Rainbow coloured chocolate curls

 

These awesome curls were made by layering Wilton candy melts up in a plastic container (allow each one to cool before adding the next colour). Once set pop out your block - and curl away with your vege peeler 

This was part of a recent candy melt/chocolate demo at Kiwicakes

How to make your own custom chocolate bars, to make your cakes really pop

 Making your own custom chocolate bars is quick, easy and fun! And they will really set your cakes apart from store bought chocolate bars.
The examples above use chocolate moulds from Kiwicakes . You can either use pre-coloured candy melts OR colour your own white chocolate using candy colour oil based colours or powder colour. (You cannot use gel paste or liquid food colouring, as this will cause your chocolate to seize and make it unsuable)

You can mould them with or without sprinkles. As a single colour or marbled. The choice is yours.

A finished bar weighs less than 100g, making them quite economic to make.

Bars like this are often referred to as "bark" this is the Wilton Happy Birthday Mould, you can find them in other seasonal designs (which are not always bar shaped - but do consider other shapes). Simply melt your coloured chocolate, spoon in to mould, tap on the bench for a good ten taps, to ensure any bubbles trapped are popped. Then lightly sprinkle over your sprinkle medley and allow to cool. They will release easily once set

To create the marble colour simply place your dominant colour in the mould first, then add small blobs of other colours, and stir gently (I use a lollipop stick to do this).Do NOT use your candy colour to do the marbling, as once removed from the mould, the swirls of colour can come off on your hands.

If you're after a traditional bar shape. And you want sprinkles on the side that would normally have the lines where you break the bar apart, take care to look at the example below.

You cannot add just a little sprinkles to the mould, if you do, you will get the result as shown in my photo. as the melted chocolate allows the sprinkles to move around.

You need to pack them right in there and fill it right up.

The bars can be bagged and given as a gift, just like thy are. When placing on a cake, I find they look best at differing heights. You can simply break off a piece of one bar, to make it shorter. It is important when placing on the cake, to cut a narrow aperture for the bar to be pushed in to. If oyu push down in to solid cake, you risk breaking the bar. 

These little bars make an affordable take home gift, from your party, and can be made to match the birthday cake.

Coloured Easter chocolate bark from Kiwicakes

I decided to make some chocolate bark using our Easter Sprinkle Medley. I couldn't decided between properly moulded bars of free form so I decided to try both. I melted some Wilton candy melts and half I spooned in to a bar slab mould and the other half I spread on parchment paper. Then I simply sprinkled over the medley mix and allowed to cool before removing from the mould or breaking in to pieces.

Any remaining candy melts can be simply spread on parchment paper, allowed too cool

Then broken in to pieces for remelting another day

I then packaged in to clear cello bags. These were super yummy to eat, the crunch from the sugar pearls and non pareils made it very enjoyable to eat.

By changing the style of sprinkle medley this would also be a fun idea for unicorn and butterfly parties, or even parties for adults. Which style do you like best?

Easter Bunny Cake fun tutorial from Kiwicakes

This cake was so much fun to make, and it made everyone smile that saw it.

I wanted to be a little different and use a white bunny, which I dusted with Rainbow Dust Pearl Blush Pink. You simply brush it on dry and it sticks beautifully. 

The cake was 6'' in diameter and is over 6'' high. I sandwiched the two layers together with millionaires caramel and then used Bakels white truffle to coat the cake. I went for a semi-naked cake look. I then added Rainbow Dust Caribbean Blue dust to more white truffle and mixed to form this lovely blue shade for the drip effect. I popped it in to a piping bag, first piping a ring around the outside and allowing it to drip. Once set, I then filled in the centre (if you cover the top and allow it to drip, you get too wide drips and too much dripping)

Before the truffle set, I sprinkled some Easter Sprinkle Medley around the rim of the cake - placing by hand some of the larger elements from the medley.

I couldn't decide at first on the final placement for my Easter plaque. In then end I placed it on the board.

I used some speckled candy eggs from the store, as well as dusting some plain white eggs (you can make these using this mould) with Rainbow Dust irridescent lilac fusion dust.

The shards were made by spreading melted Wilton candy melts on to baking paper and allowing to cool, then breaking up using my hands. Don't fret about waste, as any left over can simply be broken up for remelting another day

I used a sharp knife to cut a slit in the cake, then pushed the candy melt shards down in to the slit. It was certainly a quick cake to make, and a very effective finish with the help of some wonderful lustre powders and sprinkles.

