Lessons

Lesson Info

Basic Shapes of Chocolate Modeling

I've got what nine leaves? I might use them all. I might not. I might wish I had another one. Not gonna worry about it just gonna be you know, if I was doing a big cake and I had lots of the palm trees around, then I'd be making a lot more leads. But for what we're doing here in class, this is good don't even want orange. It was yellow, I wanted good. That was hard. So now what I'm doing while they're still working on their leaves is I'm softening or trying to soften up some yellow so I can make a flower this flower is so simple to make and yet looks so impressive and it is really awesome in a number of colors. Um if in the fall if you make it beautiful burgundies and dark oranges like this kind of orange um, if you you know the yellows, thie, gold's, all that kind of step looks awesome in the summer time if you do it in soft pinks and whites and lavenders, it looks like a summer flower. It's just one of those flowers that you can kind of use all over the place now, did you guys notice...

that I still have some green left, I didn't destroy it, I'm just letting it sit because of the nature nature of modeling chat chocolate I do not have to keep it covered or worry about it drying out or any of that it's going to be fine well it just sits there okay I got my how you guys doing over there you guys can need some color into your chocolate if you want if you're up for it that should be the question do you feel strong enoughto this might truly be the reason why I don't I enjoy working with the modeling chocolate is much because you really have to work with so hard and I guess I'm lazy I don't think of myself as lazy but when I'm avoiding something because I have to work at it so hard maybe I am ok I've got to dust the top of that surface when you're rolling pin sticks like that this little rolling pin that I'm using is actually a tool it's gotta sharpen and a smooth then and it is a cell tool um it's a product out of england england produces some of the world's finest cake decorating supplies eso does south africa and australia they're really high end on their tools and this's like I said a cell pin or sell tool and it's spelt ceo just like that it's a little bit pricey but if you're loving this it's good to get the right tools if you're just doing it occasionally don't bother ok so now for this particular flower, I'm going to use um a teardrop cutter or also known as a leaf or a pedal cutter like the big ones, but I'm going to use this one because this is sharp on the back side as well as it's got the little variegated edge on the other side and you want about twenty pedals. I should also tell you that it's very likely that after I get done working on this piece of plastic that I used for my fund and I may not I want to use it again for funding it will probably have the cuts in it that will cause me issues with funding, especially for somebody's wedding cake you know there is nothing worse and making a bright angry don't don't do that. Yeah, I have been pretty good about not doing that over time, but I've heard some really bad stories raising you would like to know does dusting with powdered sugar make the chocolate even sweeter? Yes, a little bit and for some reason the powdered sugar works better with the chocolate than the corn starch does. The concert just isn't working it becomes quite a mess and distasteful so you're not destroying the flavor of your chocolate too much and we have two questions one from blue asking about the proportions of corn syrup to use with the dark chocolate and then also a question from chastity wanted to know where do you buy the molding chocolate or did you make your own but funny enough with purchase we have your recipe for making your very own moulding chocolate right correct and you can purchase it um mike uh oh can't member mike's last name he's with him he's amazing cakes and he sells model premade modeling chocolate I have no idea what he his prices are mike from amazing cakes and he's very famous he does a lot of his work in modeling chocolate so you can see the caliber of things that can be created mike mccarthy thank you yes and you know what I think of modeling chocolate I think of creating things like uh I think of things like cars and uh boats and purses and dinosaurs and fish um things like that with modeling chocolate course you could do those things and fund it also but the cool thing about the modeling chocolate again is the fact that it is chocolate so what I'm going for is about twenty twenty two pedals here I counted real quick and now lost count to four and if I make a few extra it's okay now if you were doing lots and lots and lots of these type of flowers my suggestion is on the back of your cutter if you put a piece of like masking tape around the edge so you can push down every time otherwise if you're doing a lot of these cuts pretty soon, your hands will hurt, and you will not be able to do it because these cutters are pretty sharp and something as simple as a teardrop. You can almost make your own if you need to. If you're in an area where you don't have access to things, do we know if we have people listening in from places that are far removed? Check it up, okay? We usually