Chocolate Shards

I’m not a professional cake decorator. I love shortcuts to decorating a beautiful cake- like ready made frosting, decorative edibles et al. But the food blogger in me doesn’t permit paying 100 bucks for a bucket of frosting when I could make the same for 50. 😀 Anyway, this post is not about cost saving or frugal cooking. Its about making one of the easiest chocolate decorations ever!
These shards just make your boring old chocolate cake … FANCY! Impress whoever you want to with a simple chocolate sponge cake frosted with a simple chocolate frosting. And how do you take it up a notch? By covering it with chocolate shards of course! Seen the pic? Loved it? Ready to learn how to make Chocolate Shards? So then.. here we go! 🙂

How to make Chocolate Shards ~ easy chocolate decorations
Prep Time: 2 min
Chill Time: 15 min
Makes: 1 cup

You’ll need –
Cooking Chocolate – 100 grams (or chocolate chips)
2 rectangular parchment papers of the same size
Double Boiler / Microwave

How to proceed –
1) Melt chocolate using the microwave or double boiler method.

2) Pour the melted chocolate onto the center of the paper.

3) Using a spatula, spread the chocolate evenly to a thin layer all over the parchment paper. (Leave about 1/2 an inch in all sides)

4) Place the other parchment sheet right on top of the chocolate laden sheet. Press it everywhere to release air bubbles, if any.

5) From the side closest to you, (from the breadth / smaller side of the paper) start rolling the sheet into a tight tube.

6) Place it on a plate / baking sheet & freeze for about 15 minutes. You find that the chocolate has hardened along the tube.

7) Unroll the tube in one quick motion. This creates the shards. (don’t press the tube at all)

8) Remove the upper parchment paper.

9) Using a spatula, remove the shards & refrigerate until use.

Notes
1. I got a few smaller pieces if the shards because I tried to break  them with hand before unrolling. It is not necessary. Be quick & pull of the paper in one quick motion. (kind of like waxing :-D)
2. Be sure to use a chocolate that melts; also known as Modelling or Cooking chocolate.
3. Ways of decorating with chocolate shard are endless. Check out what I did with them (coming up).