Forum Activity for @Casey Hickey

small chocolate climate control display for Fair events?

Posted in: Geek Gear - Cool Tools

andy - thanks for the thorough explanation. i see that it is quite a process, but you're really thought it through (and probably learned a lot by doing/mistakes/what ifs). DFM does have electricity, so that might help somewhat. though we'd still need to address the relative humidity issue very carefully. thanks so much for weighing in with your detailed explanation! with our unseasonably warm and early spring, i am very cautious about how we handle the market! cheers.

small chocolate climate control display for Fair events?

Posted in: Geek Gear - Cool Tools

andy - howdy neighbor! this is a timely discussion. i'll be selling at the davidson farmers market starting in april and wondered if you could elaborate on your 'series of coolers' process. i'm debating a portable electric cooler vs. small glass-front wine cooler (humidity being my fear) vs. your process. however, not sure if you are starting at a very cold (electric?) cooler to a gel pack cooler to ambient atmospheric temp? could you explain further? i'd assume you have a step-up process so temp changes occur gradually.

i'd email you directly, but i think everyone on this discussion would benefit from your reply. look forward to your reply. especially since you 'enjoy' the same hot/humid climate conditions as i!

thanks.

Molds!

Posted in: Uncategorized

I actually have some molds i'm no longer using, if you are interested. these are the magnetic type that allow you to insert a texture or transfer sheet. they are rectangular shaped with inverted, curved corners. if you have any interest, email me directly at casey@20degreeschocolates.com and i will send you a link and provide more info.

Caramel 'exploding' out of shell

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques

dirke,

that does help. i got another reply from an ecole chocolat grad and she surmised room temp as well. could be my room temp, though i dipped the other half of that same batch of caramels yesterday - kitchen was around 63-65, and they did great. BUT, i did NOT oil my knife before cutting them. seemed risky but they cut great and dipped beautifully. i will also pay stricter attention to my room temp when doing the caramels - i guess they have sharper edges than my slabbed chocolates and are more likely to poke through if the chocolate shrinks upon dipping.

best.

c.

Caramel 'exploding' out of shell

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques

Hi folks. I am having trouble with some of my caramels. I have a slightly chewy caramel that is slabbed, precoated w/ dark chocolate, scored then cut w/ oiled knife. I painstakingly separate each one after cutting them so they don't touch prior to enrobing (i find if they touch, they pull at one another and get misshapen). After enrobing, they hold their form nicely except that some (lately many) are cracking the exterior shell of the chocolate. Mostly they are cracking along a horizontal plane and on a couple of occasions there's a tiny dot of ooze at a corner. I don't think this is cold flow - their shape remains quite square.

Anyone else experience this? Should I just double-dip (ugh -don't want to though - I hope to avoid the extra step and thickness), or am I missing something here? Maybe just let my enrobing chocolate get a little more viscous than normal?

Also, I am slabbing caramel one day, then precoating, cutting and enrobing the next. Could this be the culprit? Does caramel need to cure longer or shorter?

Thanks for your help!

updated by @Casey Hickey: 04/11/15 11:25:51AM

Pricing in weight opposed to per piece?

Posted in: Opinion

i price by piece in my retail shop out of the case, and boxed chocolates are by collection. that is, they get a price break starting at 12 pieces if they buy boxed. otherwise you pay the same price/piece for smaller boxes (the 4pc and 6pc boxes) as you would buying out of the case. i DO put the weight on every box we pre-package, as that is required by Ag Dept, along with ingredient list and allergy info. my walk-in traffic does not balk at my per piece costs, but we're in a rather high-end district and are also part of a wine shop so that drives a certain type of customer anyway....

The Business of Chocolate

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques

jeff,

i agree with brad's points re: labor and ingredient costs. i also agree that purchasing equipment can be a huge labor-saver, though the equipment itself is not cheap. yet when you consider that you don't have to pay payroll taxes, the machine can't call in sick (though it can have mechanical issues...), and you can operate the machine at any hour of the day, time-saving equipment like an enrober can reap you big benefits.

i also agree with the other posters whose ecole chocolat experience was a positive one. i was a mid-life career changer with a 2-yr-old and pregnant w/ my 2nd child at the time of taking the ecole course. there was no way i could have accumulated that kind of information on my own given my life circumstances. the ability to practice/test recipes at whatever hour of the day my life afforded, plus not having to do the research on my own, were real advantages to me. i'd already obtained a pastry certification but wanted to delve further into chocolate. and the graduate forum has been a great source of inspiration and advice, much the way this forum has. the camaraderie and support from that group has been so helpful.

one last suggestion is consider reading "the E myth" (the E standing for entrepreneur), as you develop the plan for your business. while its conclusions aren't earth shattering, they do seem to be so often overlooked by entrepreneurs when establishing a business. i have found it to be a good reminder of those things i know i should be doing but haven't yet put into place.

best of luck to you!

casey