Cool Tool: Chocoflex Spherical Truffle Mold

Many chocolatiers like to make perfectly spherical truffles. (Okay, well maybe not perfectly spherical - they have to have a flat bottom so they don't roll around.) Up until now there have generally been two ways to do this:Buy a one-shot depositor (expensive)Buy pre-made shells (cheating? misleading?)Recently, the Italian company Pavoni started a line of silicon molds specifically designed to work with ganaches as an extension to their Pavoflex line of molds for cakes and pastries. They have basic shapes (square, rectangle) that can be used in many environments to replace an expensive guitar cutter, and a circle and oval that replace a "cookie" cutter. To use them, you place the mold on a flat surface (e.g., a sheet pan covered with parchment paper), pipe the ganache into the mold cavities, and with an offset spatula and bench scraper make sure the ganache completely fills the mold cavity and that the top (what will end up as the bottom) is flat.Perhaps the most interesting mold shape, however, is the spherical mold. With it, chocolatiers can make ganache spheres that they can then enrobe, either by hand or on a belt.

Using the Chocoflex Spherical Truffle Mold

As can be seen from the picture above, you simply pipe the filling into the molds, let it crystallize, and then remove the top half of the mold to reveal the finished spheres - ready for the next stage of production.A 2-piece 67-sphere mold set costs $150. Expensive, yes, but far less expensive than a one-shot machine and you'd quickly recoup the costs by not having to buy shells. Plus, the mold is not limited to ganache; anything you can pipe (praline, gelee, fondant) you can use to fill the mold cavities. You can also bake and freeze in them.


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clay - http://www.thechocolatelife.com/clay/

updated by @clay: 03/24/16 11:19:08PM

So, I clicked on the link but even when I clicked on "English" I had some trouble understanding the site. Do they have North American Distribution?

Yes. You can purchase the Chocoflex spherical mold (and other Chocoflex molds) at Pastry Chef Central .In addition to the spherical molds there are Chocoflex molds for rounds, squares, rectangles, and ovals . Although they are called ganache molds, you could also do pralines, gelees, fondants, and other centers. Consider also this " depositor ".


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clay - http://www.thechocolatelife.com/clay/

I would like to invest in a guitar - and wondered if there is a company that sells them used? Any opinions regarding the plastic base vs. aluminum, single vs double, manufacturers?

How cool is that? But, I think I'll wait until a less expensive version comes out in the market. Till then, I will continue to roll out the truffles the old fashioned way, by hand.

Has anyone tried these molds to first create a tempered shell, then fill it with ganache once the shell is hardened?

Hey Chris:That's not how these are supposed to be used. There's no way to clamp them tight enough to fill with chocolate and then rotate to fill each cavity with a thin layer and then dump the excess. You deposit the centers and then enrobe some other way.


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clay - http://www.thechocolatelife.com/clay/

That's very interesting. I wonder if the other shapes, e.g. squares, rectangles, come out of the mold as easily as the photos suggest. Sure can't do those truffles on a guitar, though. :-)Looks like a nice tool to have in the arsenal.

Thanks, Clay. I couldn't tell from the pictures...I like the molded truffles better than enrobed, and currently use a half-dome mold to make a shell (it's easy to coat & shake out the excess when the whole bottom is open), then funnel in liquid ganache. I've been hoping to find a way to eliminate the step of tempering another batch to cap off the bottoms, but haven't found it yet..... tried some of the rigid magnetic molds last year, but couldn't get them to work well....

There are fondant items that are disposable on the market that do this. I found them at www.sugarcraft.com when I was learning the art of porcelana fria, and making flowers and foliage out of fondant. You can see them on their site under "TOOLS of the TRADE GUMPASTE / FONDANT". Got to be frugal where I can, and these worked great for me.

Annette:There are lots and lots of pages of gumpaste and fondant tools. Any ones in particular that you are recommending? Please use the actual names of the links.Thanks,:: Clay


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clay - http://www.thechocolatelife.com/clay/

truffles can be done by hand dipped method which requires a lot of patience and trail and error method.

HI Clay,Their website is funny. If you go to an individual page, they all have the same address in the location bar. So, that is why I noted where to fine them in my post. The locator is the heading Tools of the Trade gumpaste/fondant. They don't make it any easier. I tried copying the url and it just shows up as www.sugarcraft.com sorry!

I just acquired the spherical and square molds, but haven't tried them yet. The bottom of the square mold is thin enough that I think it will be easy to push the centers out. The two other issues I am wondering about are (1) is it safe to pour hot caramel in these? and (2) how easy will it be to leave a uniform amount of space in each of the (square) molds to add a tempered chocolate foot before popping them out? There are no English instructions. The foot is the one element that would seem to be neglected when you never have a block of ganache/filling to cut centers out of. Anyway, I'll get back with my findings as soon as I have more info!

