Chocolate Filigree Ornament
Introduction: Chocolate Filigree Ornament
I found this filigree chocolate idea in a book and I thought it looked ornate and ideal as a centrepiece for a dinner party, for example. I haven’t done chocolate piping like this for a while, so I thought it’d be fun to give it a try! I wasn’t too fussed if the lines were a bit wobbly as I felt it would add to the rustic feel of the piece. Overall, I think it turned out okay. Why not give it a try yourself!
Step 1: Make Your Piping Bag
Start by taking a square of baking parchment and cut it in half diagonally to make 2 triangles. With the long edge facing away from you, take one corner of the long edge and roll it over to create a cone shape.
Take the corner on the opposite side and wrap it around the cone so that the corners meet at the same point. Take the 3 corners and fold over to the inside of the cone. You can make a couple of small tears along the fold which will hold the cone together.
Step 2: Melting the Chocolate
It isn’t really necessary to temper the chocolate for this ornament. Fill a small saucepan with an inch of water and place a bowl on top, making sure the water doesn’t touch the bowl. Place on a medium heat to start to slowly melt the chocolate, giving it a stir every couple of minutes until it’s smooth and runny.
Once it’s evenly melted, pour a small spoonful of chocolate into the cone. 136
Try not to overfill it some chocolate could get squeezed out. Cut a tiny bit off the point of the cone, then you’re ready to pipe chocolate.
Step 3: Piping the Design
I found this design online and printed it out 4 times to make it easier to pipe. Place a sheet of parchment over your design, then you can start piping the chocolate, following the lines. Continue piping until you’ve done all 4 on one side, then leave in a cool place. If the chocolate starts to set in the cone, give it 10 seconds in a microwave to soften again.
Once the first sides are set, gently peel them off the parchment and turn them over and pipe on the other side to make them stronger. Don’t worry if bits break off, you can go over them again with a little more chocolate.
Step 4: Piping the Base
I hadn’t given any thought to what the base was going to be, so I found a Celtic-style pattern which I traced onto the parchment on the reverse side. I chose to make my base big enough for a roughly half-inch border around the ornament.
Pipe the base in the same way as the previous step, then leave in a cool place.
Step 5: Putting It All Together
Lay 2 opposite sides of the ornament together and pipe some chocolate along in between to join. Once it’s set, take another side and hold it so that the edge runs along the middle of the piece you’ve just glued. Pipe some more chocolate into the corner on each side and hold it still for 10 seconds or so, until it feels like the edge will sit straight up at a right angle .
Stand the ornament upright and attach the last piece as above,
Slide the base onto a plate. At this point you can decide how you want to position the ornament? Then just add a few small blobs of chocolate to glue to the base. 136