What is chocolate showpiece?
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What is chocolate showpiece?
Unlike sugar sculptures, chocolate showpieces are made to eat, not just to look at. By closing out the Chocolate Confections course with the start-to-finish construction of chocolate showpieces, ICE ensures its Pastry & Baking Arts students have conquered the fundamentals of chocolate.
What happens to chocolate showpiece?
Guests can eat the chocolate sculptures during the party, eat the scraps as they fall or the sculpture can be kept and put on display. The sculptures can last many years under the proper conditions.
How do you make chocolate showpiece shine?
When you are making sculptures if you need to shine up a spot – you dip a cloth like the cloth you would use to polish your molds in ice water and polish the surface of the chocolate.
How do you temper chocolate with a thermometer?
Place two-thirds of the chocolate in a double boiler or metal bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Make sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Place a candy thermometer or digital thermometer in the chocolate and stir frequently with a rubber spatula.
Can you eat chocolate showpiece?
How do you shine dull chocolate?
Heat the chocolate over a very low heat source, such as a heating pad on low or a small coffee warmer or hot tray, stirring constantly, until about two thirds of it melts. Remove it and patiently continue stirring until all the chocolate is melted.
Why is my chocolate not shiny?
Slowly heating and cooling melted chocolate while stirring puts it into temper. If chocolate is not tempered properly, the cocoa butter crystallization is uncontrolled and uneven, which results in an unattractive chocolate that is dull or has white streaks running through it.
What is the best thermometer to use for tempering chocolate?
We always recommend using an instant-read thermometer when tempering chocolate; but many professional chefs and chocolatiers use an infrared thermometer like the Food Safety thermometer at this stage in tempering, as pictured below.
What to add to chocolate to make it shine?
If you want a bit of shine on an existing coating, I would prepare a very dense syrup (bring 1/2 cup of water to a boil and add in 1 cup of sugar, stir until all the sugar dissolves, let cool) and apply a thin coat with a brush. Try on a side and see how it goes.