Frequently Asked Questions

How do you make those?!

I make my chocolates in a special type of mold.  They are essentially made upside down.  Here are the 6 steps:

1. Polish: I clean and polish the molds to give the finished chocolates a high shine. 
2.  Paint: The designs are painted, splattered, or sprayed using colored cocoa butter or couverture chocolate. 
3. Shell: I fill the molds with tempered couverture and then dump it back out again.  Some of the chocolate sticks to the sides of the mold creating a thin shell.
4. Fill: I then make ganache, caramel, gianduja, or other fillings and pipe them into the shells.  
5. Cap: After the fillings have set, I then "cap" the truffles with more tempered couverture to seal them up.  The "cap" is actually the bottom of the truffle when it is upright.  
6. Release:  If everything has been done correctly, I turn the molds upside down and let the truffles fall out.  They are now ready to be enjoyed!

What is couverture chocolate?

• "Couverture" is a French word that means 'to cover' or 'covering' and it refers to high quality chocolate that has higher percentages of cocoa butter.  More cocoa butter makes the chocolate less viscous and easier to shell or mold than chocolates with less cocoa butter.  The cocoa butter also gives the chocolate a better mouth feel, shine, and snap.  

What is gianduja?

• Gianduja (very roughly pronounced jon-du-ya) is an Italian word for a ground mixture of nuts, sugar, and chocolate.  Often hazelnuts or almonds are used but any nut with enough fat in it can be used for gianduja. 

What is pate de fruit?

• Pate de Fruit is a type of "fruit jelly" used in pastries.  It is made from fruit puree, sugar, and pectin.  I like making it to use as a layer in my truffles to really highlight a fruit flavor.

 Send me a message with any questions you might have!