Thanks Brad. Yes - TOMRIC does sell polycarbonate moulds. And, yes my dark chocolate was in temper - I use a Revolation X from ChocoVision. I think maybe the moulds needed to be a bit warmer. The chocolates finally fell out - afterspending hours today in the freezer. I am going to temper some new dark choc and sit the mould on a heating pad set on low. After piping choc in I will sit mould in fridge, then freezer for 10 minutes. Does this process sound right?
updated by @joanne-gaither2: 04/16/15 23:21:20

Without seeing photos, and having worked with chocolate daily now for several years, if your chocolate had to spend hours in the freezer, I would hazard a guess that it in fact wasn't in temper - at least not enough of it to allow proper crystalization and the necessary shrinkage to come out of the molds. Set your chocolates out on the counter at room temperature. I'm guessing they'll bloom, or get very soft, or when you break the bars, the insides will be all grainy, like a bunch of little octagons glue'd together.

You need to understand how chocolate behaves when you are working with it. There is essentially ONE type of crystal which is ideal for confections. That crystal forms best at 31 degrees C. All of the undesireable crystals form in approximately 3 degree increments below that temperature. IF you warm your molds, and pour your chocolate into them (assuming it's in temper), the chocolate stops moving and the warm molds create a perfect environment to hold the heat in the wrong temperature ranges, thereby causing the wrong types of crystals to form. Essentially you want your molds cool - about 18 degrees C. Pour your chocolate into them quickly, and then pop them into the fridge quickly. You want the chocolate to cool quickly (but not too quick) so that the wrong types of crystals don't have time to form and seed themselves (creating bloom).

I would also NOT recommend that you put your chocolate in the freezer to set it. This rapid cooling effect can cause your chocolate to crack, and also allow condensation to form on the surface, creating sugar bloom just before it freezes.

Hope that helps.
Brad

Thanks Brad - great advice. The original batch was tossed. I started over with several successful batches - now. If I can figure out how to send pics across this sight - I'll add them so you can see the moulded chocolates.

As you can see - I was having a bit of trouble just posting my question and replies on the website - so adding pics may be a real challenge. But, I'm hopeful.

Joanne Gaither

www.lumucandy.com