Modeling Chocolate Roses: Wedding Cake Part 1

After much discussion and pondering of cake toppers (probably more on my part than on theirs), my sister, her fiance, and I decided on modeling chocolate roses for the top of their wedding cake. Lots of practice ensued. I also purchased luster dust in silver and blue (their wedding colors), and later some gold, too. To start, I made a partial batch of modeling chocolate each of white chocolate, dark chocolate, and white chocolate colored blue. I then tested the silver and blue luster dust on all the colors, using two techniques (dry dusting or making a paint with lemon extract).

Blue on silver felt like too much.

Silver on the blue was pretty, but we decided it wasn't quite what they wanted on their wedding cake.

I discovered dark modeling chocolate is much stiffer and harder to work with, so this looks rather chunky.

I started running out of practice roses, so I had to start using multiple colors on each one. The painted luster dust was too bold.

Brushing looked better, but made the dark chocolate look a little dirty.

Yep, painted is too bold for this cake.

And then: stunning.

All the above roses I made completely by hand, free-forming each petal using only piping tips (as cutters) and a spoon to thin out the petal edges. About a month or two before the wedding, I was gifted a fondant rose cutter set. The friends who gave this to me had no idea I was making roses for my sister's wedding cake; they just thought, "Hey, Leah likes to decorate cake." Well, it ended up being perfect. I have very warm hands,which makes working with modeling chocolate difficult. The less I had to touch it, the better.

Look how much nicer the roses looked once I started using the cutter:

All the petals still had to be thinned out by hand, but I actually started using the handle of a paint brush (which I greased a little with coconut oil to prevent sticking).

I made white, milk, and dark modeling chocolate and made dozens of these flowers in the weeks before the wedding (because they can be stored for a few weeks). Here they are on top of the cake before I brought it to the church:

See more next week!

Love and Chocolate,

Leah Joy