Garnish with Chocolate

garnish with chocolate

What good would a page full of garnishing ideas be if it didn't include ways to garnish with chocolate? After all, chocolate is a staple of life...isn't it???

Here are some wonderful ways to garnish with that heavenly treat:

Create chocolate curls and use them to top pies and cakes. Add them to the base of the cake plate for an added touch. To make, melt chocolate and pour in a very thin layer onto cookie sheet. Refrigerate for about 10 minutes, or until firm (but not hard). Use the tip of a metal spatula to "push and scrape" the chocolate to create a curl. Place the curls on a plate and refrigerate until firm and ready to use.
Grate chocolate and sprinkle it over your favorite dessert or coffee!
Drizzle melted chocolate or chocolate sauce on a plate before serving desserts and fruits. It makes it look irresistable!
Chocolate sticks look incredible dressing up pies and cakes! To make them, melt a square of white or semi-sweet chocolate, then brush into a strip on plastic wrap. Pleat the plastic wrap so that it wrinkles; refrigerate until firm. Pull the plastic wrap flat and the chocolate will break. Voila! You've got yourself some chocolate sticks!
For a super-fancy way to garnish with chocolate, create some chocolate designs! It's simple to do and VERY impressive!
Using a decorating bag and a small round tip (for those of you familiar with cake decorating, a size "3" tip is perfect for this), pipe melted chocolate into any design you want on wax paper.
Allow the design to cool completely, then remove with a sharp knife. Store the designs in layers separated by wax paper in an airtight container in a cool place.
Helpful Hint: Trace a picture of the design you want to create onto white paper with a black sharpie. Place the wax paper over top of the design and trace the design with the chocolate for flawless designs.
Swirled chocolate is another chocolate garnish that is practically effortless yet looks amazing. Add drops of melted chocolate in the pattern of your choice, then drag a toothpick through the drops to give it a "swirled" look. You can see an example of this on the pie plate in the picture above.