"Cheese" to go with my chocolate mice

[TrishCT]

Hi all, for a banquet for my daughter's drum corps, I am making chocolate mice....

Not the pastry kind.... These mice are a simple confection made from a hershey's kiss (for the face and snout) and a long-stemmed cherry dipped in chocolate (for the back and tail), with two little slivered almonds for ears, and little dots of red icing for eyes.

I have decided I would like to serve these mice on a platter with trompe l'oeil "cheese wedges." My original thought was to make a couple round pans of brownies.... Cut them into little triangles (like Steve and Dan did on their Food Network series Partyline, of course I forget exactly how they did it but the triangles were small and perfect.)

Then I thought of coating the brownie wedges with something like a glistening soft fondant, tinted yellow.

Does this work? Does anyone have any other thoughts for either the base or icing? Does anyone have a simple recipe for a fondant or icing that will take coloring and look shiny? Any other alternatives? Whatever help or advice offered is appreciated.

Also does anyone know the cutting technique from Partyline? Basically you cut a round pan of brownies into eight wedges, then you cut the tip of a wedge...that's one triangle.... then you cut the rest of the wedge in a way so it makes more triangles... but I forget exactly how they did it.

Thanks!

[Rachel Perlow]

I was thinking triangular shaped petit-fours would be perfect. Pouring over the white (tinted?) glaze would be easier than fondant. Or, you could just go with triangles of white chocolate, that creamy color looks just like a white cheese.

[Wendy DeBord]

I did similar once..........I made flourless chocolate cake then put slices of ganache 'cheese' to cover the top. For the cheese/ganache I used melted white chocolate and just added a little heavy ceam to keep it from returning to a solid chocolate once it chilled.

So I poured the thick ganache into a sprayed and lined cake pan the same diameter as my flourless cake. Let it set up a bit, then with varying sized round cookie cutters cut out circles to represent swiss cheese. Then when it was almost set I inverted it out of the pan and placed it on my flourless cake....and cut the whole thing into wedges...........placed my mice on it, etc...

[chezcherie]

marzipan would be quick and cute.

[ludja]

Would litttle wedges of cheesecake also work?

It might be easier to implement with one of the other ideas posted above, but swiss cheese 'holes' or 'indentations' might add a nice effect.

Taste-wise, I'd prefer the non-chocolate ideas as a partner for the chocolate mice if one of those options work.

Cute idea! It would be fun to see a photo of the end result.

[mizducky]

I'm not much of a baker, but what if you started with "blondies" rather than brownies? Or some other kind of non-chocolate (butterscotch? shortbread?) bar-type baked good? Then the item would already be close enough to cheese color that you'd have less trouble camoflaging it with a lighter-colored frosting/glaze/etc.

[amccomb]

What about using homemade marshmallows?

[chocartist]

I serve my chocolate mice on slices of white chocolate "Swiss cheese." Nothing could be simpler: temper white chocolate, spread it on a wax paper surface, set aside until barely dry to the touch, cut holes using small round cutters, and then cut individual slices. (See page 111 in my book, The Art of Chocolate.

[srhcb]

I'll bet Chocolate Mice would love Velveeta Fudge!

It's discussed on a recent eG Thread.

SB (resisting using the old Mice en Place joke)

[McAuliflower]

I'll bet Chocolate Mice would love Velveeta Fudge!

It's discussed on a recent eG Thread.

SB (resisting using the old Mice en Place joke)

←

Ouch, nice velvetta mention!

Making fudge with white chocolate works really well for color application. I've made a rainbow of fudge colors this way.

[TrishCT]

Great ideas!!! I have a lot to choose from, I'll let you know in another week what we did, hopefully will have pix.

Mice en place....

[TrishCT]

Thank you for all the wonderful suggestions. Because of time constraints I ended up using Ludja's suggestion, cutting little triangles of cheesecake to go with the mice. I attempted to cut holes in the cheesecake with a melonballer and knife, but neither worked well, so I just left the cheesecake sliced as is.

This was a huge hit. Kids really loved it, adults found it very amusing. I also made Rachel Perlow's famous Rainbow Ribbon Mold which I will post on a separate thread.

This picture...eh...I'll see if my daughter took a better one... She may have one of an individual mouse....

Mice encircling cheese...

[Eden]

(edited the img link)

these are SO cute!

[srhcb]

WOW!

Neat!

SB

[ludja]

Glad it came out well, and thanks for posting the photo!