I'm new to this game and just wondering - do any of you use melting chocolate to make your figures for your cakes? What are the pluses to using the chocolate rather than gumpaste?

Hi and Welcome to CC, countrycaker.

Everything you need to know to make, decorate and assemble tiered/stacked/layer cakes:

http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-605188-.html

Above super thread has popular CC recipes for crusting American buttercreams, several types of fondant and doctored cake mix (WASC and other flavor variations) - and so much more!

What type/s of figures do you want to make? Do you want to sculpt them freehand or use a mold?

Tempered chocolate or candy melts (or something else)?

Tempered chocolate isn't easy to use. Might want to check out the Candy Making & Pulled Sugar/Blown Sugar forum for more info.

HTH

I think you might be confusing modelling chocolate and melting chocolate. They are not the same thing.

JanH - Thanks for the welcome and the link. I have become SO addicted to this site - more than any other. I love CC! As to the chocolate, I'm looking for something that can be freehand molded to make figures like small animals and people.

prterrell - I guess I did mix up the two types of chocolate. Where would a person buy molding chocolate at? Are there benefits to using it over the gumpaste?

You can make modeling chocolate or candy clay. The obvious advantage is it is delicious where as you wouldn't want to bite into a hard piece of gumpaste. It is heat sensitive which more then likely will not be an issue this time of year. Gumpaste will dry hard and modeling chocolate will firm but stay somewhat soft.