How To ... make a chocolate collar for a cake

[karenandkarlz]

Hi

Quick question.  How long do you leave the chocolate before you put it on the cake. I had a go but think my chocolate was either to thick or not set enough as it ouzed up onto the cake. oops. Thanks

[hdblissbomb]

@karenandkarlz It really depnds on the weather. On a cold day you only need to leave it for a few minutes (5 minutes or so), but on a hot humid summer day, it can be a real problem getting it hard enough at room temperture to be able to put it around the cake. I recommend working in air conditioning if possible in summer.

[letto2103]

you really make it look so easy... i loved it! thanks so much for this tutorial =)

best wishes from Chile!

[hdblissbomb]

@letto2103 Thanks letto ... glad you enjoyed it. Happy New Year to you in Chile!

[Sharonbutler1000]

brilliant, Im going to have a goo tomorrow, many thanks

[hdblissbomb]

@Sharonbutler1000  Thanks Sharon. Hope yours comes out beautifully!

[Pakistan1stt]

wow very nice, looks easy ,but it needs a try.. would you please tell me, is this a normal chocolate or it has to be modeling chocolate ?

[hdblissbomb]

@Pakistan1stt Hi thanks for the comment. This is just normal cooking chocolate. If you give it a try, my tip is that it works best on a cold day. If you try it in summer or on a particularly hot day, I would recommend working in an air conditioned room if possible.

[halayamani]

Nice video! Haven't seen many video tutorials about chocolate collars so thanks for that! Quick question, was it easy to cut through the chocolate collar? Does it just break where you'r cutting?

Thanks again and great job!

[hdblissbomb]

@halayamani Thanks! I'm pretty sure I used a warm knife (dipped in hot water than quickly wiped dry) to cut the cake and had no probs with the collar breaking.

[pisnami96]

cool

[dpereztoral]

this is one of the best cake videos ive seen

just the cam.... wasnt great moving too much, but besides tha thanks a lot!

[hdblissbomb]

@dpereztoral Thanks! Yes, I don't have a proper video recorder - just my still camera, so it's not idea.

[psrjan]

It was very clear and easy steps to follow. THanks alot

Can you please let me know again what was that wrap paper that you used?

Thanks

[hdblissbomb]

@psrjan Hi, the paper I use is just baking paper - I think it is sometimes called parchment paper. You can also use acetate which is a strong but flexible plastic. Hope that helps you and I hope you give it a try.

[avic87]

es papel encerado? se ve espectacular el pastel...

[Praguecowgirl]

This is a wonderful technique. What a great addition this would also make to a groom's cake! Thank you for sharing!!

[hdblissbomb]

@Praguecowgirl Thank you for watching and for your kind comments.

[itsdeal]

WOW Amazing!!! Loved it, I am going to try this soon.. Thank you for sharing this.. :)

[hdblissbomb]

@itsdeal Thank you! I'm sure yours will turn out great!

[mentoring42]

Absolutely beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing.

[hdblissbomb]

@mentoring42 Thanks for your kind comment!

[kimbakiki]

Thanks so much for this tutorial video! You've made it look so easy and now I can't wait to try it out!

[hdblissbomb]

@kimbakiki Give it a try it's lots of fun. The only trouble I have ever had is if it's VERY hot, it can be difficult getting the chocolate to set sufficiently at room temperature to be able to pick it up and wrap it around the cake ... AIR CONDITIONING is what you need in that situation!

[kimbakiki]

@hdblissbomb I know what you mean about heat, I'm in Sydney & it gets steamy down here too at times. Thanks for the tip. I'm on a mission now to do one this weekend (God willing). I'll let you know how I go ;-)

[saki14duh]

wow :0



[Zarabakes]

i am not sure but do you think it would be better to do this with tempered chocolate to get the shiny chocolate look? But you are so good, i have never seen anyone do the chocolate sheets this way, they cost a fortune to get online. thanks for the tutorial, i will be using this with my cake orders.

[hdblissbomb]

@Zarabakes Thank you - give it a try because it works really well. Yes, you're right, it would be much better with the chocolate properly tempered (I just find that REALLY hard to do!! I should try again though!)

[annacakes79]

@hdblissbomb You don't have to use tempered chocolate to get it shiny. Just use a sheet of acetate. It pops right off once the chocolate is set. You must tape the overlap to get it to work, and when you release the tape, "SPRONG!" pops off, leaving it shiny!

[hdblissbomb]

@annacakes79 I will definitely try to find some acetate to try that!  Thanks!

[nomesy81]

@Zarabakes tempered choc would crack easier .. when its not tempered its more 'pliable' like clay.. sorta.. it doesn't dry firm straight away anyways.. i think i described that right ..

