pretty chocolate shard cake

pretty chocolate shard cake
pretty chocolate shard cake

Usually I never stray away from fondant. It’s what I have been trying to get right for the 18mths Ive been a cake decorator but when the groom said he just hated the stuff and really wanted chocolate i though what the heck ill give it a go. Like all new techniques I haven’t tried I tired to find a youtube tutorial or something to steer me in the right direction but when I couldnt find anything it came down to good old winging it lol.

I was so pleased with how my shards turned out. I mean really freaking pleased haha. I tempered my chocolate and when I broke a piece and I heard that good old snap I nearly jumped for joy lol.

When I got back to the venue and the girls were putting the fresh flowers on and I got to see and photograph the finished product I was sooo happy with it big smiles :-) x

Tina, Australia, http://www.facebook.com/SweetTandCake

17 Comments

Thanks so much Michal, Jo and Sarah :-)

Tina, Australia, http://www.facebook.com/SweetTandCake

This is so gorgeous! I love how unique it is. The chocolate panels are absolutely perfect!! Would you be able to share how you achieved such perfection?

Toni, Pennsylvania, https://www.facebook.com/WhiteCraftyCakes

Thank you sooo much Toni and yes of course i can share.
You have to remember though this is the first time i made them and i had no idea if i was doing it right haha, but it worked :-).

I covered my huge cake boards (i used 14 inch sqaure as that was the biggest i had) in glad bake/ wax paper and once I tempered my chocolate I poured the chocolate onto the wax paper covered board and spread it out with my crank handle spatula quickly. once I had it to how think I wanted it I picked up the whole board and shook it lol. Shaking it got rid of any lines I made with my spatula and literally left a gorgeous smooth surface. I had 4 board going at once to get a lot of the done at one time :-). i used 8 boards of chocolate on this cake but had a bout 12 shards left incase of breakages but i had no breakages. My mother in law looked at me like i was crazy when i told her how i was going to do it but the time we finished though she thought it was genius lol. you can just do it on a bench but you can pick your bench up and wobble it to get your chocolate super smooth with no lines, an expert can get it smooth with a spatula but that aint me lol.
To get the chocolate shards perfectly cut you have to cut them while the chocolate isnt perfectly set. It has to be hard but not set snap hard. Its a fine line as temperered chocolate sets quickly but when you go to cut it you know if its ready as you will be able to pick your shard up and it will still have some flex in it. If it is set hard it will just crack and break when you try and cut it. Im no chocolatier haha but i hope that helps :-) xx

Tina, Australia, http://www.facebook.com/SweetTandCake