# Chocolate modeling paste



## kthull (Oct 9, 2002)

Hi all. My next area of exploration is to be white chocolate roses. 

Any tips for a newbie? I have plenty of diagrams, formulas, etc., but thought I'd ask the experts for some real world advice. 

Thanks!


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## momoreg (Mar 4, 2000)

The important thing to keep in mind is not to over-handle it. The oils will separate out of it, and it will eventually become crumbly. Over all, modeling chocolate is fairly easy to work with, and can be mixed 1:1 with fondant for a slightly different effect.


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## m brown (May 29, 1999)

m,
rolled fondant or fondant icing.
I love using a pasta machine to roll out the plastique!


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## kthull (Oct 9, 2002)

Thanks for the tip momoreg. Now I have a question about formulas. Most I've seen are primarily white chocolate and corn syrup. But Friberg's formula is cocoa butter, white chocolate, corn syrup and simple syrup.

Any advantages to either? I imagine Friberg's allows for more tweaking of the paste consistency.

Thanks!


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## momoreg (Mar 4, 2000)

I've only used the classic chocolate and corn syrup formula. If you do try both formulas, I'd like to hear what differences you notice.


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## isa (Apr 4, 2000)

Momo has a very good point, be sure to keep your chocolate paste, fairly cold, or the heat could slightly melt your roses, I learned that the hard way. Would be best to only work with a small amount and to refrigerate the leaves as you go.


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## spoons (Nov 10, 2000)

Here is what we used:

White Modeling Chocolate
13 oz. white couverture
3 oz. cocoa butter
4 oz. corn syrup,must weigh it
1/4 cup corn starch

melt chocolate over bain marie, stir til all lumps dissolve. Stir chocolate and corn syrup until almost mixed. Do not over stir.
When you see streaks of corn syrup, stop.
Then stir in corn starch.
Wrap in plastic wrap.
Knead when needed.

corn starch is great for a hot kitchen, used for modeling. adds more body.


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## w.debord (Mar 6, 2001)

I use just chocolate and cornsyrup and I haven't yet had any melting or shape lose. Works fine everytime. The only time it seperates (for me) is if you warm it too much in the micro. (Also don't over mix it when making it. Just barely mix together and let set)

Also, I like the purchased stuff for modeling when your not going to eat the item. They last forever (practically) in the bucket and are a bit firmer for shaping. 

There's a huge difference in taste between homemade and the bucket stuff.


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## beimagination (Mar 22, 2003)

Hi, I have been making chocolate roses for many years and the easiest recipe is one I found in a Wilton Cake book in the 80's. 

It is 8oz. of chocolate melts (those flat wafers - any colour will work, melted
and I can't remember if it is 1/4 Cup or 1/3 cup of warm corn syrup.

Stir it together and it is like magic... it becomes a moldable clay, chill to set. Works well at room temp. as long as the room isn't overly hot. You can make all kinds of things with it, not just roses. Great fun! 

Tina


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## anna w. (Nov 27, 2001)

I don't know how warm your hands are but if they are hot you could run into problems. Mine are thermo nuclear and I can not make intricate things like roses- too much handling. I can make white chocolate cigarettes and shapes but I still need to fill a cake pan with ice (or use those frozen kid pops that come in a tube and you can reuse them), cover with a sheet pan and work on the sheet pan. Using ice to cool down your hands from time to time will help also.


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## chrose (Nov 20, 2000)

I have made thousands of Roses (The Chocolate Rose) and after years of experimenting, I personally found for me the way to go is with Cocoa Barrys Chocolate Plastique. Granted it doesn't have the pure chocolate taste, but it does have Essence of Bitter Almond which gives it a Marzipan quality in taste. Some people like it, some don't but the product will hold forever. I have a Rose right now on my shelf that has been sitting there for 2 years and looks brand new. If you touch it, it has a pocelain like quality to it. It is semi fragile, but that's because it is totally dry.
5 seconds in the nuke is enough to get it to a pliable stage. It takes color great. I, like Anna W. have thermo nuclear hands also. So I use latex gloves and 10x sugar as a flour substitute to prevent sticking and I have no problem. You can't "glue" the pieces together with heat like with other products, but with a little extra manipulation in the right places they will stick enough to work.
I just got tired of making my own and found for bulk work, and even persoanl playing, this was the most economical and practical.


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## kthull (Oct 9, 2002)

Well, I finally got the time tonight to play around with my chocolate modeling paste. The first batch of white didn't turn out. It was all crumbly...guessing I overmixed it as you all had warned. The second batch, this one dark, took forever to firm up, so I had my doubts. But when I checked tonight (about four days after mixing it), it was nice and solid so I had to give it a go.

