chocolate bands for cakes

[devlin]

Alice Medrich recommends using a strip of ribbed, plastic shelf liner to spread chocolate over to get a smooth band of chocolate to wrap around a chocolate cake, and says you can get the stuff at any housewares store. I'm not having any luck, though.

Any suggestions? And is this what she's actually talking about?

[chefpeon]

That shelf liner you referenced is probably what she's talking about. You could get that, or just

use acetate strips designed just for that purpose.......

You can get them here.....in lots of sizes!

Kerekes

[devlin]

That shelf liner you referenced is probably what she's talking about. You could get that, or just

use acetate strips designed just for that purpose.......

You can get them here.....in lots of sizes!

Kerekes

←

You're my new hero. Thanks!

[reenicake]

You can also use freezer paper. Acetate will give you high shine, almost "new car like," but freezer paper or the shelf liner give a shiny appearance as well as long as your chocolate is not overheated/very out of temper.. All three can be reused several times.

[alanamoana]

Alice Medrich recommends using a strip of ribbed, plastic shelf liner to spread chocolate over to get a smooth band of chocolate to wrap around a chocolate cake, and says you can get the stuff at any housewares store. I'm not having any luck, though.

Any suggestions? And is this what she's actually talking about?

←

one of the neat things about the shelf liner or other textured, food-safe plastics (including, of course, texture sheets), is that you get that nice pattern on the chocolate. this can sometimes help if your chocolate isn't perfectly tempered as the pattern distracts from the imperfections in the chocolate. with acetate, you really do have to have it perfect or else it is glaringly obvious when there's a mistake of course, you can always use transfer sheets...

[devlin]

Thank you all for your responses. It's all useful and helpful. I'm only just now starting to explore baking cakes using chocolate, and it's really foreign territory for me. While the flavor combinations and textures are crucial, I do like a pretty presentation, and so I'm tryng to find the best resources and methods I can.