Chocolate Transfers

[cupcakeshoppe]

Can i use baking chocolate? chocolate chips? i don't think we have candy melts here. just what are candy melts anyway?

also can i use white choco and use my americolor gels for color?

[2sdae]

if you use the gel colors you have to add flo coat to your chocolate or the water content in the colors will cause it to seize or become a lump of yuck.
Powdered or oil based colors are what you would use to color it. If using real chocolate I am not sure if you would have to temper it but I believe so. Candy melts are wiltons version of the merkens coating disks. Not real chocolate but similar to white chocolate and come in colors too.
Merckens Coated Wafers

[cupcakeshoppe]

are the candy melts or merckens available in grocery stores? i just might ask for those instead of chocolates i can eat LOL

[2sdae]

michaels has them, and cake and candy stores usually sell them. But regular grocers dont usually.

[cupcakeshoppe]

ooohhh! there's a Michaels Store 12 minutes away from him. I love google maps!

[2sdae]

and if you sign up for it they'll send you their online circular so you could tell him when to go buy them when they are on sale too!
Not to mention they'll send out 40 to 50 % coupons a lot too in the local papers he can get.

[Ironbaker]

I've used regular chocolate and melts - both work fine! Transfers are fun once you get the hang of it.

[cupcakeshoppe]

by regular chocolate what do you mean? baking chocolate or chocolate bars that you can eat from hand? am really interested in these and the fact that you can totally dress up a cake with just smooth buttercream and make it look so colorful and playful.

also any tips on how to avoid breakage?

[2sdae]

be very careful. lol! J/K. I have seen people use melted chips before but the colored chocolates is what you would want for different colors, maybe add coloring to white chocolate too.

[Ironbaker]

By regular chocolate I mean chips or baking chocolate. I haven't tempered. I've used the white melts also but haven't used white chocolate yet.

Tips:

The first time I tried it, I was terrified of the chocolate just running off when I moved to transfer. lol If you're using just a transfer sheet only, they can be very flimsy, especially if it's a 9in or larger cake. What I ended up doing was taking a sheet of vinyl/plastic I had (you can buy at walmart or some place like that) and cutting it the size of my transfer...maybe a tiny bit wider and longer. Tape the transfer sheet to the vinyl, this makes it a bit sturdier when you move it. Shirley on CC suggested something called "mylar" which you can find at Home Depot.

Also, make sure your transfer sheet fits around the cake you're going to cover. For some, I have to cut them in half and tape the halves together to make a long strip. Does that make sense?

Make sure you get a pretty even layer of chocolate that's not too thin or thick. If you want an even top or not much "overage" (chocolate that rises above the top of the cake), watch how much and how you spread it on. If your strip is a lot taller than the cake, you may get waves in the chocolate. I don't always mind some waviness or unevenness..it gives it some personality. lol Yeah, that's it.

When you wrap it around the cake, as much as you may want to - DON'T SMOOTH IT WITH YOUR HANDS. That will cause waves you don't really want.

Hmm, that's all I can think of right now. Now you have me wanting to play with some. I still have some laying around I've yet to use. They are great for quick decor where you don't have to be overly concerned with smooth BC.

I'm still learning! I thought I had a pic of one on my PC but I don't. I'll check my camera.