Painting

Cocoa painting is widely documented in books and dates back to the early 1900s, though it became more popular after World War II. However, it is very time consuming and requires expert hand skills, and today transfer sheets and silk screening are more widely used for decorating confections. Nonetheless, colored cocoa painting is still a valuable skill for chocolatiers to learn.

In past years, it was popular to use a mixture of cocoa powder, oil, and a little cocoa butter for painting. Today, regular water-soluble food coloring is generally used instead to make the process easier. The disadvantage of using food coloring is that once it is painted on, it becomes permanent, whereas the older method was more forgiving, as mistakes could be corrected by simply adding warm oil to thin the “paint” and absorb the color. White paint can be created by mixing cocoa butter and titanium dioxide, which is available in any store that sells wedding cake supplies. The food color can be painted onto marzipan or pastillage, though the white color of pastillage causes more contrast and can make the finished painting look harsh. Because chocolate contains a lot of fat, it will not absorb water color well and should not be used as a surface for cocoa painting. After the painting is completed, food lacquer may be used to seal the painting and give an extra shine to the design.