Pumpkin Caramel Ganache

This chocolate confection is made in a poly carbonate mold so the procedure for most of it is the same as the Toucan confection.

Formula: pg. 145

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

Cocoa butter,                                                                           as needed

Fat soluble colours,                                                                  as needed

Milk chocolate, tempered, for lining molds,                               as needed

Pumpkin Caramel Ganache

<1%              Lemon juice                                                              1/4 t

10%              Sugar                                                                        100 g

6%                Glucose syrup                                                            60 g

20%              Heavy cream                                                             200 g

10%              Pumpkin purée                                                          100 g

<1%              Gingerbread spice mix**                                             1 t

49%              Milk chocolate, pre-tempered*, chopped                      500 g

5%                Brandy                                                                       50 g

Milk chocolate, melted, tempered at 30° C/86° F, for sealing          as needed

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

** Gingerbread spice mix: 31% ground Cinnamon, 47% ground Ginger, 14% ground Nutmeg, 8% ground Cloves

MOP:

Example of improper buffing

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.

Next make your filling. Rub lemon juice into the sugar, caramelize the sugar in a large saucepan until sugar has fully melted and caramelized. Remove from heat and add glucose syrup. In another sauce pan, heat heavy cream to a boil and add it to the caramelized sugar mixture over low heat, add purée and spice mix bring to a boil. Pour the hot liquid mixture over chopped milk chocolate and let sit for 60 seconds to melt the chocolate. Stir in to emulsify the chocolate and liquid mixture, if all the chocolate does not melt you can heat it over a double boiler just to aide melting. Stream in brandy, stirring until the mixture is homogenous. Cover mixture to the surface, and allow mixture to set up and thicken slightly for approximately an hour.

Buffed molds

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 milk 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. 

Finished chocolates in a larger
mold, has a good amount of
shine on the confections

Place the pumpkin caramel 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.