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…. to another test batch gone not so well.

during one of my first pastry “jobs,” and i use the word job loosely because it was back when i was still working for free every satruday at a certain philly restaurant. after spending many weekends there i told the chef i wanted to learn chocolate. we had a full chocolate operation and he let me come (on my own time of course) to help him with his valentines box. he showed me how he made his cherry cordials. brandied cherries, covered with powdered fondant in the panning machine, a little invertease was added and out came little white balls. the balls were dipped in chocolate and left to sit for a week so the fondant would turn to goo. that was the first and last time i made them….

… until a couple of weeks ago. i have studied and copied many different recipes for this item over the years and stumbled across one on a slow day. it was time to give it a try. there are many ways to make a cordial but the concept is all the same: add the enzyme invertease to fondant, cover the cherry with fondant, dip in chocolate and leave to set long enough for the invertease to turn the fondant to syrup.

invertease is the enzyme that breaks down sugar and can turn it back to a liquid state. it is usually used in a dosage of .1-3% of the amount of fondant. the more invertease the faster the inversion process

the cherries can be dipped in warm fondant, rolled in fondant powder, covered in a rolled fondant or placed in a mold and covered with liquid fondant. i opted for the rolled fondant technique. not sure why, just felt like it. also opted to make my own fondant. i wanted to see how mine compared to the confectionary fondant that i buy.

fondant:

sugar 1K

water 300g

corn syrup 250g

invert sugar 125

- bring sugar and water to a boil

- add corn syrup and invert, cook to 117C (109 @8000ft)

- let cool to 30C

- pour into kitchen aid and paddle until white and thick

if you are doing this in a mixer be careful, you can burn out the motor if you work it too long. the final product was pretty good. different from what i usually buy, a slightly smoother texture but not as shiny. i kneaded in the invertease by hand, rolled the fondant about 5mm thick and cut out rounds. amereana cherries went inside and a smooth ball was made. once the invertease goes in the clock is ticking and you need to get the chocolate on right away. rolled them like a truffle and let them sit. not the prettiest chocolate i have made but it was more about the product than the looks

i cut one open pretty much every day for a week. the fondant softened but did not turn to liquid the way i wanted. i used .1% of the enzyme, clearly not enough to turn a thick rolled fondant to liquid. lesson learned