do every pretty much every day. When I started this years ago, we didn't have all the tools and the companies and the supplies we literally had to come up with our own things, so if I sound like I'm a little chief fortune z or weird or something like that, just know that it's because for years we didn't have anything. Um, I've been around long enough that I remember when thea decorating tips three fifty two was called the new leaf tip, and that has got to have been there at least thirty years ago were still calling it the new leaf tip, okay, I want to arrange my little tears drop so that they're all in this direction because I want to dust the end of them way move some stuff out of the way, one of the things that is a shift you're supposed to do is keep your work area clean. I have a hard time with that apparently have a tendency to go this so we have people chime in in from all over lucinda okay we got mexico and lot of cakes is coming from new york so definitely a global audience as usual to all folks were asking about your your fingernails do they ever get in the way of like I'm doing this kind of art because yes I say scratches and such and um as a shift you're not supposed to have fingernails so I've worked for a number of years without them but I like my fingernails and uh when I'm in front of the camera I think it makes me look more like a girl and truthfully there are a lot of decorators out there that have nails much longer than mine you don't use the tips you use your pads so they shouldn't be an issue and I'll be real honest with you guys my plan was to go and get my nails done and having shorter because I don't like him this long but that time that it just didn't work out some days you're happy to be here okay now then I am using a powdered color and this color is hot magenta because it's bright and festive I like it with the yellow and I'm just brushing it on I'm using a flat brush because I'm getting the edge if I wanted it to be a softer if I was say adding color to this area here and I wanted it to be a soft variegated color going out I'd use around brush not a flat brush do that we've got heavy does it matter it's gonna look cool oh I see color mixed in over there for the students ok I've got just about all these pedals colored put the lid back on so we don't sneeze or trip and blow that color all over clean a booth going tick I'm going to create this flower on this cardboard foil covered let's get a little wad of our yellow let's get it softened warmed up are you guys doing? You're so quiet I really want this warm so it gets sticky and I've done like what is that a good size marble or a good size gumball or ok and I'm gonna flatten it out you can see how soft that is now right and then let some not going to put it dead center I want to put it off to the side a little bit and then what I'm going to do for my pedals yes I'm going to pinch the end I gave that one a twist I really don't want to just keep him flat this find force of habit pinching, twist pension twist and you'll notice I'm not really having to do any liquid to keep them pinched now if you are having problems with its sticking you can warm it by rubbing it with your hand and that will help him stick and you can also use a little corn, sir but I did not even bring corn, sir I mean that's how rarely it's needed listen charlie would like to know what is the colored powder called and it's edible right? It is edible it's called dusting destin colors and this is um it's it is non toxic and it's this one's from harlan come harlequin colors all kinds of companies produce it it's readily available and your finer higher and stores it's also available online and I like using colors I like buying colors and using colors that are bright and strong because you confine him down with your pearl dust and that gives it a shimmer or aiken thin it down with corn starch if I fed him down with corn starch within him out with corn starch that gives a translucent kind of look when I pull him to my flowers and work if I fit it down with white pedal dust pedal dust is the name umm then it's more opaque and then there's also um now that I'm on the spot I want bill to remember there's pedal dust and then there's um pearl dust and the pearl desk colors are very, very delicate generally speaking, they're not as vibrant and strong and there's some colors out there you just like and you use but there's others out there that are kind of wasted your time and money. So and you can mix any of these dustin colors or pedal colors with a pearl dust. So if you have a super pearl and you could mix it with anything and sometimes you don't want to shimmer on everything sometimes you just want to have it be nice. Yes, working. I miss that little dab on the board there the centerpieces up. Oh, this little chunk it's. Just a little chunk and I'm gonna have to redo it because I did it before I had folded my pedal, so I'll do it again. Okay? You're fine. I put my cart before my horse. You know, if you guys ever done that. Yeah, yeah. So what I want to do is I want to fold all my little pedals here and let them start to set up. Ok, so I've got those old done. And then it was asked about this, which is on there it's still sticky, but not sticky enough for