Writing Chocolate

[JeanneCake]

Every so often, I think I should buy writing chocolate .... why I don't know, because usually I throw a handful of chips in a small glass cup, and zap it for a few seconds, stir, pour into a cornetta and write. The advantage is that I always have chips (dark, milk, white) and I usually only write on cakes at the end of the week (Fridays and/or Saturday morning) so I don't have to worry about keeping the chocolate filled cornetta around. So I just got off the phone with my Swiss Chalet rep and he's telling me this is great stuff, softer, he'd love to send me some to try, etc, etc.

What do you all use to write messages on your cakes...? Do you use writing chocolate? Why or why not?

[chefpeon]

With some exceptions, I do all of my cake writing in chocolate.....either dark chocolate or white chocolate or colored white chocolate. I melt down chips or chopped chocolate whatever I have on hand, and add oil if I need to, to thin it down to the right consistency.

I've never really seen the need to have a separate "writing chocolate". I don't think it would make much of a difference to justify an added expense.

[JeanneCake]

I always have to add more oil to the white to get it to the right consistency; the dark sometimes doesn't even need any oil! And if I'm trying to color the white, it does get a little clumpy and I have to add more oil.

Yeah, I didn't think I needed to spend the $, but I wondered why it (a separate product) exists and what people who do use it think of it.

[ladyyoung98]

oddly enough ive never used chocolate for writing but it does sound fascinating...im going to have to give that a try..thanks ya'll

[chiantiglace]

Could you possibly use royal icing or buttercream instead?

And i have a question for chefpeon, how often do you use an airbrush for writing, if ever?

[Wendy DeBord]

If I recall correctly, writing chocolate requires the same handling as couveture. I don't want to temper something I'm using to write a quick message with. I use ganche if I need chocolate writing, otherwise I use frostings.

[Matsu]

A trick I learned from a Swiss pastry chef was to add a drop of water

to the melted chocolate in your piping bag and give it a quick stir. It sounds crazy but it really does the trick.

The chocolate is just the right consistency for writing and you don't need to

buy writing chocolate.

[lemon curd]

I used writing chocolate at cooking school, but haven't made much use of it since. The kind we used is made in Switzerland by a company called Felchilin and is called Scrivosa. It contains "sugar, cocoa powder, hardened peanut oil, emulsifier, and vanillin". You melt it to 40 deg C/ 104 deg F and as with chocolate you have to be careful that you don't get any water in it when you are melting it. The only benefit I found was that it was slightly easier to pipe due to its consistency (but this may be only true when you first start out). For the second part of our course we switched to tempering chocolate for writing and once you got used to the different consistency, I can't really see the benefit of using special writing chocolate (especially one that has peanut oil in it). A 2 lbs 12 oz container cost $28.10 CDN (two years ago).

[chefpeon]

Could you possibly use royal icing or buttercream instead?

And i have a question for chefpeon, how often do you use an airbrush for writing, if ever?

I've used every "medium" to write with.....royal, buttercream, chocolate, ganache, jellies, powdered color paint, and airbrush. My favorite is chocolate....I like how it flows, how smooth it is, and how it allows me to create with ease all the swirls and embellishments involved in fancy scriptwriting. However, what type of medium I use to write with depends on the cake I'm doing, where the writing is going, and what angle I'm writing at.

I've used an airbrush on a few occasions.....but don't like to generally, because even with the pressure set low and getting close to the work surface with the tip, there's a tiny bit of overspray,

and I don't like it. One time I did a cake that was a Mexican theme and there was a sarape that I'd made out of modeling chocolate laying over the top. I airbrushed the sarape pattern on, and I had to hide the inscription within the pattern, so I used an airbrush for the writing too.

Oh yeah, another reason that chocolate is my favorite for writing.......

if you make a mistake, it's really easy to fix! Once you realized you've accidentally written "Happy Birtday" (which for some reason, I do a lot), you stick the cake back in the fridge,

let your chocolate writing harden up, then bring it back out and gently stick the tip of a paring

knife under the letters you want to get rid of. They come up off the cake easily, and the

surface is hardly marred at all. Then you can re-do your writing and no one except you

knows that you goofed the first time. Of course, if you're writing on top of a ganache

covered cake, make sure the ganache is completely set up before you write on it, otherwise

that little fix doesn't work so well.

[chiantiglace]

Honestly, this is kind of my "specialty" so to speak when it comes to specialty cakes.

only 10% of the time i actually write on the cake. Usually i make 3d forms and designs that go with the cakes theme that has the writing soemwhere in it.

That's where the airbrush and acetate comes in for me. I'm sure everyone here can imagine what I would do with that.

[chefpeon]

That's where the airbrush and acetate comes in for me.

Acetate being your stencil and/or shield for overspray I assume?

You do cakes, chianti? Post some pics if you can! We'd love to see 'em!!!!!!

[chiantiglace]

Unfortunately have never take a picture of one of my cakes, call me dumb. I'm actually more professional at plated desserts, it's what i do.

The company I work for is opening up a gourmet shop and bakery in a few months in which I will more than like be making trait desserts for the area. When that comes around I will undoubtedly put a profile together for you.

Unfortunately they will not nearly be as beautiful as any of you ladies cakes, but I go for more of an abstract one time deal with mine so i never perfect a single cake.

[chefpeon]

Whether you do cakes or plated desserts or breads or danish or whatever it is.....man...you gotta take pics! Having a portfolio of my work....even stuff I considered run-of-the-mill basic items probably got me employment in a bigger way than my resume did. Plus it's a great way to look back at your work and see how far you've come.

Sometimes I'm too lazy and tired to take a pic.....but most of the time I do. It's worth it! If I lost my portfolio book I would absolutely freak out.

I think in a lot of ways you have way more room to create with a plated dessert than you do a cake. I wish I could do more plated desserts, but rarely have the opportunity! I hope you will take some pics of your desserts and share them with us!