How To Make Good Chocolate Curls?
Decorating By cakesbyallison Updated 22 Jun 2006 , 6:17pm by aunt-judy
Does anyone have any advise on how to get good chocolate curls? I have done them in the past, and they've come out... "OK", but I've seen better. I usually get a lot of shaved pieces and not so many "curls". I have to cover a grooms cake this weekend, and was wondering if anyone had any tips?!
Have a look here:
http://home.ivillage.com/cooking/technique/0,,jf2n,00.html
Good Luck! 
I made white chocolate curls with a cheap chocolate bar because I didn't know where to purchase a name brand. I held the bar in my hand and used a vegetable peeler.
Since this was my first attempt at making the curls, they didn't turn out like I expected, they were very small. I blame it on the inexpensive chocolate bar.
I also would appreciate any info where to buy (store) white chocolate, or do most of you use white candy melts on a large cookie sheet to get the effect?
Thanks for any info.
Went to my local cake shop, and asked them for some advise... Here's what he told me... Use the chocolate candy melts, and a heavy tablespoon of Crisco (slightly soften the Crisco first, because it takes longer than the chocolate to get to the right temp), then combine and melt together and let cool in a small block. Once hard, let come to room temp, and use a "y" shaped veggie peeler to shave curls. Theirs come out nice and fat! I'll give it a try and hopefully get similar results!
yes, the candy melts (coating) melted gently with white shortening (crisco) is the best approach: use about 2 teaspoons of crisco for every pound or so (16 oz., 454 g) of chocolate (you can also use real dark chocolate, using 1 tablespoon of crisco to a pound of chocolate, but the result isn't quite as smooth or firm as using the coating stuff). for best flavour with the coating, use DARK, rather than a lighter "milk chocolate" version.
set the mixture in a small, fairly deep pan (disposable aluminum is good, since you can "peel off" the pan), and let stand or refrigerate until firm -- remove from pan and hold the slab with a clean kitchen towel (to prevent the heat of your hands from melting it).
curl options: you can use the Y-shaped peeler, or a straight peeler (no middle blade) at an angle and shave down the narrow edge of the block to get long, tendril-curls (length depends on the length of the block). you can also use a metal bench scraper or a cheese shaver across the top of the block (pull towards yourself) to create "sheets" that can be folded and draped. whatever you do, chill your curls before placing on a cake -- larger folded or draping/wrapping pieces should be put on the cake directly, and then chilled (don't freeze chocolate for more than a minute or two, as too much condensation can build up and leave wet spots on the finish). 
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