[nomesy81]

go us aussies.. we love our cake decorating

[hdblissbomb]

@nomesy81 Aussie Aussie Aussie!! Oi Oi Oii!!!

[LARAN1971]

Fabulous, can't wait to do it, I dare say mine may not be as neat as yours!!

[hdblissbomb]

@LARAN1971 Thank you! It usually works well .. I sometimes have problems in summer or when it's very humid and it takes a while for the chocolate to start to set ... but in winter it works great.

[ozdan72]

OMG!! You're a genious! What a great video! Im so excited to try this myself!!

[hdblissbomb]

@ozdan72 hahaha! genius might be a LITTLE bit of an exaggeration! ... but I'm glad you like the video - it's really quite easy and I hope yours works out great.

[mrsister]

the only problem is I'd eat the melts before they got to the microwave. Cool technique btw!

[hdblissbomb]

@mrsister yeah cocolate is my downfall too! Glad you liked the video.

[TheSecretaryEG]

this is a really helpful video, thank you :)

[hdblissbomb]

@TheSecretaryEG Thanks! I'm glad you liked it.

[TheSecretaryEG]

@hdblissbomb also a good trick I found was that I let the chocolate set too much and it was cracking when I tried to move it but a hairdryer on low speed/hot worked really well to melt the chocolate back to pliable again :) but regardless I did really find your video useful!

[vintakes]

wow, this is so cool! works great!!

[hdblissbomb]

@vintakes Thank you!

[Romena2308]

cute idea, but the camera was moving too much.

[hdblissbomb]

@Romena2308 Thanks! I'm going to ask Santa for a proper video recorder - might hae better luck with smooth videoing then!!

[max1morgan2]

Steady video is easy; just use your tripod. It seems to be the toughest thing for me to do because I'm so tempted to pick it up. You can get tripods for $10 at walmart. Thanks for the tutorial. :)

[whitluvspurple]

Okay I love the video and I tried this a few minutes ago. I don't know if it was the kind of chocolate I used or if I didn't temper it properly but it is not setting up. I used semi-sweet chocolate chips because I didn't want to make a grocery store run this morning. Any ideas what went wrong? The white chocolate set up just fine.

[oldbag699]

lovely !! u can cut the dome off the cake so it sits flat

anything with chocolate is great !!!!

i love the cootamundra wattle really lovely

gee that choccy looks red on the vid

can u put the collar on 1st b4 u ice the caake ?

[hdblissbomb]

Thanks! My dad like the wattle too! I think it's easier to ice the cake first because you need to ice the sides anyway to give the choc collar something to hold onto. Also, the collar sometimes ends up a bit taller than the cake ... so I imagine it might be a bit awkward to ice with the collar poking up there in the way - but you could give it a try.

[oldbag699]

im going to try tomorrow and see if i can do it either way lol

its a really love way to finish a cake ty

[VeryMetalChick]

Fab, thank you!

[hdblissbomb]

You're welcome!

[HeartEmoBoys]

ur camera is too shakey.. hurts my eye -.-

[hdblissbomb]

yes, it's very hard with just my small camera - I need to get a proper video recorder.

[choobers22]

@hdblissbomb it's not your camera... it's the person holding the camera... were you holding the camera too??

[raingiver]

Thanks so much for putting this up. It'll come in very useful!

[hdblissbomb]

I'm glad you enjoyed it and I hope you give it a try.

[maziiedaziie]

dont u get tempted to eat the lefr over chocolate or wat ever because i would

[hdblissbomb]

Ha ha! My little daughter ALWAYS hangs around to get the left over chocolate!

[jaspZam]

The answer to my prayers. I am going to try this for my nephew. THANK YOU!!!

[hdblissbomb]

Yah! I'm glad it was useful.

[Cookieanddough]

this made me reli hungry :D

[hdblissbomb]

lol...hope you didn't lick the screen!

[Cookieanddough]

i was tempted =]

[kimmmdawg]

hello, how long do you leave it to set? and how much chocolate did you have to melt and how long for? i need this for a school assessment.

[piperyendor]

That was amazing. I've never seen that technique before. Thanks soooo very much for sharing. I will definitely try this and let you know how it turns out. It will also help me when my rough edges are stubborn. Wonderful technique.

God Bless you for sharing.

[hdblissbomb]

thanks very much - I'm glad you liked it. I'll be posting a new video soon to show a new "toy" I got for chocolate collars!

[safabaig94]

wow..pretty cool..i guess u can smooth it out with a spatula dipped in hot water n wiped away..u can run that dry warm spatula over the chocolate to make it smooth..anyway..cool info!

