Week 44 Chocolate Box Assessment

Less than 6 lessons of practical work on chocolate, we are now going to have our assessment on chocolate. We are required to make a chocolate box that is filled with chocolate truffles and moulded chocolates. So 3 things to do in 2 days. We made the chocolate in one day and the box on the next day. 

Well, I didnt take any photos on day 1 because we were just too busy concentrating on tempering the chocolate and making sure we got it right. Chocolate work is actually good if you want to train yourself to be patient. Men should learn how to temper chocolate. It will be useful when they need to deal with their women who are like chocolate in many ways. 

Well, I definitely was trying to be patient with the chocolate but I am glad that we didn't rush it because our chocolate came out beautiful. The moulded chocolate had a nice shine, nice snap, no air pocket, the thickness was about 2mm and the backing off was neat and sealed properly. So happy with the result. 

We didnt get to make many fillings for the assessment. Only had buttered fondant with triple sec. I guess again the reason must be because it is the cheapest option. 

The truffles had Malibu in it, it was just like the ones we had made before. Then we were told to choose a topping of either almonds, desiccated coconut, cocoa powder or just plain couverture. So we picked roasted almonds. But after making 2/3 of our truffles, we saw others making with all different topping, so we finished the rest with cocoa powder topping. 
Everything went well, all chocolates came out nice and we were done for Day 1. All the chocolates were stored in an air conditioned room till the next day.

Day 2, the stress begins. Everyone was there early and all ready to start the day. Firstly, we melted the compound chocolates. We had 3 pots, 2 dark chocolates and 1 of white. Everyone had their own design in mind and we were advised to make the same triangle box that we made before. So I took her advise and did the same triangle box but a few took the challenge and did some really creative work. There was a heart shape box, a rectangular box and a tall square one too. 

Melting compound chocolate

 It was quite amazing to see so many creative artwork in the group. I love the heart shape box , she used a stencil to make the design for the lid which was beautiful. Sorry, I don't post pictures of other people's work unless I have their permission. The most creative one was the square box. It was beautiful and it was my partner's box. She is really very creative and artsy. 

I had 2 designs in my mind for my box and I thought I will do the easier one because of time constraint. I made a marble chocolate sheet and a plain dark chocolate sheet. Then took my time to cut the shapes out with a craft knife. I wanted the side walls to be plain dark chocolate and the lid can be either plain dark or the marbled chocolate. I made one extra lid just in case I broke anything and one extra wall too. 

Our equipment for the day

 The last time I made my chocolate box, I made it too thin and it was so fragile, this time I made sure I made it thicker for insurance sake. So my walls were suppose to be simple piping on the sides with white chocolate. Then i assembled the walls on the base. Nothing broke, so all good. Now time to concentrate on the lid. 

Chocolate walls

Assembling the box

My chocolate leaves

I brought in some cherry tomato leaves from home to make chocolate leaves. I painted chocolate on the back of the leaves and left it to set. Then I gently peeled the leaf off and I was so happy to see the chocolate leaf looking like a leaf! But because it was so thin and delicate, I broke a few pieces when trying to remove the leaves. It's ok, I only needed a few. 

I wanted to try to make a flower with some chocolate petals but wasn't sure if we had enough time. But now that I was happy with the leaves, I thought I could attempt making the flower just for fun. So I did the petals and let it set on a baguette baking tray which had the curves. 

Assembling the flower

I took my time to assemble the petals. But it took so long to make because the chocolate wouldn't set while my hands were holding on the petal. So I had to use my container to hold one petal at a time. While that was setting, I piped the border of the marbled lid. 

I thought I will just present the marbled lid with the leaves and just pipe the borders. Then I am all set. So I started piping the borders with white chocolate. It was nice and simple but my itchy hands decided to add some dark chocolate piping on the border, thinking that it will make it nicer but of course! it didn't. Hmm..... now I am not sure if I should present the leaves or the flower. 

