I have a bride that wants this technique on a chocolate cake. First off it looks like chocolate ganache. Or is it buttercream? Could use either or chocolate fondant.. Trying to figure out the easiest way to do the chocolate striping along the sides of the cake.

It looks to me like that cakes were covered in chocolate ganache and then the lines were piped with buttercream.

Thanks for your input! I have never covered a cake totally in ganache so guess I better make a practice cake..

The "stripes" look too perfect to be bc to me ... I see no breaks in them at all! I wonder if they are stiks of chocolate ... maybe a mixtue of white and chocolate candy melts to get the color and piped with tip 3 on parchment first then cut. Looks like a lot of work either way!

Looks like a dark choc bc base and then lighter choc bc lines piped on.

My guess is that the cake was ganached due to the beautiful glassy sheen showing on the ledge, then the side stripey things were piped then the sides were airbrushed over to give the stunning flawless finish.

Wow.. so many different ways though to get that look! I would prefer to just do the buttercream with lighter buttercream striping over it. To me that seems much easier. Either way it will be time consuming.

Tarheelgirl: do it I think everyone is making this too hard. I would ice it in chocolate b'cream then pipe on tip 3 lines.......simple

arheelgirl I agree with kakeledi don't be scare do it.

It is good that you have so many opinions because what seems to easy for me could be hard for you, my opinion is read all of them and stick with the one it is easier for you for example for me is easy to work with ganache instead BC, maybe for you BC it is easier than ganache the good think is every body give you an advice and I am sure every body post their advice with a very good intention to help .

If the client is looking for the same finish as the cake, having it done in buttercream rather than ganache might prove disappointing.

Ganache is super-easy to do and the finish is so lovely. It is a distinctively different finished look from buttercream.

Thanks guys! I welcome any suggestions or advice! I love CC because of the fact that so many talented people have such great ideas and are willing to offer help.

Oh.. I am not scared to try something at least once! I have never used poured ganache to cover an entire cake before. I have made it tons of but only to use as a filling. I did give her some different options and did tell her that the shiny look could only be done with the ganache.

Guess I need to make a small practice cake to work with the poured gananche!! Guess its good that I LOVE chocolate!

I agree with kakeladi, but I like the idea of a slightly lighter piping for the lines to give it the effect.