Dipping and Framed Chocolates, Ganache Fillings

Days 3 and 4 we became more versed in the technical applications of chocolates. In class we made approximately three types of ganache: apricot, coffee, and praline. The latter two were used in conjunction to make a delicious Hazelnut Latte chocolate. The apricot ganache was a butter ganache using apricot jam. We used this mixture for piping. The coffee and praline ganache were layered on top of each other to create our framed chocolates. Once both the apricot and Hazelnut were set, we learned how to dip them in tempered chocolate and garnish appropriately.

The process of dipping chocolates is rather simple, but required patience. First, you have to pre-coat your individual pieces of chocolate, let it set, then give each piece a final coat. Pre-coating gives the surface a smoother appearance and shields against your dipping utensil from spearing all the way through. While dipping, I liked to periodically check my chocolate to make sure it was still in temper. The choice utensil were actual dipping tools, or a fork with the middle two tines bent backwards. Both seemed to work fine, but the fine teeth of the actual dipping fork was easier to work with sometimes.

Above is an example of a piped apricot ganache truffle. This is a rather bad example though because the chocolate used to coat was not properly in temper. The sizing and piping is rather heavy handed too. The other shapes for our ganache include our logs, pyramids, and cut framed chocolates.