I’m so excited to participate in a Sugar High Friday event! Many thanks to Monisha for hosting and coming up with the creative Flower Power theme. I made one of the Husband’s favorite treats — chocolate flowers.
This is something I learned from the same book from which I got the idea for the zucotto. This is the best thing I learned from it. For these I used Ghirardelli chocolate candy and Wilton white candy melts, adding some pink food dye to part of the latter.
You mold these flowers using a balloon. The best is a small water balloon (available year round in the party section of WalMart) — the first time I made these I tried partially blowing up larger balloons but they were still too big and each held about a cup of filling. Blowing up a water balloon is difficult and rather than bursting the blood vessels in your head, buy a package of twisty balloons with a pump and try this method:
Melt the chocolate and pour onto your work surface; I use the marble pastry board the Husband gave me a few years ago. The chocolate needs to be about body temp or you may burst the balloon and make a big mess. Dip the balloon base into the chocolate and roll outward and back vertically, turn and dip again until you have made petals around the entire balloon. Set the dipped balloons on a wax paper lined tray.
Chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or overnight. Snip the top of the balloon and gently peel it out of the chocolate/candy. The danger of leaving them in overnight is the latex will stick to the chocolate and won’t release very well.
Some of the bases will have a hole or be thin and may need a little melted chocolate applied to the inside base.
Then they are ready to be filled as desired. For these, I used some Cool Whip for nondairy reasons, some I added cocoa to, some I added a mixture of banana, strawberry, sugar and gelatine to make a ‘mousse’. I piped it into the flowers with my large Wilton 2D tip.
These are not fast and it takes a little bit to get the technique just so but they make a spectacular presentation so they’re worth it. 🙂
You can see them again here in a larger version used with ice cream filling for a birthday.
***Update: Thank you to the kind reader who nominated me to the Death By Chocolate contest. Rather than enter these flowers, I made a new recipe. If you like it, then please vote for me and maybe YOU will win a cookbook, chocolates, or even a trip for two to Napa for a Death By Chocolate experience! Voting ends Friday, 8 February so hurry!!
Filed under: Blog Event, Blogs, Chocolate, Cookbooks, Dessert, Sugar High Friday |
Fruit Tart 
Wow! These looks breathtakingly beautiful ! I’m not surprised that your husband loves them, who wouldn’t?
WOW! Those look amazing! I will definitely be giving this technique a try!
If you think these look good, you should taste them. Quite wonderful.
Thanks, ladies!
They are definitely the sort of thing that makes your guests say ‘wow’ when they are served — it’s always good to have a couple of those up your sleeve 😉
I like the versatility of the chocolate/candy as a vessel — the mousse can be its own interesting dessert but served in a chocolate flower it becomes far more impressive. Before making mousse this week, I used to just make whipping cream fillings — plain sweetened, chocolate, orange liqueur, raspberry, strawberry, etc.
The mousse filling, whether made with Cool Whip or a cream/gelatine mixture, definitely has a longer life but even then you want to fill them the same day you serve them; the flowers can be made several days ahead and stored in the fridge.
Those are SO AWESOME! Very cool. I can’t wait to try this sometime. I’m very impressed.
I love making those. Time concuming but oh so impressive. Great shots!
Those are the most adorable things. What a fantastic idea.
wow…I have neve er seen anything like these…very impressive!! I bet they taste great too 🙂
Your recipe looks amazing. I would never have had this very original idea !
Beautiful! Your chocolate cups look perfect and tasty!
What a fabulous post! I am so impressed with your flowers they are gorgeous! Thanks for sharing the process.. I’m just amazed that can be done. =)
I have it on good authority that these, when served with a proposal dinner in the presence of a couple dozen roses and two people who already like each other a lot, can yield a ‘yes’ answer to said proposal. 😉 Congrats to Steve and Sam! 08/08/08 will be a good day! 😀
Steve — The Husband was *very* impressed that you even attempted them, let alone made them twice! Kudos!
*That looks So GOOD!!!*
These are pretty!
THAT IS INSANE!!
How amazingly creative!!
I can think of all sorts of applications for this technique… hell, even chocolate chilli ones with Grand Marnier mousse…
Oh, the possibilities!!
They are so cute!
They look fantastic! I’ve never thought this could be done with chocoalte too, but I’ve been thinking about making balls like that out of caramel and then will them.
Thanks for the tips!
There are stunning. I never would have thought about using a ballon as a mould.
Simply beautiful and how very creative of you! They all look so scrumptious!
Very cute idea. Marked for a Mothers day dessert at my house.
What a great idea – this is so creative and looks very delicious 🙂
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omg, I can’t wait to make these for my next party. I love the “wow” factor, that these little treat will create. they are just beautiful, for any occassion. thanks for sharing such a wonderful site. its my first visit but not my last. marie, windsor, ontario, canada
how did you do the dual colors for the cups? some of the the cups have petals where half is white chocolate and the other half is dark/milk chocolate. how is that accomplished?