[hdblissbomb]

Thanks - I'm glad you liked it!

[PurthePoohBear]

wow very informaitve tutorial, will try it soon.

[hdblissbomb]

thanks! The collars definately work better in cooler weather rather than when it's hot.

[azeboi2005]

this is awesome...i can't wait to try this.

[hdblissbomb]

Thanks Chris - do give it a go, because they're easy and they look really nice.

[cakelover89]

does it has to be buttercram can it be whipcream frosting

[hdblissbomb]

Hi cakelover. I'm not sure what whipcream frosting is, but I'm pretty sure it would work - the collar just needs something to help it stick to the cake.

[cakelover89]

i love it thanks

[hdblissbomb]

thanks cakelover!

[boanna]

can you frost the top after applying the collar? because i noticed that the collar was slightly taller than your actual cake....

[hdblissbomb]

Hi boanna. Yes, you could do the frosting on top after applying the collar, so long as you make the collar the exact height of the cake (or I guess otherwise unless you put a layer of frosting on top to bring it up level to the collar! Might be very sweet though!!)

I sometimes do the collar higher if I want to fill the top of the cake with berries etc.

I do often make the collar just slightly taller than the cake (like with this cake) - I just like that look.

[SLynneCorona]

Thanks for sharing. Can't wait to try this out. Came out sharp looking.

[hdblissbomb]

Thanks SLynne. Do give it a try!

[zwee]

I'm curious as to why the cake was left domed. Was there a specific reason (height needed, etc.) for leaving it domed rather than levelling the cake? I merely ask since I always used to leave my cakes domed (I didn't think there was any harm in them bring left that way) but then my decorating instructor harangued me for it so now I obsessively level all my cakes. BUUUT, I must add that I've never done chocolate collars before so there you go. :-)

[hdblissbomb]

If I'm doing a collar I don't level the cake because the collar will hide that. I prefer not to level cakes if possible because I hate the crumbs that causes. If the cake is very domed and I need to level it, I will, but then I would either tort it and put the cut side to the middle of the cake, or if I was using 2 cakes I would put the 2nd cake upside down, so the two levelled edges were together in the middle and I had the flat bottom as the top of the cake. Does that make sense?

[SadiyaDurrani]

wow that's really cool :) i bet u could have lots of fun with designs. is it hard to cut into when u cut the cake?

thanks for sharing!

[hdblissbomb]

Thanks Saniya. No, the collar is not really all that thick, so not too hard to cut. I think my sister ran the knife under hot water, so the choc melted slighted when the knife came in contact.

[00GypsyPrincess00]

Oh wow!! What a great tutorial!! Thanks so much!! I had never heard of this method before but it's beautiful and I so want to try it now!! :D

[hdblissbomb]

go for it Gypsy - it really is easy to do ... just don't do it on a day that is really hot or you'll have trouble getting the chocolate to set.

[00GypsyPrincess00]

Awesome, thanks so much, well it's really cold here still, we're in winter so it's all good!! :D thanks again girlie!!!

[RylanTy]

By the way, was that a heating core in the middle?

[hdblissbomb]

yes, it was an upside down rose nail. I saw that on someone else's video and I thought I'd give it a try. It didn't do any harm, but I don't think it was necessary.

[RylanTy]

Thank You =]

[RylanTy]

Thats awesome. I've never tried this on a square formation before. Just like what I said in the other comment, if you want the seams to dissapear you should try it. other than that its perfect.

[hdblissbomb]

Thank you Rylan!!

[hdblissbomb]

oh I'm really glad that worked for you!!

[thisuseridistaken]

ahh you do it whilst it's still tacky, I must have left mine too long because it was breaking and not very flexible. I'll have to have another try now!

[fairytalecakes]

great job!

[hdblissbomb]

Thanks fairytale!

[go4thus]

Great Idea! How long was the white chocolate in the microwave? How did you melt the dark chocolate, I have real difficulties not over doing or underdoing chocolate whenever I work with it :-( Thanks for the vid! Happy New Year!

[hdblissbomb]

Hi go4thus thanks for the comment. I melt the milk chocolate in the microwave. I give it 1 minute to start, then mix, then I give it 30 second bursts, mixing each time to check it. Same with the white choc - I find the white choc a bit more temperamental. The main thing is make sure it's a completely dry container & mixing utensil - don't let any water get into it or it's ruined! Good luck, it's really quite easy.

[go4thus]

Thank you! I melted the chocolate the way you said, it worked great! (I messed it up before by using a few drops of water :-( Thank you for your time and great video!!

[09165067633]

i have been dreaming to learn how to do this for the longest time!!! i dont even know if i have the guts to try it yet... but i have to give this a shot soon! love it and thanks for sharing !

