocolate and letting it dry. That works quite well, too! :o)