Do you want some tasty brains?

September 9, 2009 4:45 PM

How can I bring homemade white chocolate cupcake toppers cross-country without melting or breaking them?

I've been asked to recreate these cupcakes for my husband's dissertation defense. I have the mold and bought some Ghirardelli white chocolate chips and food coloring. A test batch indicates this should work out, but I'm concerned about how to transport them as the defense is in another state. I won't have time (or access to a kitchen) to mold the mini-brains when we get there, so I'm planning to make them before the trip and take them on the plane with us. I'll be getting some gel frosting from the supermarket and cupcakes from a local bakery.

My current plan is to pack the brains in tupperware containers layered with waxed paper, and bring the containers in my carry-on bag.

Questions:

Is there a particular brand of white chocolate that will hold up better than others?

Is there a way to prevent the brains from softening or breaking in my carry-on?

posted by Meg_Murry to food & drink (10 comments total)

Waxed paper doesn't seem like it'd be great at cushioning impact. Could you layer cotton batting between the sheets of waxed paper? With one of those frozen gel-packs on the bottom?

Also, if taste isn't a huge issue, then stirring some melted paraffin wax (completely non-toxic, available in most grocery stores in the canning section) into the melted white chocolate will help it harden better and make it more durable. (The wax doesn't taste like anything at all; it just mutes the white-chocolate flavor a little, so you might want to try varying quantities to see what works for you).

If you don't want to go the wax route, you could also try the white "chocolate" melts they sell in craft stores (candy section), which are also more durable, if slightly less tasty, than plain white-chox chips.

The gold standard in creating durable, non-melty chocolate candy is a process called tempering, but it's apparently very difficult and finicky, and I'm not sure it'd even work with chocolate of the "white" variety.

Good luck!
posted by Bardolph at 5:05 PM on September 9

first thought is to not put them in a carry on, just bring them on in their own bag and keep them either under the seat in front of you or in your lap...

regarding the chocolate chips, make sure you get real white chocolate chips...the ghirardelli ones are real but a lot of whats out there is fake...or just buy a bar of white chocolate and cut it up...the taste between the two is really impressive

if possible, maybe keep all the parts seperate until the last possible second
posted by knockoutking at 5:09 PM on September 9

If the molds result in a fairly thick brain candy, then you shouldn't have to worry about breakage too much. Just make extra brains in case you have some breakage. I'd go with the cotton batting between the chocolates.

I'd be concerned with melting. You don't mention what time of year you're needing to do this. If the weather is still warm, you may want to put them in a small cooler. You can freeze them and drop them into the cooler just before you head out. Since you're flying, I'm not sure if the cooler packs will be allowed. You might want to check with your airline about that part. Otherwise, freeze something that's not liquid or gel (a steak?) to drop in and act as a cooling pack.
posted by onhazier at 6:05 PM on September 9

Um, how are real brains transported? I am assuming in a food cooler kind of a container. You could take that with you (available in the lab). The only thing is when you take off or land, you've got to hold it tight in your lap, which shouldn't be a problem either. The containers can go in the box. You can add ice packs (also available in lab) to keep it cool inside, which should help with minimizing the melting.

Sorry if this answer sounds stupid. But it should work, IMHO.
posted by xm at 6:15 PM on September 9

Also, I have personally taken a cooler in the plane. That was about four years back. I had some lab stuff in it that we had to get checked at security but the cooler itself should not be a problem.
posted by xm at 6:17 PM on September 9

I once brought 300 handmade truffles on a plane to Las Vegas - but at least it was in February. I had some breakage as the container I'd packed them in actually collapsed. But oh, god, that sucked.*

You have two problems here: breakage and meltage. Meltage is the harder of the two problems; if it was December and Boston we were talking about I'd concern myself with breakage first, but it's still summer and white 'chocolate' melts fast.

I'd suggest a hard-sided container like a portable cooler, soft if you have to.

Buy a dozen eggs in a styrofoam container. Cut the container in half so you have two six-packs. This will keep at least 12 brains comfortably cushioned. If you're doing multiple brains per egg-cradle, stick the flat ends to each other and consider foil between them.

Put your egg-crate in the cooler, and pad the cooler with insulation - cotton, styro peanuts, newspaper. At least one of the insulators should be soft to prevent breakage.

Unfortunately, one can no longer carry on ice packs of any sort unless you have medical dispensation. Consider pre-chilling the container in the freezer up until you leave the house, add a baggie of ice, and discard the ice only at the TSA point. Keep the baggie: you may be able to score more ice from a fast-food vendor inside the 'clean area,' or from the stewardesses.

*I reconstituted about half of the truffles in a stuffy, overheated hotel room, covering them with various convenience store nuts that I crushed to make a decorative (damage-covering) coating. They were apparently delicious. I will never make them again.
posted by cobaltnine at 7:27 PM on September 9

Are the brains small enough to fit in egg cartons? You might even be able to put a little padding in each egg well (paper towel or something) to provide extra protection. I wouldn't expect melting to be a problem, unless there's something unusual about your chocolate, but a well-wrapped container packed in the center of your carry-on bag should be pretty well insulated thermally as well as mechanically. Keep your bag out of the sun, don't stuff it in the hot trunk of a car, and you'll probably be fine.

Frozen gel packs may be considered liquid by airport security (no experience here, just considering worst-case scenarios) so you might want to look into that before putting any in your carry-on luggage.
posted by Quietgal at 7:28 PM on September 9

Oh, and one more general candymaking-related note: if this is your first go at making these things, be sure to leave yourself plenty of time for experimentation before you have to take the show on the road. Chocolate can behave in really unpredictable ways (at least in my novice experience), and I've had a number of pre-Christmas panics over the years when both white and regular chocolate molded/dipped candies randomly refused to harden, or hardened with ugly white blooms on them, or whatever. The additives I mentioned above will help take some of the risk out of the process, but definitely plan on making a few batches just in case.
posted by Bardolph at 7:59 AM on September 10

I love the idea of the egg carton!
If they don't fit, though, keep in mind that what causes breakage is motion - consider sticking them to a flat board (melted chocolate on the backs to hold them down?) so that they don't bang around of smash into each other.

For temperature, what you need is thermal mass. Liquids and gels are perhaps out because of TSA, but you could use something like frozen vegetables. Veg from the freezer case would be plenty icy, but perhaps messy; consider also dry beans or any other dry solid objects you have, in little zippy bags, tucked around your treasures. Convenient and tidy, but wouldn't stay as cold as long.
posted by aimedwander at 2:27 PM on September 10

Yes. Yes, I do want some tasty brains.

That said, if it's not too late, I would recommend shipping them overnight to the hotel you are staying at (addressed to yourself) instead of carrying them yourself. That way you have more flexibility in how you keep them cool and package them. You could package them in a tupperware, filled with padding, and surrounded by cold packs, maybe?
posted by tastybrains at 11:17 AM on September 18