Forum Activity for @Ilana

I need some advise on two piece chocolate molds.

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

they are adorable! You have done an excellent job using chocolate's natural colors to decorate-I really like them! Kids must also go crazy for them! The "cow" bunny is my fav!

I need some advise on two piece chocolate molds.

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Lana,Those are very cute!I have a bunch of the clips that hold double molds together - but I often find that the rubber bands work just as well and are a whole lot easier to get on.

I need some advise on two piece chocolate molds.

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

In pic 1 the ears are not filled with chocolate. Does your ,uhmm , vibrator get the chocolate into the ears? I love the human spinning machine-I do that too with a double mold I have. Turn it around up and down, this way and that!!! Oish! Only chocolatiers of our status can really identify with all the odd things we do!! Imagine that in all different countries there are human spinning machines doing their thing!

I need some advise on two piece chocolate molds.

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

I am not sure which mold you have. I have one that has a front side and a back side of a squirrel, for ex. I make them hollow and demold. What I do is use my hairdryer to heat up an area on my stainless steel table. I place the two halves on the warm area and move them around a bit. Then I "glue" them together by just lining up and holding closed for a short time. Mine come out really well...This is the only picture I have.

I need some advise on two piece chocolate molds.

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

We haven't done it before. This is the first time we have used mold where you take the two sides out of the mold and than place them together.

I need some advise on two piece chocolate molds.

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

how have you been doing it up until now?

I need some advise on two piece chocolate molds.

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

I am trying a two piece chocolate bunny mold for the first time and need some
advice on how to put the piece together to minimize the seam.

updated by @Sweet Morsels Toffee & Chocolate: 04/11/25 09:27:36

the dilemma of using color tinted cacao butter/white chocolate

Posted in: Opinion

I am not too fond of transfer sheets and colors and am usually in the minority when it comes to this. That being said I do a tiny bit of decoration with natural cocoa butter colors that I have from chef rubber. I believe that in the Uk homemade chocolate (I think it is called that or something similar) also has it. In my pictures there is a bar and a square bon bon using this effect. Using the natural colors of chocolate and texture can also be nice. The technique of spraying and swiping colors is cool and interesting and caused me to play around with it a bit. I have used transfer sheets a few times (as per request here and there) but everyone has the same ones and the color just doesn't seem attractive to me.

the dilemma of using color tinted cacao butter/white chocolate

Posted in: Opinion

I'd love to find these natural colors if there is something fairly bright out there. I've tried a few and the look is the light pink, light green etc. I have thought of experiencing with beet powder but I don't think that the flavor would go..thanks for responding despite my provokotive statement.

the dilemma of using color tinted cacao butter/white chocolate

Posted in: Opinion

There are natural colored cocoa butters available.

the dilemma of using color tinted cacao butter/white chocolate

Posted in: Opinion

In a world where Ed Hardy isn't the same as ed hardy and where imitation candy coating doubles for real chocolate at half the price, the dilemma is only par for the course with the rest of the business world. I use colored cocoa butter and transfer sheets, but aside from staking a claim to using real, genuine chocolate, I stay away from the "all natural" claim. However, I think "all natural flavors" and using transfer sheets is apples and oranges. Transfer sheets aren't a "flavoring". Now, if a chocolate was stated as being "all natural", then I would expect the chocolate to contain only natural ingredients in its entirety, including its decorations.

the dilemma of using color tinted cacao butter/white chocolate

Posted in: Opinion

talking about purity of cacao varieties and such - I am quite confused over the array of transfer sheets/ air brushing etc using artificial colors in the practice of many chocolatiers.
updated by @Mimi Wheeler: 04/10/15 10:29:11

Heading to Guatemala next week

Posted in: News & New Products Press

Come visit me at Danta Chocolate in Guatemala City. I can also get you in touch with my two cacao suppliers and see if they're willing to give a tour. One of them is quite close to Atitlan, on the coast side of one of the volcanoes. Are you here for Easter week? If so, most places of business are closed except in tourist areas (which will be completely overrun).

