Chocolate molds

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Permalink Reply by Rob Connoley on February 11, 2010 at 10:28am

Even though I'm very jealous of your tempering machine, I'll offer my responses. First, I either buy polycarb molds from ChefRubber or lately I've been buying from this guy. The flimsy plastic Wilton's are junk in my opinion. The linked guy is really reasonable especially if you share a multi-mold order with friend. Even with shipping my 15 piece buy from him worked out to be $15 per mold - very affordable. Not as flashy as polycarb but they definitely do the job and with a bit of cocoa butter treatment, you can get a pretty good shine off your chocolates.

I'm not sure why there would be wastage - I dump and scrape back into my tempering bowl and reuse the chocolate.

I'll send you my molds if you send me your tempering machine :)

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Permalink Reply by Cassie on February 11, 2010 at 2:35pm

Thank you for the advice. I will check out those websites. I shot my wad on the machine, so I need molds that don't put me under! I think I was wasting chocolate because the plastic molds are so floppy that the chocolate runs out of them when I scrape them. Sturdier molds sounds like the answer.

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Permalink Reply by Joleen Allis on February 11, 2010 at 11:12am

You will love your tempering machine - I have 4 of them! If you can save up for the professional molds you will be a lot happier! I don't use the hobby store molds because they are too flimsy. And what I do with my little bit of chocolate that is left after using my molds - chocolate dipped oreo cookies, chocolate bark, hostess spoons. I also make garnishes - fans, butterflies for future desserts.

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Permalink Reply by Peter Waters on February 11, 2010 at 12:48pm

There is a medium grade mold between the Wilton and Polycarbonate.
I have over 8000 molds.
If you go to www.tomric.com they have hundreds if them, you can purchase a lot of the heavy duty molds which are not too expensive. We make our own molds from petg and use .030 material which is very stiff. A lot of comercial molds are .010 or .015 which works if only filling one cavity, but hard to use if doing several cavities because they are flimsy. Taping a piece of corrugated cardboard to the back will make them easier to fill without flopping all over.
As to filling them, there are a few options. Use a pastry bag if there are not to many of them to fill.
You can also get a large metal bowl and scrape the filled mold off into the bowl with a flat scraper and then chill the bowl when finished and then break up the leftover from the bowl and use that to put into the tempering unit again, recycling it.
If you have any further questions let me know. Peter www.swiftholland.com

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Permalink Reply by Bot on February 11, 2010 at 12:51pm

I tend to use anything with a smooth surface to mold off of. If using the cheap and flimsey WIltons molds ill cut them down to a more manageable size this seems to make them a bit firmer. The more expensive molds I get one or two at a time. I use a vendor from CAKE.he gets me deals on great products. If you would like his info let me know Ill get you in contact with him..

Hope this helps

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Permalink Reply by Brian Donaghy on February 11, 2010 at 1:56pm

Cassie.

Tomric has a wide variety of polycarbonate - thermoformed moulds availabel (www.tomric.com) they may provide a compromise between injection and flimsy. Thermoformed polycarbonate may also help with the waste issue you mention.

brian

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Permalink Reply by Cassie on February 11, 2010 at 3:14pm

Very helpful. In fact, I just ordered some molds and interference color from Tomric. I appreciate all the hepful comments.

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Permalink Reply by Adrianna Baseleon on March 16, 2010 at 1:08am

Congrats on the tempering machine... I hope this doesn't come off wrong but if you are spending the money for a tempering machine it is because you have a serious interest... And if you are going to do something then you might as well do it right and get your money's worth... The poly molds are more expensive BUT they are worth it in the long run... www.bakedeco.com also has quite a few poly molds.... What I did was I bought 2 molds and made truffles and such for people at work... I then started selling them and with the money I made from them it allowed me to buy more molds... Just a thought if you are tight on money and looking for a small way to start out...

Good luck and have fun...

Oh as for scraping off the excess... I find a bowl bigger than the mold to turn mold over in (sets on the edge of bowl) and allow excess to fall back in...

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Permalink Reply by Cassie on March 16, 2010 at 8:13am

Great advice! You are right--I have a serious interest in getting into the chocolate business. I have enrolled in Ecole Chocolat starting in April and I am hoping to get myself educated and on the road to a new career. I did puy 2 polycarbonate molds--I haven't used them yet--but I can see how they will be so much better than the others that I have been using. I'm sure they will come in handy when I start the course. Thanks again!

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