[hdblissbomb]

Thanks Mayen - you'll have no problems with this. You can do whatever design you like with the white chocolate - freehand daisies look really cute.

[SeriousCakes]

Oh my, I wish I had seen this sooner! What an awesome idea!! I am going to have to give this a try, it looks soooooo cool!!

[hdblissbomb]

Thanks Serious! I did one last week with a plain white choc collar then white buttercream on top and pink and apricot roses as a Bon Voyage cake for a work friend. The white choc gave it a "pretty girly look" I though - sorry no pics - my camera won't let me download to my computer at the moment. Very annoying!!

[SeriousCakes]

Oh that sounds so cool!! *sigh* You can't say that you have pics but can't show them, that makes me want to see them even more!! :)

[hdblissbomb]

Hi again Serious, I just wanted to let you know I've just uploaded a photo video which includes a pic of the white choc collar cake

[prairiebutterfly]

That looks great! I think I am just too wobbly to do that. You writing is so perfect!

[hdblissbomb]

Thank you butterfly!! It just takes practice - I'm sure you could do it too.

[Blanchefloer]

I love this idea for a chocolate collar! I've always made 4 separate slabs to make a choc. collar, which is nice, but with this technique it's much easier if I want to do a round cake :)

May I just add that if you temper your chocolate first, it's gonna look much, really much nicer. The chocolate will be a little shiny instead of this mat effect with streaks.

[hdblissbomb]

Thanks Blanch. Which technique do you use for tempering chocolate? I've just been reading up on it and it sounds a little complicated? Do you add some solid chocolate to the melted chocolate?  I've seen a youtube vid where a chef was pouring the chocolate onto a marble board and pulling it back and forth - but I don't have a marble board to pour the chocolate - and would that method work in this instance where it would be going onto the parchment, even if you had the marble underneath?

[Blanchefloer]

It does take a little more work and time in the heating (the choc. thermometer is really handy but not a real must, with some trying you can get the hang of it by feel), but the effect really is worth it.

When you don't have the extra time for tempering, you can always use the nifty little trick off adding a little butter to your (microwave-) melted choc. It will not make the choc. snappy like tempered choc., but it will make it shiny and still harden more then enough to use as a collar.

[Blanchefloer]

Hmm, seem to have lost the first half of my response. In which I basically said that you don't need the marble slap; there's an easier way that will also enable you to carry on with your collar as usual.

Here's a link to a good instructional video on tempering chocolate.

...

I guess the link is stopping the post, so I'll send the link to you in an e-mail or private message or something like that.

[NREnger]

Thank you so much for sharing. I am making my friends wedding cake & her groom want cool/different chocolate cake. I think am going to do this one.

[hdblissbomb]

Thanks NRE. Wow, I've never done a wedding cake - good luck with that. I think a collar would be great for a wedding. You can do whatever design you want on the side.

[tamuky]

Oh my! I loved it and I'm looking forward to try it on my next halloween cake!

[hdblissbomb]

Thanks Tamuky. Give it a go, it's lots of fun.

[ellotreacle52]

wow this looks great!!

I can see myselfy dying the chocolate rainbow colours!!!

XX

[hdblissbomb]

Thanks ello. I did put yellow food colouring in the white chocolate to make it look sort of like the wattle flowers - but it didn't go quite as yellow as I thought it would.

[TammysCakes]

i think mimzy said it all!

I've always thought that you could only make a cake look smooth by covering it with fondant or being as expert as serious cakes with butter cream, but this is definatley a great alternative and i am definatley going to try it! we all love chocolate in my house so i might try and make a small cake soon and do a chocolate collar "tester"

Thanks so much for this extremley helpful video!!!

Tammy xxx

[hdblissbomb]

Thanks for your kind words Tammy! I did a collar once where I wrote Happy Birthday in white choc - you write the words in pencil on one side of the parchment, then turn it over, so you've got like mirror writing. Then you pipe the white chocolate in the mirror writing, so when you put the collar on, you've got the writing the correct way around. I'm glad you found the video helpful.

[mimzywhimzy]

wow - awesome!! I'm tot going to try this for my next family celebration - my family HATES fondant and I've been DYING for an alternative awesome-looking way to embellish the cakes I make for them. This is PERFECT and very easy to follow - Thank you for posting!!!

[hdblissbomb]

Thanks Mimzy!! I had my little girl helping by videoing me on my camera - it only videos about 2 minutes at a time(it's a photo camera, nota video camera), so I had to do each section, download to my computer, delete off the camera and then do the next section. It took forever!! I'm so glad you like it - makes me feel it was worth the effort!! I think with the seam that I overlapped a bit too much.