what I wanted to do on the other side. So let's, work it let's, warm it up again, okay, now you're watching you ready? Okay, so now what? I just have it and I'm just gonna warm it this is a good way to warm it kind of get your hands and then I see out to get greasy and warmed and then at this point I just want to give it a little flat and I want to make it round because I'm going to kind of follow that for making my flower and I'm just going to attach it to my board and now once I have it like that, are you guys ready? Ok, here's, how hard this flowers? I'm going to just start attaching the pedals and let me move this over here so one I'm not reaching and to show the cameras you can maybe see what I'm doing, okay? And I'm just going to isn't this difficult it's beautiful but it's so simple. If you were teaching small children, this would be a good one to teach them and then the next row, I'm just going to touch it and again, I'm just kind of pushing it into that soft san charlie would like to know if the tells that you're using tow wipe with are those dry or those how do you prep those? My tells are wet and they were with hot water? They're not hot any longer, but um so I can wash the sticky off of me and they're wrung out really well because if they're too sopping wet than my hands or to wit then I would need to wipe on my apron or my pants now that she said that I'm like I got a white hands can that axe layer so can you see how this would work as such a good fall type of flower looks like unloved isn't it checking those last and then let's take out one of our what? Use a tour okay, let's, leave that there for just a moment you can see wade was a lot of work, so lot of cakes is a little confused and maybe some other folks the difference between the dusting powder and the protest pearl desk is your your destiny it's the one that's made out of the ground oyster shell so it's actually a pearl has a shimmer to it. The dusting colors are matt, they're more pigment and then you can mix color with the pearl death so I can take my pigment and mix it with the pearl dust to give it a colored pearl dust and you could buy it premade or you can do it yourself. I'm a d I y person and I've got to get over that aggressive gotta learn to hire people um the difference between the dusting powder or that the pedal, the pedal colors and then the pearl dust is that your pearls don't have as much pigmentation they don't have as much um to them as um your perch as the pedal justice so the pedal desk has got more color it's more pigment most of your pigments and pearled and pedal dust that you buy they've already thinned it down at the manufacturing stage there's a few places out there that do not dilute their pedal dust dawn's taking candy supply is one of those she sells it one hundred percent which if you're used to working with anything that's been deluded and then you buy it one hundred percent you're kind of like whoa now what do I dio but um it if you get used to it works really well I'll give you an example I got a container and you can see the containers I mean this is how much this is how much product you're looking at is these little containers so you're only looking at like maybe two or three grams I'm sure ten million ten no leaders is with its called so it's just very, very small amount pigment so I bought one that was a red too thin it down to make pink for a class that I had that had twenty five students by the time I got my rid thin down enough to be a pink for twenty five students and I was using corn starch I had a jar a mayonnaise jar this big it really goes home way so um that's why I like to buy the darker colors and then I can mix it with corn starch or white and I can get them softer more pastel colors um I have a little more control it's that being the boss thing again so did that help yeah okay okay so I also left my green out and so what I'm going to do is I'm going teo and I'm rather than using thiss cutter that I used for my palm tree I'm going to go ahead and use this other cutter that has a little irrigation a little zigzag and I want to do at least three or five leaves I don't want to do too I wanted you three or five odd numbers just work better design wise design wise the other trick you can use is I think in terms of triangle so when I go to arrange my leaves if I have it be visually in a triangle it's more effective than if I just stick him in four places and I'm going to go back to my banner that started the end pull it out go ahead and add some little veins I can even thin the edges on this so it has a little more leafy looked to it see how I did that and when I thin the edges I just pinched it between my finger and thumbs give that into twist let some yeah let's go this direction on this leaf I want to set it there and let it set up for just a moment then let's go ahead and do the rest so if I don't thin the edges you can see how it's got kind of a little more cartoony look where's if I go in and kind of pinch those edges and thin it it gives it a more leafy realistic look it's not totally realistic we can do that and some of our shows your judges air judgy not only on the quality that you've done but they're judging on the accuracy of the actual leaves and pedals and stay