Melt your chocolate in the microwave or double boiler. Now, is where you get to be creative. If you are making a particular shape like a leaf, you can use actual leaves (washed and dried of course) as your template. Use a pastry brush to paint the leaves with the melted chocolate. Let them harden on a piece of parchment paper. Once ready, peel them away from the leaf.
For cutouts, spread your melted chocolate on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Be sure that the chocolate is smoothed out so there are no bumps or uneven areas. Once the chocolate has set up, you can use your cookie cutters to press the shapes. Starting with the ones closest to the edge of the parchment, peel them up and place them on your cake, cupcakes or wherever you need them.
Some shapes require a more delicate touch than a pastry brush. For those, you can use melted chocolate in a pastry piping bag. This bag is used with different tips to make decorations with icing. If you don’t have a pastry bag, you can use a Ziploc bag and cut a small hole in the bottom corner or one end.
The chocolate will be warm so be careful. If you are tracing shapes, draw them darkly on one side a piece of parchment paper. Flip it over and make sure you can still see the image. Cut the corner of the bag (if not using a piping bag) and begin to trace the shapes with the chocolate. Try to make as thick a line as the design will allow. Thinner chocolate pieces are more prone to breaking when peeling and placing. The piping bag can also be used to apply melted chocolate designs to the tops of cakes, cookies, muffins, pies and the like.
Chocolate has many uses even decorating. Turn your desserts into a feast for the eyes and the taste buds by decorating in chocolate.
