DIY White Chocolate Butterfly Pattern

So remember me telling you in my Cake Mania post
how I decided not to itemize everything I made?
Weeelllll....I just couldn't help doing a special post on these white chocolate butterflies!Sorry if you are getting tired of seeing them.
I'm just a little excited about how they turned out!



You guys,
I want you to make these!
Believe me, these aren't hard, they look more intimidating than they really are.
You don't have to be an artist,
and when you are done they will look so impressive and you'll feel like a rock star!

I'm not even kidding.
I totally and unashamedly flashed these in the face of everyone who came into the kitchen,
like a cat with its dead mouse...only people didn't run away and scream.

The original link, with good instructional pictures can be found here.
 But let me brake it down for you:

WHAT YOU NEED:
White almond bark or chocolate
ziplock bag
parchment paper
glass measuring cup with pouring spout
scissors

What To Do

1. Trace your butterfly onto the back of a piece of parchment paper.
Fold the paper in half, creasing the butterfly right up the middle- this will help create the folded wing effect.
{At the bottom of this post, I have included some butterfly designs that I used for tracing.}

2. Melt your chocolate in the microwave, then pour it into your ziplock bag.
It is important that you let the chocolate cool so it doesn't come gushing out and make a runny design.
{Read this post about working with melted chocolate.}

3. Making sure your traced design is on the back of the parchment paper, snip a small corner section of your chocolate filled ziplock bag and begin tracing out your butterfly design.
Following the lines you traced, hold your piping end just above the parchment paper and let the chocolate
gently 'fall', rather than resting the tip directly on the paper.
It works better if you do the outline first, then do the lines and details inside the wing.

4. Once finished, place the butterfly between the open pages of a large book and cool in the fridge.

 

All that is left is to wait...then carefully slide your butterfly off the parchment paper,
put it on your cake, and dazzle your guests!
 

 Here are some butterfly designs to print out and trace.
I used the first two pictures for my designs, and both looked great!

Above picture courtesy of We Lived Happily Ever After, from the original chocolate butterfly post.

 

The above design would be great for beginners who are daunted by the detail in the other two designs.
The way you would work this butterfly is to trace around the entire outline, 
then fill everything else in with chocolate, leaving the holes in the wings blank. 
Results would be a more solid looking butterfly, not quite as delicate and breakable as the other two.

I hope this helps and inspires some of y'all!
Go forth, and let your creativity take flight!

Melted Chocolate Design Garnish: Tips & Tricks from a Beginner

Today I want to share with you some tips I figured out 'the hard way' (no pun intended)

when creating design garnishes from melted chocolate.

  
1. Use almond bark
 I'm not sure how important this one really is, but I read that it hardens better than chocolate chips.

Not to mention you can buy it in large quantities and it is cheaper than the equivalent amount of chocolate.
You can use the traditional white almond bark
(and add food coloring for colored chocolate!) or the chocolate version.

2. Melt your chocolate in a measuring cup with a pouring spout.

This came in very handy. Melt your chocolate in a microwave safe measuring glass, and as soon as it is melted, pour it into your awaiting bag. At this stage it will be really runny, so it will pour easily.
You can use a pastry or icing bag, or- like I did- a regular old ziplock bag.

Here is the number one and most important thing I discovered...

3. Let your chocolate cool before you work with it!

This is the key to success with detailed designs like these chocolate butterflies.

As you can see, the butterfly on the left is crisp, delicate, clean and more detailed. 

While the butterfly on the right looks 'melted', with thick, chunky lines and indistinct details.

This is the difference sufficiently cooled chocolate makes!

Butterfly number two was made when the chocolate was still very warm. 

Even with a small hole cut into the corner of my bag, the chocolate came gushing out too fast to control, 

and instead of 'falling' to the parchment paper gently, it pooled. 

Stick your chocolate filled bag into the fridge for a while,

until it has cooled and reached a squishy, not liquid, consistency when you squeeze the bag.

I wouldn't recommend popping it into the freezer though- the dredges of chocolate that are stuck to the side of the bag will harden completely, while the bulk of the chocolate will still be runny.
This uneven cooling creates clumps and makes it harder to work with.

When your chocolate has reached the right consistency, as you begin to gently squeeze the bag,  

don't actually rest the tip on the surface of the parchment or wax paper, instead hold the piping tip a little above the surface and let the chocolate 'fall' onto the paper, like working with a small rope.

4. Interconnect your chocolate designs, don't make them too thin and wispy.

Do you see those adorable little galaxy looking swirls in my picture?

And those back and forth zig-zaggy designs in the other shot?

 Well, every single one of those broke. 

There was a flaw in there designs, they were too spread out and not connected in enough places to have ample stability. If I had done the same designs only thicker, then it might have worked.

So keep this in mind when creating your designs.

5. Cool on completely flat surface in the fridge or freezer

I made the accident of laying one large parchment sheet of these still-soft garnishes across varying heights of food stuff in our fridge: the result, some of the designs were raised, crinkled and warped because they were soft enough to move with the indentations caused in the parchment paper.
A flat cooling surface is best. 

 6. Tracing Tips

If you are working from a drawing or printed design,

I highly recommend tracing that design on the back of your parchment paper, 

and then simply following those lines when you pipe your design.

If you just put your printed design underneath the parchment paper, it can slip around and create

a small tragedy by messing up the chocolate when you go to reposition the outline.

Do yourself a favor and take a little extra time to trace your drawing on the back of the parchment paper.

While 'drawing' your designs, try to keep the stream of chocolate constant,
the less starting and stopping you have, the smoother the end result.

B E   C R E A T I V E!!

Use your imagination to create fun designs and shapes.

Draw inspiration from sources around you.

You can also create words and lettering using this method,

but again, make sure your line is thick enough so your letters won't break on you.

 A little bit of detail can go a long way in bringing your sweet creations up a notch! 

So, there you have it! Just a little bit of experience that I want to pass on to y'all!
Now give it a try yourself!