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Cool Tool: Chocoflex Spherical Truffle Mold
Buy a one-shot depositor (expensive)
Buy pre-made shells (cheating? misleading?)
Recently, the Italian company Pavoni started a line of silicon molds specifically designed to work with ganaches as an extension to their Pavoflex line of molds for cakes and pastries. They have basic shapes (square, rectangle) that can be used in many environments to replace an expensive guitar cutter, and a circle and oval that replace a "cookie" cutter. To use them, you place the mold on a flat surface (e.g., a sheet pan covered with parchment paper), pipe the ganache into the mold cavities, and with an offset spatula and bench scraper make sure the ganache completely fills the mold cavity and that the top (what will end up as the bottom) is flat.
Perhaps the most interesting mold shape, however, is the spherical mold. With it, chocolatiers can make ganache spheres that they can then enrobe, either by hand or on a belt.
Using the Chocoflex Spherical Truffle Mold
A 2-piece 67-sphere mold set costs $150. Expensive, yes, but far less expensive than a one-shot machine and you'd quickly recoup the costs by not having to buy shells. Plus, the mold is not limited to ganache; anything you can pipe (praline, gelee, fondant) you can use to fill the mold cavities. You can also bake and freeze in them.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Cathy Kuepfer on -
Hi Brad,
I'm curious as to how you get that kind of speed. We are a small chocolate shop and use what seems to be roughly the same technique, but I can only scoop and roll roughly 150 per hour. Any tips? Also what consistency is your truffle centre.
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Permalink Reply by Brad Churchill on -
Our truffle centers are firm (refrigerated). If they are soft, then they tend to stick to the scoop. The scoop also has a scraper, which, when you click it, runs the scraper around the inside of the scoop thereby releasing the scooped truffle center.
If your centers are very soft or warm when scooping, tap the scoop in cornstarch between centers. Just be sure to tap the cornstarch out after, or you'll get too much on the truffle center. This works great for very soft centers, and only adds about 2 seconds per truffle.
It's really that easy: just scoop, scoop, click. Roughly 10 seconds per scooped center will get you 360 centers per hour - more than double what you are doing now. Honestly, if it's taking you longer than 6-7 seconds to simply drag a small scoop through some cold ganache, you need to evaluate either the recipe, the temperature of the ganache, or the person who's (not) performing the work.
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Permalink Reply by Andy Ciordia on -
We recently picked this up, the only dissapointment I have is the weight. I thought this might supplement our 1/2oz line but the weight of a filled sphere is coming in at 3/8, which while it may not seem like much, a side by side comparison is really obvious.
My question to those using these, what are you doing for the difference, or is your coating(s) that much thicker?
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Permalink Reply by chocochoco on -
Hello Andy,
Are you still using this mold? Has really helped you streaming/speeding up the truffle production?
Did you have to adjust your ganache recipe or did you keep using the same one?
Thanks!
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Permalink Reply by Murielle Osborne on -
Hi Guys!
I have just bought the chocoflex spherical truffle mold and it's not working for me! After many attempts I can't get it to peel away clean, the ganache sticks to the mold! I have tried different consistencies with no luck! Can anyone please help me!
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Permalink Reply by Andy Ciordia on
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Even freezing them? We've found the mold to work quite well as long as you cool it down. It also takes a little longer to cool down than you'd think, the silicon holds/insulates heat.
I just want a bigger one! I think we're getting carpel tunnel scooping our other weights. :/
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Permalink Reply by Murielle Osborne on
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Hi Andy!
Thank you so much for your reply! It sounds like I didn't let it cool down long enough! I guess I'm a little reluctant to put my ganache in the fridge or in the freezer, I was taught to always let a ganache crystalize at a temperature of about 10 degrees celcius? Is that right?
Regards from Australia!
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Permalink Reply by Diana on -
Anyone willing to share a caramel recipe that works in these moulds? I currently make a salted butter caramel (divine, but tends to "fudge" after a while even when enrobed). I pour these into a square red silicone mould which is easy as it's open faced, but not sure if I could manage to pipe the hot mix into the small opening of the sphere mould.
For ganaches I'm thinking that the sphere mould would pay for itself pretty quickly versus the cost of shells, so I want to give them a try.
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Permalink Reply by Patty Medina on
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Hello Everyone -
Can anyone tell me if there exists on the market a shell mold that's comparable to the ones used for "pre-made" shells being offered by some chocolate companies? It seems as though it should be an easy find, but I haven't had any luck as of yet.
Thanks,
Patty Medina
medinachocolatier.com
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Permalink Reply by Kerry on -
Indeed there are -
Chocolat-chocolat carries this chocolateworld one - http://www.chocolat-chocolat.com/home/chocolate-molds/chocolate-mol...
It's pretty big though. There is a smaller one - can't find it on their website but if you phone them it's CW5018B.
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Permalink Reply by Lana on -
Hey Kerry,
That CW5018 looks a little like this one: http://www.shopchefrubber.com/product.php?productid=8309&cat=14...
The Chocolate World one is slightly larger (27mm) than the one at Chef Rubber (25mm). What I like about the looks of the Chocolate World one is that the hole looks larger than the Chef Rubber one. I just used some truffle shells I had made using the Chef Rubber mold and it was so hard to know how much filling was going in (I did a double filling). Maybe there's a trick I don't know about??
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Permalink Reply by Patty Medina on
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Thank you Kerry and Lana -
Yes, I think it's important to be able to visually gauge how much ganache is going into the mold thus avoiding air pockets, etc. as well.
I interned with a Swedish Chocolatier in New York a few months back and was surprised to see that he was using Valrhona shells for his round truffles. (For some reason I thought he'd make them the classic hand-rolled way) But I have to say, they were so incredibly easy to work with and a real time saver, (which is important if you are renting kitchen space by the hour). And also important is having a consistent weight per piece. So, I was sold on the shells, and thought I'd try to make my own.
I'll try both the Chocolate World and Chef Rubber molds and see which one works best.
Thanks again!
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