Chocolate Stencilling

If you want to create some gorgeous festive or celebration cakes - try some melted chocolate stencilling.  It's the nature of the beast to be a bit messy and even temperamental!  But the results are quite stunning - so have a go and see if you can master it.  A one-off project such as a cake can be more straight forward, as biscuits leave more room for error - you can do as many as you like, but you have to wipe clean the back of the stencil between stencilling each biscuit. So biscuits require a little patience – but do give you the chance to improve through repetition!  If you want the easy and quick route - go for the Icing Sugar Stencilling.  A celebration cake though, with icing and chocolate stencilling will stay fresh a lot longer, so can be prepared in advance of any event. 

Preparation before stencilling

Chocolate Stencilling needs to be done on a completely flat surface. So use smooth, not knobbly biscuits, or biscuits with a layer of icing on (make sure they are big enough too!) For cakes make sure they do not sag in the middle or curve upwards and the chocolate will not stencil on an uneven surface. Fill dips in cakes with extra icing and slice off the top of slightly spherical cakes!  Ice cakes with white marzipan and Arctic White Ready to Roll Icing, smoothing the icing to as flat a surface as possible.

Melt your broken chocolate pieces or buttons in a glass bowl over simmering hot water. Use 70% Cocoa chocolate for best results - the good stuff!  Allow the chocolate to cool to room temperature before stencilling, it will just begin to stiffen a little and become less runny and easier to handle.

Finishing off and Decorating

Don't worry if your chocolate stencilling has smudged during the process - a certain amount of cleaning up is possible once the chocolate has fully set. You can use a scalpel or sharp pointed knife to gently ease off any chocolate that has smudged during stencilling and you can also roll out very thin strips of icing between your finger tips and squeeze into gaps between bridges that might have become filled with smudged chocolate - all little tricks of the trade!!

Decorate your finished cake with little silver sugar balls or edible glitter or even a little edible gold leaf - just to add a little sparkle to the finished cake.

The Small Christmas Tree Stencil has been used for our chocolate creation, but you can also use the Small Sleigh & Reindeer Stencil, Holly Sprigs Stencil, Christmas Greetings Stencil or Small Angels Stencil - depending on the size of your cake! Or use the floral China Rose Stencil or Blossom Clusters Stencil for celebration cakes.

Delicious digestive biscuits coated with Arctic White Icing and chocolate stencilling using our Little Snowflakes Stencil again!  You can use shop bought or home baked biscuits and cakes - just make sure they are big enough for your project.

Step by Step Guide to Chocolate
Stencilling on Cakes

Step 1 - Line the stencil up so that it is centred or in your chosen position over the cake to be stencilled. Press down lightly onto the cake's level surface (see notes left) Step 2 - Use an old credit card or store card for your stencilling implement (or a float if you are a professional!) - the card makes a neat and easy to use applicator. Use a flat bladed cooking knife to apply the melted chocolate onto the edge of the credit card. Step 3 and 4 - Hold the stencil in position with one hand and with the other carefully pull the edge of the chocolate loaded card over the stencil, laying the card quite flat to the cake as you pull it along the stencil. Step 5 - Carefully repeat the process until the whole of the cut out shapes of the stencil are covered in chocolate. Try to keep a steady hand! Step 6 - Very carefully lift off the stencil taking great care not to smudge or move the wet underlying chocolate. You can wash the stencil after use very gently in warm soapy water. We used our Small Christmas Tree Stencil for this project.

Step by Step Guide to Chocolate
Stencilling on Biscuits

Step 1 - Roll out some Ready to Roll Arctic White Icing until it is about 2mm thick on a flat surface dusted with icing sugar. Place a small cup the size of your biscuits over the rolled out icing and cut round it to create icing circles for your biscuits. Repeat until you have the required number.  Dampen the top of the biscuit with icing sugar mixed with a little water and press down each piece of icing onto the top of the biscuits. Step 2 - Line the stencil up so that it is centred over the top of the biscuit. Step 3 - Press down the stencil lightly onto the biscuit's surface.  Step 4 - Use an old credit card or store card for your stencilling implement (or a float if you are a professional!) - the card makes a neat and easy to use applicator. Use a flat bladed cooking knife to apply the melted chocolate onto the edge of the credit card (also see step 2 above).  Step 5 - Hold the stencil in position with one hand and with the other carefully pull the edge of the chocolate loaded card over the stencil, laying the card quite flat as you pull it over the stencil. Repeat as necessary until the whole of the stencil motif is covered in chocolate. Step 6 - Very carefully lift off the stencil taking great care not to smudge or move the wet underlying chocolate. Before repeating the process on the next biscuit, wipe the underside of the stencil to remove any chocolate that has worked its way under the stencil - otherwise this will smudge over the next biscuit making it impossible to create a clean stencil finish. You can wash the stencil after use very gently in warm soapy water. We used our Little Snowflakes Stencil for this project. 

 
We used simple digestive biscuits for the base to our iced and chocolate stencilled biscuits - they are nice and flat and big enough to take the stencil design - and taste great!