That Was Easy! I'll Tell Ya What I Know!
Decorating By katy625 Updated 16 Jan 2010 , 4:41pm by Parable
You can't use regular gel colors to color chocolate or the candy melts because it's water based and water causes chocolate to seize. It's pretty much ruined then. Anyway, they make special coloring for candy, or you can buy the Flo-Coat from Americolor and use your regular gel colors (which I recommend, because the candy coloring is available in a huge amount of colors and you have already bought all of those gel colors anyway).
Modelling chocolate is so cool! I love making the roses out of it.
The flo coat works great. I was shocked to see how nice the chocolate colors with it. I had some chocolate that added color to it and it started to stiffen up but once I added the flo coat it thinned right out. There is no taste to it either.
you are such an enabler....of course we all want to try it now. I have a question - on the tutorial, I am not grasping what she means by teepee shape. Any help on that?
I love working with chocolate clay too! I'm pretty sure that chocolate plastique/plastic is the same thing as candy clay.
To keep it from seizing up you can use oil based candy colors.
I haven't tried to cover a cake with it yet, but it worked great to make the bones and skull on my skeleton cake. I've also played around with mixing a little fondant into choc clay and that works too.
Courtney
you are such an enabler....of course we all want to try it now. I have a question - on the tutorial, I am not grasping what she means by teepee shape. Any help on that?
A teepee is a Native American tent or a cone shape. HTH.
I have worked with the chocolate clay before, and it is true it is very very yummy.
IMH it's harder for covering a cake than fondant, because fondant is softer and "falls" arround the borders of the cake better than chocolate.
It's very easy to make the roses and it looks very nice.
For some reason all brides love the look, but very few actually order it, I think it's because of the color.
Don't do the roses too much in andvance, chocolate is not so good for storage, and cake dummys just last perfect for about 3 month, and then start to deteriorate.
Here is a great tip, there is a lacquer specially made for chocolate,it makes the product shine beautifully,it is from Switzerland. HOLLINGER the brand name.
Paola
I didn't know about flo-coat, thanks for the tip golfgirl1227!
Paola is the lacquer for chocolate available in the states? Sounds great!!
Does this stay soft when put on a cake? I guess I'm confused about it hardening up, then able to soften it by working with it-does it then harden up again?
when you are working with the chololate, do you need to wear gloves. I know with fondant you don't have to worry about fingerprints, but how about chocolate. I scrub real good before I start, but gloves are so hard to work in when molding.
Does this stay soft when put on a cake? I guess I'm confused about it hardening up, then able to soften it by working with it-does it then harden up again?
I imagine that it does harden back up a bit because i made roses last night and they hardened by this morning. I think the corn syrup probabaly keeps it from breaking. If it were just plain chocolate coating nothing else it would break but the syrup makes it like a doughy consistency.
I made the chocolate clay and colored it red before adding the syrup. After a couple days, the formed parts were blotchy with white everywhere. I had to throw it out and use fondant instead. Anyone else had this issue?
The flo coat works great. I was shocked to see how nice the chocolate colors with it. I had some chocolate that added color to it and it started to stiffen up but once I added the flo coat it thinned right out. There is no taste to it either.
Hi, could you tell more on how the flo coat works and how to use it? I´ve seen it but never used it, so I´m wondering. I´ve always used oil based colors for chocolate. Thanks so much.
You just add some of the flo coat to your chocolate as you're coloring it (if you're using the gel paste colors) and it keeps it from seizing. Sometimes you have to add some, then go back and add more because it can thicken back up a bit but the flo coat doesn't impact flavor so if you need to add more it's okay.
I've also heard of people using a bit of Crisco to keep chocolate from seizing (just a little bit at a time, you can always add more if you need it).
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Paola is the lacquer for chocolate available in the states? Sounds great!![/quote]
I think I got mine from JB PRINCE...or albert uster import, let me check, and I'll get back to you
I've only recently started making/using chocolate clay. It's amazing stuff. I first paid attention to the recipe when I found it in the back of "The Wedding Cake Book" by Dede Wilson. A portion of the description she gives for "Chocolate Plastic" says:
"Chocolate pastic, or modeling chocolate, is a combination of melted chocolate and light corn syrup. But the sum is greater than its parts because these two ingredients make a wonderful, malleable chocolate clay that can be rolled out and molded into a variety of shapes ...
You may make the plastic out of semisweet, milk, or white chocolate. Or, you can make all three and marbelize them together, or roll them out side by side to make broad stripes. ... When you combine thte corn syurup with the chocolate, the chocolate may look grainy and about to seize. Keep stirring, but don't worry if it doesn't look completely smooth. When you pour it out, the chocolate will resemble a large, thick puddle.
The white chocolate plastic can be tinted with paste colors and/or brushed with powdered colors ... The powders are applied after whatever you are molding is done. Powders can also be used on top of paste dyed plastic for a custom look ..."