The stats show a heat tolerance up to 280 C and it's silicone. You should be fine to do just about whatever you can concoct.I like the idea to save some time but a fixed size doesn't work too well for us. We make a few bulk varieties and then have a number of other intermediaries due to tailoring for some customers. Maybe it could help shorten one chain...I'd like to see a lot of silicone products come down. I'd think by now some have a good grade of industrial process but alas, I guess if the market is content we'll be up the wall.Get back to us Katie, I'd like to know some further thoughts.-a

Well, I tried them out! I loved the spherical mold for getting uniform sized ganache truffles in one step, and was even able to dip them just once, but I had mixed results with the flat squares one - the first ganache I tried in it was too soft, and even freezing it didn't stop it from adhering to the sides. I had to scoop all the ganache out of the holes, which was not cool. A pate de fruit worked great, though, so I think it was just the consistency of the ganache that was the problem. I haven't tried caramel as originally planned, but I will!The round ones are fab (but so expensive!). The flat ones may be a good substitute for a guitar for a small business.

we got a few of the round flat ones for bon bons. Mixed results getting the ganache out-- found that refrigerating them some helps as does spraying the mold with oil. But I have had mixed satisfaction considering these are $80 a pop. I would like to know what results people get with caramels in them. If they worked for caramel it would be worth it as a guitar doesn't cut caramel and we sell a lot of freaking hand cut ones. This could be a lifesaver.

Hi Sarah,I'm interested in the chocoflex mold. Any update on this?

Hey Everybody;I stumbled across this thread today while perusing the site.I could see potential if one were using a liquid that hardened, such as a ganache.In our case, we actually whip the cream, and cream the butter before we mix both with chocolate. Then while it's semi-solid we spatula it into tubs to cool and solidify. This considerably aerates the buttercream and makes it very light and fluffy when it reheats to room temperature in the center of the truffle. If we were to heat it to a liquid, such that we could pipe it, all of the light fluffy nature would disappear.Having said that, we hand scoop our truffle centers using small spring loaded dishers (like icecream scoops) to ensure uniformity in weight. Personally, I can portion out and hand roll (just to help shape them) about 300 truffle centers per hour. If I have a staff member rolling them, and I set the pace by dishing, we can achieve about 550-600 per hour. (last count we were at 35,000 truffles sold since opening 8 months ago)The benefit of portioning them with the disher is that they are scooped when the buttercream is cold, thereby ensuring the aeration is kept in tact, and the truffle center is light and silky smooth when enrobed. While this may work, I believe we'll most likely have to stick to hand portioning.This mold system would sure be nice for cream caramel though!!!! It is so popular here, and I hate cutting the stuff! A caramel truffle center would be to DIE for!I'd love to hear if anyone has tried it with hot caramel yet.MMMMMMMmmmmmm......

Does anybody know of a UK distributor for Pavoni moulds and so on? They haven't replied to my e-mail requests and ordering Italian moulds from America makes no sense, somehow. Lots of nice stuff on their web-site but no apparent means of ordering anything!

I used the square molds and was less than impressed. The corners do not come out clean.The spherical mold is interesting ,but I am not adverse to using premade shells either.For squares to enrobe Its far easier to put your ganache in a square guitar frame. (you can make these at a plastics or steel co inexpensive) and cut your ganache with a very long drywall tool if you don't have a guitar.I freeze it for 20 min and it cuts very clean squares.I also tried an interesting black silicone mat that was for baking interesting shapes. They had one that was long and skinny 1/2 round. The ganache pops out of that much easier than the white silicone. The sticks can be cut into three pieces. The mat has about 40 impressions so 120 piece yield and you have an interesting shape, not just boring squares.
updated by @melanie-boudar: 09/09/15 07:17:11AM

I had similar mixed results with the flat round molds, Melanie, and at $80 plus a pop, I expected better. I have found that if I spray them with a vegetable spray it helps. Opposite to my intuition a creamier ganache works better for me in these than a firmer one. I did try caramels and they came out GREAT, and when I can afford it I will get more just for caramels which we labor many hours over with hand cutting.Robert, I am interested in the freezing step you do. Is that just to remove them? How does it affect the caramels, if it all?thx.

Hi Duffy,I am Stefania Maffeis - Export Area Manager for company Pavoni Italia (the one selling CHOCOFLEX, PAVOFLEX and other interesting items).Of course, I do love chocolate !!! A reason more for visiting this website!!Back to your request, could you please confirm me your email address so that I can give you all information you need for our products??Hope to hear from you soon, should you want to write to me... please find here my email address: stefania.maffeis@pavonitalia.com.Kind regardsStefania Maffeis

Clay.We carry them at Tomric too.brian

Do you have any tips for use that address any of the questions that ChocolateLIfe members have?


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clay - http://www.thechocolatelife.com/clay/

Duff - Please respond via private message rather than making your e-mail publicly available.


