How I go about colouring my moulds, or how I decide on what colours and designs I wish to do?
Truthfully, a lot of it is trial and error!
And trying not to go overboard either.
Some say less is more. When I started making bonbons, all I had was gold spray. Back then I found it hard to stick to the mould but I did apply it on heavily.
If you've used this spray before, you'll know how messy it can be and how it gets everywhere when sprayed.
Nowadays I know that it's a lot easier to remove the spray nozzle and apply it sparingly with a small brush.
I didn't have much access to many cocoa butter colours to begin with either, and my knowledge of tempering was pretty non-existent. But after many many attempts and investing in some more colours, I am where I am now.
Now, back to the how and the what: how do I decide on colour? Initially I tried to keep it related to the flavours:
Red- strawberry
Pink- raspberry
Yellow- mango
But after looking for inspiration, I realised you don’t need to have colours associated with flavours. As long as they’re consistent and somewhat easy-to-identify, then you know you’re on the right track. It makes me laugh when people say to me ‘I loved the blue one!’ because I immediately know what flavour they’re talking about. The shape of the mould also helps as well, but most people do identify them by colours.
It’s easy when the chocolate is one colour of course, and sometimes it can give you that sleek finished look! It's always good to apply a couple of layers of coloured cocoa butter when shelling with dark chocolate- or apply a final coat of white cocoa butter. These methods can help bring out that colour you are looking for!
As for equipment to help with colouring, you can use ANYTHING. I use a variety of objects such as cotton buds, brushes, piping nozzles and sponges. You can use tape (one that doesn't leave adhesive behind), a toothbrush (a clean one of course!) and cocktail sticks. I also use my hands a lot, to get swirl patterns and to fill the cavities. Here’s some examples of what I do!
Within the past month, I got myself an airbrush gun. I’m not going to touch on that in this post, maybe in the future as I’m still learning how to use it! Airbrushing helps give an even coverage of cocoa butter which is something that is hard to achieve when I use my fingers to colour the cavities. I’ll most likely be using it to decorate some new limited edition ones!
Stay tuned for more! Who knows what kind of wacky designs the future holds?
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