Heading to Guatemala next week

Posted in: News & New Products Press

You will not find any cocoa plantation in Antigua and Atitlan as those places are too high. You need to drive to Alta Verapaz. You can contact Ignacio Cac Sacul, President of the Cocoa Producers Association of Alta Verapaz (ony in spanish) aprocav@email.anacafe.org and Eraimy Ramirez, a consultant of Funcafe, based in Guatemala City he will provide good advice, as well. eraimy_ramirez@email.anacafe.org (same, only in spanish). In Antigua you will be able to buy home made cocoa, you can ask for "Don Juan" a former employee of Hotel Aurora in Antigua, he uses to bring artisanal chocolate from his home place (At the Hotel they will manage to find him) Good luck.

Heading to Guatemala next week

Posted in: News & New Products Press

There are cacao plantations in Guatemala. I believe in the Coban region, but there may be more that I didn't see.

Heading to Guatemala next week

Posted in: News & New Products Press

visiting Antigua and Lake Atitlan. Can I learn anything about cacao here?
updated by @Mimi Wheeler: 03/11/26 06:20:34

Brainstorming Chocolate bars to Pair with Espresso

Posted in: Opinion

Actually, a couple of the Amedei single origins just might do it. Try Grenada and Jamaica. They both display woodsy, spiced notes. Though the Grenada has more of medicinal (in a good way) finish. The Jamaica plays sweeter on my palate, the way a dark rum would. Try that and let me know. In fact, you should invite me over for a cup.

Brainstorming Chocolate bars to Pair with Espresso

Posted in: Opinion

There's an underlying chord of soft hoilday spice in the Dos Rios, too. So, Nick, you might have a good suggestion in Matt's because I can get crazy good tastes of star anise and cloves in the DR.

Brainstorming Chocolate bars to Pair with Espresso

Posted in: Opinion

Amano Dos Rios is wild and crazily fruity, with hardly any acidity. However, while he says bergamot, which would be a citrus on the label, I feel it is dominated by more of a blueberry taste.

Brainstorming Chocolate bars to Pair with Espresso

Posted in: Opinion

Good afternoon all, I hope today finds you well. I have a relatively simple question that I need some chocophiles to help me ponder.
updated by @Nick Frappier: 05/11/15 18:30:48

Source for cacao beans (not roasted nibs) in medium quantity.

Posted in: News & New Products Press

Here is their profile page .

Source for cacao beans (not roasted nibs) in medium quantity.

Posted in: News & New Products Press

Clay,I can't seem to find Marabel through TheChocolateLife. I searched Marabel and nothing. How should I locate them here?Thanks,Matt

Source for cacao beans (not roasted nibs) in medium quantity.

Posted in: News & New Products Press

Did you try through TheChocolateLife?

Source for cacao beans (not roasted nibs) in medium quantity.

Posted in: News & New Products Press

Clay,Thank you very much. I already tried MarabelFarms, both on the contact us on their website and DM through twitter. They answered neither. I will try Patrick.Thanks,Matt

Source for cacao beans (not roasted nibs) in medium quantity.

Posted in: News & New Products Press

Matt:Best bet is a bag, which will be about 50-65 kg depending on the origin. There are a couple of growers that have operations here in the US that could easily provide you with beans in this quantity.Patrick Pineda (Venezuela) is one of them (go to Members and Search). Another is MarabelFarms (Dominican Republic).John Nanci is a good source for many origins but I think that you will find that he is even more expensive than Art Pollard.:: Clay

Source for cacao beans (not roasted nibs) in medium quantity.

Posted in: News & New Products Press

John Nanci is a great supplier on the chocolatealchemy site

Source for cacao beans (not roasted nibs) in medium quantity.

Posted in: News & New Products Press

To expensive!

Source for cacao beans (not roasted nibs) in medium quantity.

Posted in: News & New Products Press

Can't Art get you some?

Source for cacao beans (not roasted nibs) in medium quantity.

Posted in: News & New Products Press

Does anyone know a good source for non roasted cacao beans in medium quantity? I am looking to play around with them in my shop, not to make chocolate, but to actually make beverages out of.I don't want to import my own, but could buy a hundred pounds or more at a time. I realize I will be paying a premium over what one would pay when buying a ton or more, but I seem to only be able to find way over priced stuff.
updated by @Matt Caputo: 03/11/26 06:20:34

Cheese and Chocolate -- shelf life?

Posted in: Recipes

Hi Chris,

were your initial blueberry gouda's (by the way -YUUUMMMMM) straight up bits of cheese enrobed with tempered chocolate? Have you found if single or double dipping makes them any more impervious to fat bloom?

