It's Mother's Day and what better gift than a homemade one? So let's learn how to make a strawberry bouquet with Ed The Cake Guy!
What you'll need:
- Strawberries (obviously, we're making a strawberry bouquet!)
- White Chocolate (we like Ghirardelli)
- Wooden Skewers
- Green Foam
- Piping Bags (Click Here)
- Hot Pink Choc Elite (Click Here)
- Rainbow DiamonDust Edible Glitter (Click Here)
SOME SOUND ADVICE
- Grab FRESH Strawberries
- Wash them thoroughly with cool water, lay them flat and allow them to FULLY DRY before beginning.
- Temper your chocolate - so important to a successful dipping session! See Ed's instructions below.
- Use quality chocolate. Ed likes Ghiradelli.
- Use QUALITY Chocolate Colors - Choc Elites are the best.
HOW TO TEMPER CHOCOLATE ED'S WAY
To make a gorgeous strawberry bouquet, you will absolutely need to know to to TEMPER CHOCOLATE! Chocolate artists have been honing their craft for millennia. They are esteemed professionals and this is why chocolate is it's own specific class of talent, because it is not an easy medium to work with! It takes a lot of time to learn how to properly temper and color chocolate!
And Ed has been tempering chocolate since he was a teenager, and he claims it was one of the hardest mediums for him to learn. Today, has has some sound advice on how to achieve a proper temper - but, you must follow all of the steps below. It will take TIME so please be PATIENT with the chocolate, and yourself. If it doesn't work out perfectly the first time, keep trying. You'll get there!
- The most important step is to have the chocolate chopped into smaller pieces, unless you are using chocolate chips. Chocolate chips work just fine.
- You want the water to just start steaming, but not bubbling, on your double broiler.
- After adding the chocolate pieces (or chips) to your bowl - steadily mix the chocolate until it completes melts. You need to continuously mix or the chocolate could burn.
- Grab a thermometer, because you will need it the entire time. An infrared thermometer works perfect, too. You're aiming for a temp of 110-115 Degree Fahrenheit.
- When you reach this temperature, you need to bring it down very quickly adding the fresh chocolate "seed" as Jyoti mentions, unmelted. You're aiming for a temperature of about 90 Degrees Fahrenheit - at which point you can add a little more chocolate to cool it down further. At which point you can add more chocolate until it reaches 83-85 Degrees.
- Then put it back on the double broiler, continuously mixing, to prevent any hot-spots on the chocolate, getting it back to a temperature of 95 Degrees.
- To ensure you have proper temper, add a dollop of your chocolate to a piece of parchment paper. Put in the fridge for 5 minutes and it should hear a clear snap when breaking it in half. It also should not leave any residue on the parchment paper. Both of these are indications that you have a proper temper!
- You can reheat the chocolate on the broiler, but never exceed 105 Degrees after you achieve temper.
Hot Pink Chocolate Color
$8.00
The easiest way to achieve a Hot Pink in chocolate! Our Bright Pink Chocolate Color is an intense, oil-soluble food color that will create the most beautiful blue tones inside of your white chocolate. Achieve a vast array of colors… read more
Rainbow Edible Glitter
$9.00
OUR NEW RAINBOW EDIBLE GLITTER IS AMAZING! IT HAS MANY REFLECTIVE COLORS RESULTING IN A PRISM FINISH! USE FOR CAKES, COOKIES, DRINKS OR FOOD! THIS VERY FINE EDIBLE GLITTER IS TASTELESS & LEAVES A SMOOTH FINISH! NET WEIGHT: 4 GRAMS LEARN… read more
Learn all about Choc Elite Colors from the Creator, Ed Frys!
Breakdown of Choc Elites:
- WHAT ARE CHOC ELITES?
- Choc Elites are potent food colors that solve the long awaited issue of achieving bright and challenging tones in white chocolate! They are made of both lake and food dyes, achieving the most vibrant tones possible in this industry.
- Choc Elites are sold in 1 oz jars, at least 35g of color - double the size of most competitors!
- CAN CHOC ELITES COLOR OTHER MEDIUMS?
- Unquestionably these colors "work" in other ingredients, as they are strong pigments. However, they will never compare to Master Elites (click here) for icings, batters, fondant, etc.
- It's crucial to understand why - ingredients such as a meringue or macaron, introduction of any kind of oil or liquid can change consistency, texture and finish. This can also be said for both royal icing and buttercreams, but the impact is less in these two mediums. Thus we need to ensure a proper selection for the right kind of food coloring for the specific confection you are working with. Not all food colors can work to their fullest potential across all sugar mediums.
- At this time - Master Elites (click for full tutorial) remain the top choice for all other mediums. However, we are working on a new product for these, too.
- WHAT SETS CHOC ELITES APART FROM OTHERS?
- The three main things that set Choc Elites apart in this industry are: Potency, Size and Cost.
- Inside of these larger than industry-standard bottles, we have added the PEAK amount of pigment and color possible for you - our customer.
- Based on the size and amount of color you are receiving, we also ensure our price is unrivaled. Making Choc Elites the best colors for chocolate!
- WHY DID WE CREATE CHOC ELITES?
- We saw the need for more potent chocolate colors that were simplified for the every day baker.
- Being the creators of multiple food color lines, taking the industry by storm - we wanted to revolutionize coloring chocolate as well. In a way that only we could.
- WHAT ARE THE LIMITATIONS OF COLORING CHOCOLATE IN GENERAL?
- There are only a few limitations to Choc Elites. They do not mix well with water, thus limiting their ability to create an edible paint.
- If using Choc Elites in natural chocolate, un-whitened, all colors will have a slight shift from the original color. Mainly at lighter tones.
- If using Choc Elites in white candy melts, you may need more of the Choc Elite to overcome white pigmentation that has been added previously.
- THE COLORS WE OFFER AND WHY?
- We offer 10 standard colors and 2 Colors (White and Black) that are used to either brighten or deepen the other 10 Choc Elites.
- White Choc Elite is a unique color in that it will allow you to add brightness and sharpness to any other standard Choc Elite Color.
- Black Choc Elite does the opposite, it provides you the ability to add depth or richness in any other standard Choc Elite Color.
- With all of these colors, we give you the power to make hundreds of shades and tones - by offering the strongest potency of these standard food colors.
- We offer 10 standard colors and 2 Colors (White and Black) that are used to either brighten or deepen the other 10 Choc Elites.
- HOW TO USE CHOC ELITES?
- Simply mix your Choc Elite in warm white chocolate for use.
- The color will darken as it dries - so keep this in mind, as you aim for very deep and vibrant tones.
- IS THERE AN AFTERTASTE?
- Typically no. However, if you are coloring a very small bowl of chocolate (less than 2 oz) and you add more than 8-10 drops of color - you could experience an aftertaste.
- The good thing about Choc Elites? They are already very strong colors, so no need to add too many drops to achieve medium-vibrant tones!
- In the demonstrations below, we are working with 10 oz of white Ghirardelli Chocolate and only adding 8 drops of Choc Elite to achieve the darkest tone you see.
Check out these demonstrations on many of our Choc Elite Colors!
THANK YOU!
We hope you enjoyed learning how to make a strawberry bouquet for Mother's Day! Tag us if you try any of our techniques or confections in all of your social media posts too! Click the links below to follow!
