Hello again and welcome to chocolate week! In our 10th week of class we learnt about chocolate and creating chocolate decorations. By the end of the week we were to have a two tiered dummy cake with a chocolate topper. We started off by tempering chocolate using a process called table tempering. It involves spreading melted chocolate on a marble surface to cool it down before adding it to more melted chocolate. We then cast chocolate demi-spheres to build the cake topper on.

Here are some of the components we created for the cake topper. The butterfly wings were cast from dark chocolate. We spread tempered chocolate between bars to get an even thickness. Once the chocolate was partially set we cut the shape out with an exacto knife and left it to fully harden. We did the same with white chocolate to add details to the wings. The green leaves and stems were created using modelling chocolate made from cornstarch, cocoa butter and cocoa butter colour. We added everything to a food processor and blended it. Friction created from mixing melted the cocoa butter and the result was a stiff paste that could be moulded, but set very hard once it dried. 

In addition to working with chocolate all week we got to sample some of Chef's baking! He made us chocolate éclairs and pecan pie, both of which were delicious!

Another component of the topper was a white chocolate flower. The center was made by dipping a small chocolate sphere in melted chocolate and rolling it in yellow cocoa butter chunks to resemble pollen. We made the petals by dipping a pairing knife in white chocolate and pressing it onto an acetate strip. When you pulled the knife off it created the center vein. While the chocolate was still soft we placed the strips on formers to create the curve in the petals.

Here is a close up of what the flower looked like when it was completed. Unfortunately my flower got broken the night after I made it. I had to re-build it the next day. Thankfully I made a lot of extra petals so it didn't take too much longer. It just didn't look quite as nice as the first time I made it.

This is what the final cake looked like. It was awesome to learn more about chocolate and how to incorporate it into a cake design. Though I didn't take the whole cake home I did disassemble the topper so I could kept all the chocolate. I'm glad it wasn't made from milk chocolate or it would all be eaten by now! I don't really like dark chocolate so I will have a lot to bring home. Next week is sculpted cake and I can't wait to get started! As always, thanks for reading.

Happy baking,

Kayla