How do I have better bases?

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Permalink Reply by Ilana on August 29, 2009 at 2:35am

Hello and welcome. I don't use fondant but from your pictures the bottoms do look very thin. It can be an issue as it causes oozing, stickiness and may harm shelf life quickly. I know that some people who make their own truffle balls pipe the filling onto coin sized discs-there is a special rubber sheet for this and is quite simple. And then when the filling crystallizes, you just dip in chocolate. This gives a nice base-not thick but not overly thin. If you need a link to the sheet let me know.
Best of success!

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Permalink Reply by Julie Helzer on September 1, 2009 at 11:52am

Do you use a silipat sheet or something else?

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Permalink Reply by Clive Brown on August 30, 2009 at 7:53pm

These look like hand rolled truffles which you dip/enrobe. It may be more time consuming but you could dip just te bottom of the fondant/truffle in tempered chcoate and when it sets dip it all again. You will have a double layer on the bottom and a base to sit on. ( A bit like piping onto a disco )
If you can get away from the round truffle shape you could roll the fondant/center to be enrobed into a flat sheet and scrape a layer of chocolate on one side, then cut into pieces and enrobe. This way you will get more of a square/rectangle shape though.

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Permalink Reply by Julie Helzer on September 1, 2009 at 11:47am

that sounds good, I will give it a try, thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Mark Heim on August 31, 2009 at 7:11pm

With a round shape, you have all the weight of the piece at one pont, which pushes the chocolate away and to the sides, which already gives you a "foot". You have a few options if you need to keep them round:
- As Clive noted, you can pre bottom, but this will extend the foot.
- If firm enough, you can pan them
- Once dipped in chocolate, roll in cocoa , coconut, chopped nuts, etc and keep rolling until firm enough
- Also once dipped, you can roll on a screen until firm enough, giving a different but nice appearance

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Permalink Reply by Julie Helzer on September 1, 2009 at 11:51am

I appreciate the way you explained this, it makes perfect sense now. I used to flatten the whole tray of fondant balls with a cookie sheet but somewhere along the way stopped doing that, but now I see I have been shooting myself in the foot.
The fondant is pretty firm, like the consistency of play-dough, so I can form it into this flatter shape and it will maintain it.
Thanks so much!!

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Permalink Reply by antonino allegra on March 17, 2012 at 11:45am

Hi,

your chocolate for dipping look a bit too runny, that's why (in my opinion) it sits very thin on the sides and has a large foot.

try a different viscosity chocolate and if you can post a picture of whole truffle as well.

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Permalink Reply by margaret on March 16, 2012 at 2:18pm

Mark,

I just saw your comment on the truffles.

What type of screen are you referring to?

Thanks,

Margaret

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Permalink Reply by david smith on March 19, 2012 at 7:39pm

When I took a Barry Callabaut class, the teacher suggested double dipping.  Once in our hands for a thin layer, let set, then the last one dipped. 

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