Cheese and Chocolate -- shelf life?

Posted in: Recipes

I did a Blueberry Gouda filled dark chocolate. Its shelf life was about 16 days. I played around and added some Pot Sorbate to a few, and that pushed the shelf life to about 22-23 days, but I decided to nix the additive when I took the product to market.

Cheese and Chocolate -- shelf life?

Posted in: Recipes

I have used triple-creme cheese as if it were butter with great success. If you never use butter in your existing ganaches, try some experimentation. You might end up playing around a little with your formula to get the texture right, but if your regular ganaches are stable, these will be too.

Cheese and Chocolate -- shelf life?

Posted in: Recipes

be careful. if its pure cheese its gonna spoil very very fast at room temp. if its an emulsion of chocolate, cheese, glucose you will get better shelf life.

Cheese and Chocolate -- shelf life?

Posted in: Recipes

Hello everyone,

I'm working on a soft cheese filling for a dark chocolate -- I know it may sound odd -- but was curious if others had tried the combination and had any insight into its shelf life? Thanks so much! Jenny

updated by @Jennifer Thamer: 05/18/15 05:18:55

Mixing two chocolates together and color question

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

I made some very tasty dark milk by mixing. It's actually quite fun as well as rewarding. As far as temper, I usually seed it with what ever seed chocolate it most resembles. make a few test samples.Just a thought but you could stripe it with something really dark. A chopstick works good for me. Line up the chocolates, dip the chopstick in let it run off over them.

Mixing two chocolates together and color question

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Dirke, you can substitute an ounce to an ounce and a half, per pound, of dark chocolate without changing your tempering process while darkening the color to the desired look youre trying to achieve. The more bitter the chocolate the less you'd need to substitute. Even a half ounce of unsweetened will due the trick. Divine Specialties

Mixing two chocolates together and color question

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

I notice when chocolate is melted and not in temper that the colour is different than the same chocolate when it is in temper - so perhaps the change in colour is due to a slight difference in the crystalline structure which reflects light differently and therefore appears lighter.You can mix milk and dark - I tend to temper to the temperatures of the 'most difficult' chocolate ie the milk chocolate. I often mix milk and dark to make a 'dark milk' for use with certain barks and bars.

Mixing two chocolates together and color question

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

I have a couple of questions on Milk chocolate.

1) I am using Callebaut Milk and what I find is when I temper it the resulting color is lighter than it was prior to melting. why? am I not tempering it correctly? or is that normal? The chocolates came out great just wondering why they are lighter.

2) Can I mix a little milk and dark chocolate and use that as enrobing chocolate? Do I need to find the right temperatures to temper them together or can I? I find milk chocolate sweet and it would be nice to take a way from that a bit with a little dark? The color would be a little more attractive I think?

I'd appreciate knowing. All the chocolate I use is slab Callebaut. Thanks in advance


updated by @Dirke Botsford: 04/11/25 09:27:36

Survey! Chocolate Packaging

Posted in: News & New Products Press

Hi All,

I am packaging printer. I would like to share our free serviceof packaging consulting to all chocolatier. Could any one tell which will be the most efficient way for information delivery?

updated by @Jenny Zhan: 03/11/26 06:20:34

Dont shoot the messenger

Posted in: News & New Products Press

There is a long blog post with many comments about raw chocolate and fraudulent misrepresentation that was posted by Ben Ripple of Big Tree in Bali. Rather than keeping two conversations on the same topic going at the same time, I am closing this discussion to further comments and asking that future additions to the discussion take place on Ben's blog post.

Dont shoot the messenger

Posted in: News & New Products Press

Thanks to Jeff (and Seneca too) for posting - this is useful information to me.

Dont shoot the messenger

Posted in: News & New Products Press

Don't know if this is the best place to mention it, but it seems topical (from the most recent FCIA email):The NCA is offering a webinar course (one to two hour sessions on April 13-15th) covering the safety aspects of working with raw chocolate. One of our very own founding members Gary Guittard will be on the speaker panel. It is designed for micro-to-medium size manufacturers and you do not have to be an NCA member to attend. If you currently work with raw chocolate, or are thinking about it, this course is for you. For more information click on this link to get the document: http://finechocolateindustry.org/Content/Documents/Document.ashx?DocId=114002