Chocolate Modelling

The cake decorating trend nowadays seem to gravitate towards using fondant. Fondant does provide a very pretty and vibrant look to cakes, and are especially popular in cakes for kids. Plus it can be easily stored and made in advance so there is less stress when it comes to assembly on the actual day.

Personally, I am not fond of the taste of fondant, so I was actively searching for alternatives and came across chocolate modelling. This is an easy and tastier tool for decoration. Similarly, it can be made in advance and store well in the fridge. I used a mix of milk, white and flavoured (strawberry, orange) chocolate to get the colours. There are some websites that suggest the chocolate can be coloured using powdered or oil-based food colouring so I think I will try that next time.

Ingredients
200g chocolate
1/3 cup light corn syrup (eg. Karo)
Cling wrap
Icing sugar for kneading

Steps
1. Chop the chocolate roughly into 2cm square blocks
2. Heat the chocolate in the microwave at 50 percent power for a minute
3. Stir the chocolate. If it's not melted, heat it again for 30 seconds, keep repeating until all the chocolate is melted.
4. Add the corn syrup one tablespoon at a time and stir. Keep adding and stirring until it forms a thick ball. You may need to adjust the amount of corn syrup depending on the chocolate used.
5. Pour the mixture onto cling wrap and spread it with a spatula to about 5cm thickness. Wrap it up and put it in the fridge until it hardens.
6. When you are ready to use the chocolate, take it out of the fridge and break it into small portions. Spread some icing sugar on your hands and on the counter, knead the chocolate with your hands until soft and pliable. The warmth of your hands should help to melt the chocolate for easy kneading. If it's too hard, place it in the microwave and heat it again at 50 percent power for 30 seconds.

The chocolate dough and completed model can be stored in an airtight container for a month.



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