Her recipe is:
28 oz chocolate
1 c. light corn syrup
I found this to be little too loose, in fact very loose. When I kneaded it later, I had a lot of oiliness. So I went to my local supplier and we discussed it. She suggested 14 oz. chocolate to 1/3 cup of corn syrup, so I melted more chocolate and added it to what I had. It became wonderful.
If you look in my gallery, there are 4 photos of chocolate clay work. The "Two on the Way" and "Twin Baby Girls on the Way" have chocolate clay-covered dresser, white chocolate clay rug with hand-painted roses of gel food color, the ruffles on the bassinette are of white chocolate clay, and the baby heads, blocks, lamp and other items on top of the dresser are of chocolate clay. The "Calla Lily Cookies" show just that and the 2 "Masters in Education" photos show a white chocolate clay diploma (white chocolate clay with cocoa powder blushed on to make a parchment-look), rose and tassel. The gold edging on the rose and the gold trim on the tassel were accomplished with gold luster dust with a little bit of lemon extract, mixed into a paste and brushed on the chocolate where I wanted the effect.
I love this stuff. You don't have to worry about taste, 'cuz it's pretty good. It doesn't need to "dry" because once it gets cool it becomes more solid. If it's too firm, just put it in the microwave for a few seconds until you can start to knead it and proceed. I think you can use it to cover a cake, but I don't know if it would drape the way fondant does. I think experimentation is in the works ... call it research and development, but call the neighborhood kids over and have a chocolate clay party! Yay!
Odessa[/i]
Okay, I posted my last comment, went to the home page and take a look at what was there ...
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo-141373.html
If this doesn't prove how easy it is to work with chocolate clay, I don't know what does. Not even my cake, but what a great piece of work.
Enjoy!
Odessa
wow, that cake is beautiful....I wonder if it was hard for her to cover the cakes w/ the chocolate clay...
I would hope this recipe "reacts" differently than Wilton's Candy Clay recipe. I would never use that recipe to cover a cake with. I would have ever considered attempting to roll that recipe out to cover a cake with. It's not THAT soft even if you work with it. It's just too much to try and soften even in batches and roll out.
Now if this particular Chocolate Clay recipe is easier/softer/less messy than Wilton's Candy Clay recipe then I will consider using it.
The Wilton white Melts seized when I added color to it. Even the tiniest amount of color ruined it.
I'll have to give it a try. Has anyone made and used Chocolate Plastique?
Amy
I agree. Its ok for smaller items but not to cover a cake. Let me know what you think of the new recipe!
Do you think you could put this on cookies to decorate them like you would RBC or MMF?
Do you think you could put this on cookies to decorate them like you would RBC or MMF?
I don't know why not. I have plenty left over.....I need to find something to do with it! I'll make some cookies tomorrow and see what happens! I'll pm you too.
Do you think you could put this on cookies to decorate them like you would RBC or MMF?
I don't know why not. I have plenty left over.....I need to find something to do with it! I'll make some cookies tomorrow and see what happens! I'll pm you too.
I would love to know if you could use it on cookies as well... thx
I made the chocolate clay and colored it red before adding the syrup. After a couple days, the formed parts were blotchy with white everywhere. I had to throw it out and use fondant instead. Anyone else had this issue?
That sounds a lot like what happens when chocolate is overheated. A day or two after it is set, a bloom forms, which is blotchy gray or whitish.
Bloom can also form when chocolate is kept at too high or too low a temperature.
RedPanda
CHoclate modeling clay, chocolate plastic or whatever you choose to call it, is for modeling roses, figures, etc. I don't suggest it for covering cakes. It does harden, making it near impossible to roll. Not to mention to roll it thin enough to cover it like you would fondant, would be very difficult as well. You also can't handle it the same was fondant, cause it will melt. You also couldn't soften it up in the microwave like fondant to make it easier to roll, cause it would melt. Not to mention, it hardens as it sits, which may not be very pleasing to the palate. What you can do, is make a chocolate fondant, which I think some people mistake for modeling chocolate. They aren't the same thing.
The recipe sounds awfully familiar to the Candy Clay recipe on the back of Wilton's Candy Melts. Am I to understand you do not use the melts? I've tried coloring the white melts with my Americolor before but it just siezed up
Did you use store bought (Nestle's or another brand) white chocolate chips and milk or semi-sweet? I would imagine it takes quite a few batches to cover a cake with this stuff.
Where did you get the recipe from?
Amy
I would think you would need to use candy color for that not to happen.
Actually, I have seen quite a few decorators on tv use modeling chocolate, which they specifically described as a combination of chocolate and corn syrup to cover cakes. There are different consistencies based on your ratio of chocolate to corn syrup - I have used some that was stiffer, which was wonderful for modeling. I have also used some that was too soft for that, but would be perfect for cake covering.
I've seen them cover rice crispies, but not actual cake. Like when Buddy did that planet cake, he covered the planets in it. But he didn't cover the actual cake part in it. It's pretty heavy stuff. You ould have to roll it thinner then fondant to be palate pleaseing. If someone has a great recipe that works though, please share. I would to see what one looks like.
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