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clay - http://www.thechocolatelife.com/clay/

There is definitely some recipe tweeking that needs to happen for all of them but my favorite use is pate a fruit in the sphere.b

Brian;I have Tomric's catalogue and saw a sphere mold (Model #: I-1158 ) in it, and was just wondering:1. Is it a two piece mold?2. Is the mold flexible, so that we could pour in something like creme caramel, let it cool and then pop it out with little effort, such as with a silicone mold?I apologize in advance if the questions seem simple. The only molds we use in our shop currently are bar molds, so I have little experience with them.Thanks.Brad Churchill www.SoChoklat.com

Brad.I-1158 is a polycarbonate injection mould, probably similar to your bar moulds. It is not flexible and we tend not to recommend using these moulds for anything other than chocolate. In order to make perfect spheres, I recommend having two that we can hinge together.brian

Brian;Do you have anything like that? You mentioned that Tomric has a mold similar to the chocoflex.... What is the part number?I would love for us to offer a creme caramel truffle center that is consistent with the rest of our truffles....Thanks in advance.Brad.

I am curious how you get the caramel in that mold fast enough? Is it a soft or stiff recipe?

I don't have a problem with time- it is a pretty soft, but not runny cream and butter caramel- so I just pour it directly in the molds and scrape off the excess.Back to the freezing of the caramels- how about protein based ones? I am worried that the cream ones might get "funny". Have you tried those? What kind of caramels are you using in these molds Robert?

Brad.We carry the chocoflex mould from Pavoni. Not sure of the part number but give customer service a call (716 854 6050) or email sales@tomric.com and they can provide it for you.b

We recently picked this up, the only dissapointment I have is the weight. I thought this might supplement our 1/2oz line but the weight of a filled sphere is coming in at 3/8, which while it may not seem like much, a side by side comparison is really obvious.My question to those using these, what are you doing for the difference, or is your coating(s) that much thicker?

Hi Guys!I have just bought the chocoflex spherical truffle mold and it's not working for me! After many attempts I can't get it to peel away clean, the ganache sticks to the mold! I have tried different consistencies with no luck! Can anyone please help me!

Even freezing them? We've found the mold to work quite well as long as you cool it down. It also takes a little longer to cool down than you'd think, the silicon holds/insulates heat.I just want a bigger one! I think we're getting carpel tunnel scooping our other weights. :/

Hi Andy!Thank you so much for your reply! It sounds like I didn't let it cool down long enough! I guess I'm a little reluctant to put my ganache in the fridge or in the freezer, I was taught to always let a ganache crystalize at a temperature of about 10 degrees celcius? Is that right?Regards from Australia!

Anyone willing to share a caramel recipe that works in these moulds? I currently make a salted butter caramel (divine, but tends to "fudge" after a while even when enrobed). I pour these into a square red silicone mould which is easy as it's open faced, but not sure if I could manage to pipe the hot mix into the small opening of the sphere mould.For ganaches I'm thinking that the sphere mould would pay for itself pretty quickly versus the cost of shells, so I want to give them a try.

Hello Everyone -Can anyone tell me if there exists on the market a shell mold that's comparable to the ones used for "pre-made" shells being offered by some chocolate companies? It seems as though it should be an easy find, but I haven't had any luck as of yet.Thanks,Patty Medinamedinachocolatier.com

Indeed there are -Chocolat-chocolat carries this chocolateworld one - http://www.chocolat-chocolat.com/home/chocolate-molds/chocolate-molds-chocolate-world/chocolate-molds-world-spheres-cones-cups/p16408423.html It's pretty big though. There is a smaller one - can't find it on their website but if you phone them it's CW5018B.


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www.thechocolatedoctor.ca

Thank you Kerry and Lana -Yes, I think it's important to be able to visually gauge how much ganache is going into the mold thus avoiding air pockets, etc. as well.I interned with a Swedish Chocolatier in New York a few months back and was surprised to see that he was using Valrhona shells for his round truffles. (For some reason I thought he'd make them the classic hand-rolled way) But I have to say, they were so incredibly easy to work with and a real time saver, (which is important if you are renting kitchen space by the hour). And also important is having a consistent weight per piece. So, I was sold on the shells, and thought I'd try to make my own.I'll try both the Chocolate World and Chef Rubber molds and see which one works best.Thanks again!
updated by @patty-medina: 09/10/15 03:49:28PM

I also use the Valrhona shells. I am very happy with them. I often use one color shell for everything and then dip them in whatever suits the filling-white,milk or dark. Makes the truffle interesting IMO. I have gotten quite good at having the hole part placed bottom down after dipping but sometimes it doesn't work no matter what! Anyone have a nice method? I angle the hole part at a certain pont when lifting out of the chocolate and then it moves as I get rid of the extra chocolate, to just where it is convenient to place hole down.It is an obsession and when it doesn't work it is annoying!