Chocolate Wrap

 

 
For this demonstration, you will need:

offset spatula

double boiler ( I used a stainless steel bowl over a hot pot of water)

pair of scissors

your frosting

 8 inch round cake that’s been chilled for at least 30 minutes. (I used chocolate).

scotch tape

Acetate sheet (you can use plain or purchased decorated with cocoa butter). Here I used a decorated one.

 

 
 
 
This was to be my own birthday cake so I wanted as much chocolate as I could get. Here’s an 8 inch round crumb coated that’s been chilled for 30 minutes. Chilling it allows the chocolate to adhere better and faster.
 

 
 
 
Next, measure the circumference of your cake. ( I used the pan to measure, however, since you don’t get an 8 inch cake from an 8 inch pan due to shrinkage, I subtracted ½  inch from the total).
 

 
Measure your acetate sheet’s length to determine where to cut it and tape to get the correct length needed per the above measurement. Make sure you tape it together on the wrong side (the smooth side, not the side with the cocoa butter) as that will be the side that is applied to the cake. Trim off the blank edge of one side and tape the printed ends together. This will give you your correct length.  Also measure the height of your cake. This one was torted and measured approximately 4 ¾  inches. I added another ½ inch to the height since I like the wrap to come above the cake. You can cut it to be even but that will be harder to do. Making it higher gives you room for error.
 

 
 
The easiest way for me to cut it to get a nice smooth, even cut is to loosely wrap it (make sure you do not fold it or crease it while doing this) and then tape the ends together and cut to the correct determined height.  I scalloped the edges here.
 

 
Place a sheet or two of parchment paper on your work surface to keep the chocolate
from getting all over your counter top.
 

 
Place your warm (not hot) chocolate along the length of the acetate sheet with your
offset spatula.
 
 

 
Spread the chocolate, smoothing as you go along trying to keep as much as possible on the acetate and trying not to overlap onto the parchment. Try to make it very smooth and not very thick. Maybe 1/8 inch, not more.
 

 
Pick up each end of the wrap and place it onto the chilled, crumb coated cake. At this point you can smooth with your hands but try not to handle it too much as over handling will cause it to get bumpy. In this picture you can see where I’ve taken the scotch tape off the edge. IF your ends do not match up perfectly, you can trim the edge with a hot knife to make them match. You will know when to remove the acetate by the looks of the chocolate. It will look “cloudy”. If you’re not sure, touch it and if it feels cool, it’s time.
 

 
This is what your acetate should look like after removing it from the cake. All the cocoa butter decoration adhered to the warm chocolate and therefore transferred onto the cake.
 

 
Here’s the finished cake. I added a border at the bottom, stars on the top and then sprinkled with jimmies.
 
Have fun with this tutorial and don’t be afraid of trying this. Don’t be afraid of using white chocolate also. It’s really much easier than it looks!!!! And it’s so yummy!!!!