How do you pipe chocolate on the side of a cake. When i try, i get a gloop of chocoalte that spills everywhere. Mind you I'm using only melted chocolate- is there something else you have to add with it so that it pipes properly>?

Not sure if there is anything you can add to it; the only things I can think of are:

- make a chocolate transfer and apply to the cake
- tilt the cake (if you have a turntable that tilts) and try working this way

HTH - maybe someone else will have some suggestions.

let the chocolate cool a bit more so that it is a little thicker??

the thing is when it starts to cool, it plugs up the tip...

Bump...bump.... Does anyone else have an idea???

Are you wanting to pipe designs with chocolate or get the dripping effect?

There was a tutorial on here for the dripping effect, which I will find and post when I get home today.

I have not tried this, but found this on the internet.

Use 1/3 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1 teaspoon of butter or margarine. In a small pan over low heat, melt chocolate chips and butter or margarine; stir until smooth. Cool to room temperature, place in piping bag and use at once.

Note: Make in small amounts as needed. This glaze will streak if reheated to soften.

This is the "look" i'm trying to get. http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1234445. I want to pipe scrolls, and the person who did the cake said she did it freehand. I assume directly on the cake, but how do you keep the chocolate from dripping out of the bag. Do you add something to the chocolate, so that it doesnt' drip out the bag, but pipes like you'd do with BC or RI ?

It doesn't look like melted chocolate. You could try with chocolate buttercream. Here is a recipe: http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/recipedetail.cfm?objectid=CCBCAEC7%2D84EE%2D409C%2D80D40B7B6A2461F1
Hope this helps!

Thanks everyone for the input

I would imagine if you froze the cake first, the chocolate would harden almost on contact. HTH.

This might be a stupid question but have you tried pm'ing the person who posted the picture?

I agree - that does not look like ganache. I would add the ganache you made to your buttercream recipe with a little cocoa added and then pipe them swirls on. BEST OF LUCK!!

I think that is just brown buttercream. You could use buttercream or royal in a brown color to get that effect.

I had pm'd them already, but I didn't get a response yet...I think I;ll try the buttercream idea, but i will have to thin it, because the design I have to do is like Indian Mehndi design.

That looks like piped chocolate.
How I would do this is lay the scroll design under a piece of acetate and pipe the chocolate, harden in fridge a few minutes and then place on cake. Would be a heck of lot easier than piping directly on cake. J.M.O.

What someone else posted (but I think got lost in the BIG CRASH) was that you need to make the chocolate seize. You just add a couple of drops of water and make it seize just a little bit. Then it is thick enough to pipe. I know there is a member here who has done it. Keep trying.

Thanks everyone, I'll do a search and see