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at Wed, 18 Aug 2004 02:15:20 GMT in
. net>, Uncle
wrote :

>On Tue, 17 Aug 2004 00:18:55 -0000 in
>,
(Alex Rast) graced the world with this
>thought:
>
>>at Sat, 14 Aug 2004 22:37:50 GMT in <2vwTc.227$3O3.138
>, Uncle wrote :
>>
>>>I'm tryng to make a sort of bon-bon kind of thing, and having a hell
>>>of a time.
>>>For some reason, the chocolate has a difficult time sticking to the
>>>ice cream ball. Is the chocolate too warm? I thought this might be the
>>>problem, but did another batch with it at about body temperature and
>>>it still happened.
>>>I'm using a mix of 4 parts chocolate to 1 part cocoa butter. I run
>>>about a 50% success rate. Here's what I do:
>>>
>>>make the chocolate mix
>>>
>>>freeze a pan.
>>>scoop the ice cream balls onto the frozen pan.
>>>put it back in the freezer to stabilize it.
>>>dip it in the warm chocolate... this is where the problem comes in
>>>put what makes it through back into the freezer.
>>>go for a second dip to cover the invariable holes and cracks... and
>>>again, sometimes it won't stick.
>>>
>>>I also notice that it's usually the first few that work, then I start
>>>having problems. This also <seems> to be just about the time the
>>>surface of the ice cream or bon bon is getting frost on it. It occurs
>>>to me that this frost could possibly be part of the problem.
>>
>>The problem is related to the temper of the chocolate...
>>
>>The basic issue is this : tempered chocolate cools out of dipping stage
>>very quickly...
>>
>>Meanwhile, the ice crystals (frost) aren't helping either. ...
>>
>>So, in order to cure this, you need 2 things : a continuous-tempering
>>machine (e.g. Revolation) that can maintain the chocolate at temper
>>throughout the entire time you're dipping...
>>
>>Dipping frozen things in chocolate isn't easy, at least not if you're
>>looking to produce more than a few pieces. You really have to have
>>everything laid out, and, as I imply, you need specialised equipment.
>>
>>Hope this helps fix your problems.
>
>Well, a tempering machine is pretty much not an option, however, I'm
>leaning toward the ice crystals being the biggest problem.

Unfortunately, it's probably the former problem (chocolate losing temper)
that's the bigger contributor. It would be nice, of course, if the major
issue were the least expensive to fix, but often the main problem is
something for which there is no quick, cheap solution. There are things
that simply require a certain investment in order to get good results.

> I wish I
>had a walk-in freezer to work in, it would make things a hell of a lot
>easier. I've considered doing a pour-over, since you mention it, I'll
>give that a shot too.

If you don't have the $ or the access for a temperer, then enrobing is
probably your best way to go. Another poster suggested pre-making shells
and then filling them with ice cream. If you did this, you'd want your ice
cream to be of soft-serve consistency in order that it fill the shell
completely. Then you'd want it to chill and harden before capping the tops
of the shells. This is no problem if you're making the ice cream yourself
but if you're using store-bought, it would be extremely tricky at best.

--
Alex Rast

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