mons and all the rest of it so they've got their little books out with the actual flowers and leaves how you guys doing over there? You're just so quiet I'm so worried about you and you majors peach how fun really it does look at that yeah I love doing leaves I think you can hide a multitude of sins with leaves throws a photo I would like to know how do you make the statement ends? Um you can literally just take a piece of your candy clay and it would be a small piece and then just kind of roll it create I would I would create a little tear drop and then let it let it set up a little bit do a few of them and you'll notice I didn't really add a statement to this one I'm just kind of letting it go you could also use a little petal cutter and make a pedal um or little star cutter I didn't put on the list of supplies a lot of tools like that because part of my feeling is is that if you're just learning how to do this and you've got this huge lift of supplies that you go out and purchase and you know yeah that was ok but and I'm not really crazy battered I'm not going to spend any more time then what's the purpose I mean I think you need to discover if this is something you're going to enjoy before you go out and buy a bunch of stuff um if you're only doing this say once or twice a year for your husband and a child or something you don't need to go buy all this stuff you can create a lot of it yourself it's part of it is get creative part of it is think outside of the box um and you could make it work okay, so does that help? I feel like I kind of rushed through them okay so now that I have my leaves made and I'm going to kind of I checked them in in between the pedals and make it look like it's part of the flower and oh let me show you a trick to make it look like part of the flower let's go back to this pink and if I take my brush under, you have to put the color on if I take my brush and I had just a touch of pink onto the edge of those leaves two things one it helps emphasize those edges and to when I go to put it in with the flower it looks like it belongs because in nature your colors from the flower are in the leaves even if it isn't growing there it has a tendency to be reflected from the petals from the sunlight so I should do I should put one in so you can see one without I'll put that here and then let's put in a couple with it and you can see the difference remember I told you I was going for a triangular look so I'm going to put two pedals here I can have one here and then I'll put two more on top can you see the difference of adding that pink how it makes it look like it belongs as opposed to is just something that's hanging out there as a third wheel so now that's driving me crazy I have to fix it and our last leaf okay fulla now again I'm going to say, can you not picture this in the fall and burgundies and the bright oranges and just have some good color going on. This is pretty bright and cheerful too with that hot magenta have a gentle sounds like a dance can I come over and look at yours? You guys ready to have me take a peek? You're not going to throw your arms up and hide him. Oh, I like the variegated color that's. Nice. And then how does it just kind of just kind of lifted up? I'm just kind of poking a leaf. There you go. Nope. That one's I'm gonna part plan b. There you go. There you go. Very nice. There you go. Okay? And yours does look like a water lily. That is fun. That is great. Or you could also have it be one of those succulent. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Looks good. Oh, and look atyou looks good and she just use a little ball cocoa butter for not cocoa butter, but modeling chocolate for the center. Clever. Good job. I like it and you guys could all roll a little thinner if you have the strength. Ok, so a couple questions for you. Okay. Um, a si m eighty three would like to know, did you ever use egg whites toe hold together by not not on modeling chocolate you don't want to mix water with your modeling chocolate what you want to do if you need something to stick together one if you need to stick together warm up some modeling chocolate and make that your glue or the other thing that you can use this the carroll sir great and then raise angel would like to know how do you know how many petals of flower needs? I usually know that it's about twenty depending on the size so if you kind of plan on twenty and if you need to make more you could make more cool and frozen photo would like to know does the chocolate hold up well when you build up a topper for a cake or does it bend in time it kind of holds up if you give it a chance if you give it a chance to set up and sit for a while if you create it and put it right on the cake you could have issues give yourself time to set it up and when I say time to set up I mean like let it sit for three days um give it a little chance toe to do what it needs to do cool and be magna would like to know how long will the chocolate last without going bad um chocolate will turn rancid I believe it's about a year so depending on how long it was sitting in your door shelf. Before you got it, then you play with it. I would plan on about six months. Yeah, yes, and chocolate goes rancid, and you can tell it's bad.