Abstract: Decorations are an integral aspect to creating cakes worthy of celebratory events. One example of cake decoration is the chocolate decal which employs melted chocolate to create designs. Once hardened, chocolate decals become simple yet beautiful forms of cake decoration capable of elevating a simple cake to higher standards.
Introduction:
Cakes in and of themselves have the potential to be sweet, delightful desserts. By the addition of decorations, a cake can be elevated beyond a simple dessert into a complex and fantastic confection. Decorations should not only create visual appeal, they should also add complementary textures and flavours. Several types of decorations exist which can be used alone or in conjunction with others.
The simplest form of decoration is the addition of fruits, berries, nuts, or other natural additives such as confectioner's sugar or coconut flesh. These decorations are the best for the at home chef with limited decoration knowledge. As long as the basic flavour profiles of the decorations agree with the cake, such pairings result in impressive, yet easy decorations. For example, strawberries on a pound cake would be successful whereas tomato upon almost any cake would not.
Icings are a perfect pairing for the above decoration category. Their application creates a tasty mortar for fruits and nuts. A basic icing of whipped cream can be created with ease, although they are not ideal for piped decorations. However more complex icings such as buttercream, Swiss meringue or ganache, can also be made which are for suitable for decorations. A Swiss meringue buttercream combines the sinful buttery-ness of a buttercream with the strength of whipped egg whites yielding an icing that is delicious yet more resilient to heat when hand piping. However icings must be handled through piping bags as they are too malleable for molding and prolonged skin contact.
When molding is necessary, fondant is one medium frequently used. Fondant is made mostly of sugar and water with additives to form a dough. The dough can then be rolled out to create a seamless, smooth cover or cut and molded into flowers, or small effigies. The professionalism that fondant lends the final product contributes to it's overwhelming use in wedding cakes and other professional cakes. When compared in the taste arena, fondant is drastically lacking and an be described as "gross" or "blegh." Luckily fondant uses buttercreams as an adherent so the fondant may be stripped away. But if a decoration must be removed, is there truly a point in using it?
This leads to the final category of chocolate and sugar decals. Chocolate and sugar can be melted down and poured, piped, or molded into the desired decorations. Final products can look stunning and professional if done properly and also gives texture to the finished cake. Such confections require experience and patience as the mediums can be highly finicky.
One type of chocolate decoration is the piped decal. Decals involve piping chocolate into designs onto wax paper and allowing them to harden. Multiple colors are easily introduced adding depth and character to the finished decals. The designs can be applied to cakes to create beauty and give the delicious crunch of chocolate when eaten.
The authors believe decals should be in the repertoire of any cake decorator. Chocolate is a flavour complementary to the majority of cakes that will also allow for a textural crunch upon consumption. With practice, incredibly detailed decorations can be made that will cause exclamations of "You made that?!" and "How did you make that?"
Materials and Methods:
Chocolate:
Bakers chocolates and candy melts can be employed. To melt, an appropriate amount of candy is placed in a microwave-safe bowl and heated on high for 10sec intervals. After each interval, the bowl is removed and the contents stirred until a homogenous, smooth, paste has formed.
Piping bags:
Piping bags can be purchased from decoration stores or built. The authors used wax paper to fabricate piping bags although parchment paper would serve well. A piece of wax paper is torn and cut into long triangles. The paper is then rolled into a cone with a fine tip and filled with candy. Once folded or twisted closed, the tip is trimmed to provide the appropriate diameter.
Discussion:
To begin the decal, it was essential to first select an appropriate design. As the authors were hosting a party to view Game of Thrones, sigils from the TV show were used. The authors selected Stark, Targaryen, and Baratheon. Stark was chosen on the basis that both authors are born "northerners" and that it is the most engaging and "awesome" house thus far. Targaryen was chosen because dragons as sigils are viewed as "bad ass." Lastly Baratheon was chosen to introduce the season's newest sigil in a tasty manner.
Once chosen, images of the sigils were searched on the world wide web and adjusted to the correct size by zooming in or out (Ctl+ or Ctl-). Paper was then placed over the computer monitor. This strategy converts a computer into a light box which is ideal for tracing images. While free-styling decal application is acceptable, tracing creates the most professional results.
If the image is achiral, which is to say symmetrical, the next step is unneccessary. However if the image is chiral, the following step is important in image continuity. Using a blank internet browser page as a white light box, the image was traced from one side of paper to the other. The correct side (that which was traced from the first tracing) was marked with an x to ensure the proper side was used. The decoration apparatus was assembled which consisted of a pan, or cutting board, the tracing taped down (correct side up), and wax paper taped on top. The apparatus must be flat, but also be able to be moved into a 4-8°C environment at need.
One colour at a time, the authors melted both dark chocolate (Baker's), and candy melts (Wilton). Candy melts consist of white chocolate with colouring and additives which make them melt uniformly and set as if tempered making them ideal. First, dark chocolate was used to pipe the outline of all three decals and fill in any portion that was darkly coloured. The piping tip was kept fine for the Targaryen sigil due to the intricacy but enlarged for the other sigils to speed up the process. The coloured candy melts were then melted one at a time and used to fill in any coloured panels. The authors only had access to red and white candy melts, so additional colours were created with Wilton icing colours. Between colours, the decal apparatus was placed in the fridge to allow for the chocolate to set. The finished decal was allowed to set at 4°C for 10min.
Once chilled, the decal was flipped over and the wax paper was gently peeled off to reveal the final design. The decal was set in the middle of the cake, which was iced with cream cheese frosting. Shredded coconut was used to decorate the sides and as a decorative border.
All three decals were very close replicas to the source material. The Targaryen decal was simplified because the original decal was highly detailed but the simplification did not detract from the final appearance. The Baratheon decal suffered from being chilled too long. By the time the orange colour was applied, the cooling had caused the chocolate to set and lift from the wax paper. Consequently the chocolate border was less defined and the orange colour leaked underneath.
Overall, the use of Baker's chocolate with candy melts was successful but the two substances were not 100% compatible. Further decals would be better made from only candy melts or only Baker's chocolate to avoid differences in temper and hardening. Colouring the candy melts was also an aspect in which improvements could be made. The icing colours used are water based and therefore an oil-based colour would have distributed more evenly into the melted candies.
The chocolate decals were well received by party goers. The authors found the decals to be delightful visuals and enjoyed the texture, especially when chilled. The finished decals brought a chorus of "You made those??" Which the authors enjoyed immensely. After considering the reward for minimal decorating effort, this technique proved to be well worth mastering.
Acknowledgements: The authors thank Louella Braganza for her generous contribution of candy melts. The authors also thank George R.R. Martin for the source material and HBO for artistic interpretation of the source material.
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