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Chocolate Decorations
Appears in
Published 1991
Chocolate decorations are surprisingly easy to make and can transform almost any pudding or cake into a spectacular, professional-looking showpiece. A good-quality plain chocolate will produce excellent results.
Any leftover chocolate can be melted again and used in a sauce or cake filling or coating.
- Making curls Use a swivel-bladed vegetable peeler to shave off curls from the side of a block of well-chilled chocolate.
- Grating chocolate Gently rub a lightly chilled bar of chocolate along the coarse edge of a standard vegetable grater.
- Coating fruit Leaving the stalks on, wash and pat dry fruits such as strawberries, cherries and grapes. Dip each fruit halfway into a bowl of melted chocolate and leave to set on a tray lined with a sheet of baking parchment.
- Coating leaves Brush melted chocolate on the shiny upper side of a clean leaf Leave to dry on baking parchment, then peel the chocolate off the leaf, starting at the stem end. Rose and lily leaves work best.
- Making scrolls or caraque Thinly spread melted chocolate as smoothly as possible on a clean flat surface and leave to set. Firmly push the edge of a pastry scraper away from you into the chocolate at a shallow angle and carefully scrape the chocolate off in long scrolls.
- Making shapes Pour a 5mm (¼in) layer of melted chocolate on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment. Leave until set but still slightly soft. Carefully remove the chocolate slab and peel off the paper. Use biscuit cutters or a sharp-pointed knife to cut out a selection of shapes.
- This jagged-edged chocolate bowl, filled with fresh strawberries, makes a simple but dramatic pudding.
