Toucans

These are a fruity and light-er chocolate confection. Like the name indicates, it is works well as a brightly coloured tropical white chocolate confection.

Formula: pg. 142

Yield: 125 keel-shaped molds, half recipe works well for individual use

Cocoa butter,                                                                               as needed

Fat soluble colours,                                                                       as needed

White chocolate, tempered, for lining molds,                                 as needed

Passion Fruit Ganache

15%              Heavy cream                                                             80 g

4%                Glucose syrup                                                            20 g

15%              Passion fruit purée                                                    160 g (80g reduced)

15%              White chocolate, pre-tempered*, chopped                  300 g

4%                Butter, soft                                                               20 g

White chocolate, melted, tempered at 30° C/86° F,                       as needed

*Store bought, and most commercially purchased chocolates are pre-tempered

MOP:

Buff the polycarbonate mold that you are going to use. This recipe makes approximately 125 keel-shaped molds but you can choose any shape mold. Buff molds with melted cocoa butter. Make sure that you really press the cocoa butter in, or your finished chocolates will have a little white blur set into the shell. Set molds upside down or covered in plastic so that dust does not stick to your molds. Buffing preps the molds and the cocoa butter increases the shine on the finished chocolates.

In back is the pumpkin
caramel ganache

Next make your filling. If you have two pots to use, this will speed up the process and keep both liquids hot. In one pot reduce passion fruit purée in half, to 80 g. In a separate pot, combine heavy cream and glucose in a saucepan, bring this to a boil. Pour both hot liquids over chopped white chocolate, let sit for 60 seconds to allow the chocolate to melt. Stir the mixture in small vigorous circles from the center out until it emulsifies. You will see one unified chocolate liquid texture like a tempered state, or ganache consistency, when emulsified. If necessary you can place the chocolate over a double boiler if the chocolate is not melting. Stir in the softened butter. Cover mixture to the surface, and allow mixture to set up and thicken slightly for approximately an hour.

Spray molds using melted cocoa butter and fat soluble colours. You should add enough melted cocoa butter to the powder colours to gain a thin, blood like consistency. Strain colours before spraying if it is too thick. You can use an airbrush for a very thin nice even covering, or you can brush or speckle the colour on with your brush for a more organic look. Clean the top of the mold off very well, scraping it off with your spackle.

Temper white chocolate. Pour tempered chocolate into mold, this is going to be for creating a hollow sides and top to the finished confection. Use your spackle to bang the sides of the mold, releasing air bubbles that might be caught in each cavity. Clean off excess chocolate from the top and repeat banging if needed. When all the air bubbles have been knocked out, let the chocolate set up at room temperature for 2-3 minutes. The length of resting time will depend on how warm the room is and how cold the tempered chocolate was. If the temper ran on the colder side it will set up faster, if the temper is out of temperature it will throw the ganache-chocolate ratio off. At 75° with little humidity, it should take 3 minutes to set up. 

Flip the mold over and let the chocolate drip out of the cavities. This will leave a thin, about 1 mm, lip around each cavity. Knock the side of the mold to help the excess chocolate drip out. Clean off the top of the mold while still upside down to aide in getting all the wet chocolate out of the shells. Keep the mold turned upside down, and place it in the refrigerator for 5 minutes to let the chocolate harden. 

Place the passion fruit ganache into a piping bag. Take out the mold, you can use a hair dryer to gently heat up the edges of the cavities to aide in creating a better seal. Pipe ganache 3/4 of the way up each cavity. Try to keep the top level, you can try to tap the molds after piping to soften the tips that might have occurred during piping. Fill the top of the molds with tempered chocolate, scrape very cleanly any excess chocolate. If you get bits of ganache popping out through the chocolate, let the chocolate set up and pour another layer of chocolate over the mold. 

Let the molds set up in a refrigerator for 20 minutes. Turn the finished chocolates out on a parchment lined sheet pan. Tapping gently to release the chocolates from the molds.