Fig. 72.
The fondant is then diluted with colouring matter in boiling pans, and so prepared for subsequent treatment. The figures which have to be poured in are then transferred to gypsum moulds, lined with starch powder, and the fondant sugar is in its turn poured over these either by means of pans held in the hand or such as are machine-driven. Hand-pouring postulates a considerable amount of skill on the part of the man in charge, especially when even weights of the separate pieces are required. We annex an illustration of a motor-driven depositing machine (fig. 72).
The sugar is here introduced into receivers heated by means of a water-bath. The receiving boxes are moved under the outflow one after another, after having been dusted with powder and filled with chocolate, whilst the adjustment of the weight of each separate piece is effected by the operation of a very ingenious mechanism, even from 0-8 grammes.
Fig. 73.
After a stay of several hours in the drying room, the molten figures are so hard that they can be raised out of the powder with the aid of a shovel. Fig. 73 shows such a machine, whilst Fig. 74 illustrates a machine where the work goes on unbrokenly, and from which the chocolate figures are removed with a shovel.
The sweetmeats are next dipped into liquified chocolate (covering stuff) to coat them with a layer of that material. The mass employed for this purpose must contain up to 15 % more butter than that used for ordinary chocolate, so that it may be kept soft long enough for continuous working.[121] This is performed in the machine fig. 75. On a bed-plate coming into contact with steam or cold water, as required, occur rake-like stirrers, and a small ventilator introduced above assists in cooling off the material. For the purpose of discharging, there is an outlet on the rim of the pan. For storage of the tempered coverings and also for occasional alleviations with cacao butter, a machine illustrated in fig. 76 is utilised.
Fig. 74.