Look at my mess now

Leaves on marble lid

 I did the simple piping on the dark chocolate lid and after what felt like forever of assembling the flower, I stopped at 3 layers. I wish I had more time to make another layer then it will look fuller. I placed the flower slightly off centre with the piping being asymmetrical. Ah! I am happy with this lid. I hope it is not too plain and simple. I decided to present the flower in the end. I think I like this one better. 

Flower on plain dark lid

 Everyone's work was so beautiful. Different designs, different creativity from different minds. Overall a very good day. Thanks Michelle for teaching us chocolate and hopefully sugar work will be fun too. Apparently sugar work is harder than chocolate! Hmm.... so if chocolate is called temperamental, what will sugar be?? Will know next week. :)

Week 43 Chocolate Easter Egg in October?

Last day of October and we are making chocolate easter egg? Haha....This is because it is a requirement in the school outline. Hmm.... since it is halloween, does that mean I need to make a scary spooky egg? 

First off, our trainer showed us a few ways of decorating the egg. Free hand designs, piping in the designs and playing with some coloured chocolates. After looking at so many designs, I still like the simple free form designs, so no spooky egg for me. I did piping of circles in the egg shells with white chocolate. Initially I was happy to leave it at that but a friend said she had some extra yellow chocolate, so I used it to do some dots. I shouldn't have done the dots, I don't really like the yellow. 

Piping designs on the shells

After the white chocolate has set,I brushed in the milk chocolate but had to be careful not to brush away the designs. Then wait for it to set in the fridge. Now it is ready to add another layer of chocolate onto the shell. Ooops!! I forgot to let the shells come back to room temperature before pouring the chocolate in. The chocolate set so fast and I tried to give it a quick swirl and tip the extra chocolate out. Too late! It was a thick and heavy egg! hahaha..... Now it is a dinosaur egg! 

Then it was placed in the fridge to set. After a short while, we had to flip the egg around and place it on a baking tray, this is to loosen the chocolate egg from the shell. Not too long after that, the egg just came out of the shell. 

Waiting for it to set

After the moulds were removed, the fun bit of joining them together to get an egg. We heated up a baking tray in the oven for a short while and placed both the egg rims on it for a few seconds to melt the chocolate.  Then with one quick move, I joined them together and waited for the chocolate to set.  It all happened so quickly that I couldn't reposition it once it got in contact. Yup!! my egg was not sealed perfectly. It was a little crooked. Aarggh! 

Unmoulded

Ah.. luckily we have to pipe a border around the join, now no one can see that it is crooked. hehehe..... maybe I might attempt to make easter eggs for Christmas! Just to see if I can get it right the next time. 

Pipe the joint and hide the flaws

Happy Halloween or Happy Easter?

The next day we made a small chocolate showpiece. We were given a template to follow. First I piped the borders of the design with dark chocolate. Once it was set, I flooded it with milk chocolate and white chocolate. It was suppose to be made of 4 pieces but because it was an intricate design, we made extras, just in case it broke. I made 13 pieces of it. hehe... (well, you can say I was practising my piping skill) 

Borders

Flooding the chocolate

Then I made the base on an acetate and cut it with a round cutter when the chocolate was half set. The base was made thicker to hold all the pieces of delicate work. Another smaller round disc was made to be placed on top. The top disc was made thinner so that the weight won't break the designs. Then we glued the pieces together and because I had so many pieces and they didn't break on me, I placed 8 pieces together and gave it a better support for the top disc. We didn't get to do the decoration on the top disc because of time constraint but I was determined to finish it at home. That is provided it doesn't fall apart on the way home. 

Base for the showpiece

I managed to get the showpiece home in one piece and I wanted to make a flower design on the top. I struggled to stick the petals together because the chocolate took so long to set. It was not a good day for chocolate when the temperature was 28˚C outside. Then with the extra bits, I made a butterfly. I wanted the butterfly to stand at the edge of the disc. It took so long to set, I think my fingers were melting the bits that I was holding. But it finally set. Now its done. It is not very pretty but I am happy with the experience. It was a lot of work and being pedantic about things only makes it harder. haha. But it was worth it. 

Butterfly

Flower

Butterfly in the garden

My chocolate showpiece