Not bad for my first rose. 

One question though. The whole batch has "bubbles" running through it. I use quotes because they aren't actual cavities as one would expect a bubble to make, but it's riddled with spots.

Should I have waited longer before wrapping it up? Or is something else the cause?


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## anna w. (Nov 27, 2001)

any possibility it might be bloom? Did you knead it thouroughly after it rested? These are the only two causes I can think of.


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## kthull (Oct 9, 2002)

Maybe, but it doesn't look like bloom I've seen before. And it's inside and out, like spots. Also, it didn't go away when I kneaded it to loosen it up, or while rolling it out for the petals.


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## momoreg (Mar 4, 2000)

Were they hard, as in pieces of fat that separated out?


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## kthull (Oct 9, 2002)

Not any harder than the paste itself.


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## headless chicken (Apr 28, 2003)

In class, we used equal parts melted couveture chocolate and glucose (which can be sub. with corn syrup).










This was the result, however, my theory teacher conflicts saying that the correct ratio was 2 parts chocolate to 1 part glucose 

I'd try them both if I was stocked in chocolate.


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## kthull (Oct 9, 2002)

I just wanted to thank everyone for their help in this and other threads. My son's cake was a HUGE hit. Everyone, including myself, was amazed that I made everything myself. Even better, it tasted great too. It's such a good feeling to see people coming back for seconds!

I'll post pictures after I download them from the camera.


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## kthull (Oct 9, 2002)

Ok, so here is the cake with a closeup of the roses.


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## anna w. (Nov 27, 2001)

Great Job!!!


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## w.debord (Mar 6, 2001)

Good Work Kevin! You did a great job on your painting!!


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## angrychef (Jan 15, 2001)

Wonderful job, Kthull! That really is a beautiful cake----pretty handwriting too!


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## m brown (May 29, 1999)

Beautiful Job!!!:bounce:


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## spoons (Nov 10, 2000)

gorgeous handwriting!!! nice roses.


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## kthull (Oct 9, 2002)

:blush: 

Thanks everyone. Coming from all of you, it means a lot. And I couldn't have done it without you.


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## isa (Apr 4, 2000)

Fabulous cake!!


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## chrose (Nov 20, 2000)

Kthull
Very pretty cake and roses. Writing was always my weak point. I could do a beautiful cake and ruin it because I can't letter for s...!
But again the roses are very delicate and nice. Keep up the practice. I knew I had a picture somewhere handy, this was one of my old pictures. All white chocolate made from the Cocoa Barry.
http://www.cheftalkcafe.com/forums/a...=&postid=45984


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## kthull (Oct 9, 2002)

chrose, those roses are amazing! I definitely enjoyed making the roses, although the white chocolate was much more subject to hot hands than the dark chocolate I first tried. That had it's pluses and minuses. I could get rid of any imperfections just by a quick touch.

How did you get the color mix into your roses? Did you paint it on or did you merge two different color bases when constructing your petals?

I got a gum paste kit the other day and your roses look a lot like those did in the picture. Such fun stuff!


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## chrose (Nov 20, 2000)

Kevin,
I used to do gum paste but I found it tedious and a pain, though I do like the way things come out so I did it when I had to.
I am working on a new PC system so all of a sudden I found many of my old pictures that are better than that one. I'll see if they're postable.
As I said, I use the Cocoa Barry Plastique and I make separate color bases with paste colors. Then I mix and match colors. Sometimes I will take a smear of color and just stretch it into the piese. There may be a pocket of color which is partially covered. The key is to make it look as natural as possible. That means mistakes, imperfections and color variations are encouraged. If you try too hard to make the perfect rose, it will show and look unnautural. So sometimes I would purposely overwork the edges so they became very soft and just tore away an edge for a more natural look.
If I can load the pics I'll show you what I mean.


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## kthull (Oct 9, 2002)

Very cool. I didn't have any luck posting pictures using the tool on the forum, so I had to put them up onto my own site and just put links here for people to see. (Finally gave me the impetus to really start working on my site too!)


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## chrose (Nov 20, 2000)

Kevin here is a link to some pics. These aren't the best pics of my work but you get the idea. I should scan pics of my cakes so I can put them online. Right now they're in regular old pictures which I don't have the negatives to.
But your cake is beautiful, much nicer than the invitation! Makes me wish I was doing them again! Too bad you don't live around here, I'd come work for you!

http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/chrose120...+rose+pictures


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## kthull (Oct 9, 2002)

Thanks for the extra photos...and compliments. You made me laugh when you said you'd come work for me. I wish! This is all a hobby until I can get the time/resources/guts to make it otherwise.


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