Chocolate Buttons - quick & easy

These super cute chocolate buttons are quick to make as party favours. These use very little chocolate, so are quite economical too.

I used pre coloured Candy melts and this chocolate button mould. I printed a little "chocolate buttons" bag topper and sealed it using our Cake pop bags.

Moulding the candy melts or coloured chocolate is easy. Simply melt over a double boiler. Tap to remove air bubbles. Then chill for 1 min in freezer or 2 min in fridge then tap out. As they fall on the bench they sound like real buttons wobbling down. 

The mould has very thin cavities, so rather than filling each cavity, I simply poured some chocolate over the mould and spread it with a spatula.

They really look like real buttons - and I can't help but smile when I see them.

The Rocky Road to Easter - from Kiwicakes test kitchen

Today's treat is moreish Marshmallow Rocky Road. It has been Easter-shaped and packaged in clear bags set off with these limencello yellow styling tags. 

The star of the show in this simple recipie is limited edition marshmallow flavoured white candy melts. They are actually white! You could use regular white chocolate in its place, but it always has a creamier yellowish tone.

Once your 500g of candy melts have been melted over a double-boiler, let cool slightly before incorporating 200g mini marshmallows. Press into a lined sponge roll tin so the rocky road is between 1 and 2cm high then smooth the top. 

Sprinkle liberally with Yellow edible glitter for a real Easter feel. Do this while the mixture is still warm. Then transfer to the fridge briefly to set the chocolate.

Season your shaped cutters for easy release by wiping a little decorating cream around the inside. Here I am using the duck, basket, bunny and carrot cutters from the Easter Egg Cannister set of 10 shapes. Simply press down to create the desired shapes.

Here you can see how effective the really white white candy melts are against the coloured mallows and yellow edible glitter. How simple!

Here is a rocky road ducky packaged up ready for Easter giving. We also stock the cute little chicks pictured to accompany your Easter treats.

Green Chocolate Grass Cups for Easter - from Kiwicakes test kitchen

These cute little grass cups are a neat way to present little goodies or to give height to a plate. Perfect for an Easter surprise!

I melted a handful of vibrant green candy melts over a double-boiler then added a heaped teaspoon to the bases of regular pleated cupcake papers sitting inside a cupcake pan. Then I tapped it to coat the bottom evenly. I filled a disposable piping bag with some of the warmed chocolate (this is quite hot to handle so children may need assistance) and piped uneven-height spikes up the sides to create the grass effect. 

For the turquoise grass I used a mixture of green and white candy melts. I think both colour grasses look effective, so use whatever you have on hand. (Remember to keep some white melts to make your bunnies and easter figurines to sit inside).

Once cooled and set (refrigerate for 10 mins) the cupcake papers will peel easily away and leave you with funky grass cups to fill. I used mini-speckled eggs that are available in supermarkets at this time of year, but you could use jellybeans or other small lollies, too.

I also used our easter bunny variety chocolate mould to create simple bunnies to pop into the cups. Their whiter-than-white look is achieved with these limited edition white candy melts. 

Firstly, I turned a wee bit of the melted white chocolate to fluorescent pink. I simply stirred in 2 drops of fluoro colour with 5 drops of flo-coat (this is magic stuff!) to 1/8 cup melted white chocolate. I painted the pink bows and details in first, then topped up the moulds with the white melted chocolate.

Once the moulds are filled, tap them gently on a bench to release any air bubbles, then scrape the back of the moulds to remove any excess chocolate. They will pop out of their moulds easily after a quick visit to the fridge to harden.

There you have it - HAPPY EASTER people!

Chocolate Moulds Make Decorating Easy - from Kiwicakes test kitchen

Working this past year at Kiwicakes I've been amazed at the selection of literally hundreds of chocolate moulds available in NZ. They really are such a simple way to mass-produce technically perfect mini decorations. Some moulds even create stunning 3D objects. 

Some of my earlier blogs using chocolate moulds include snowflakes, surprise boxes, hairdressing set, lollipops and chocolate bars. Read up for tips on melting and setting.

These racing cars were made from black and blue candy melts. Imagine the delight on the faces of little people given one of these to eat!

These cowboy boots look quite different depending on whether you make them light with white candy melts or in a darker shade. They would make neat themed party cupcake toppers or on a farming or western style cake.

I painted accents on the moulded chocolate shapes using various shades of Metallic Food Paint. There are over 20 colours available in bright hues, such as spring green and royal blue.

Next time consider using moulded chocolate in your cake decorating project!