I have a friend that needs to make a cake where the client wants chocolate covering on the cake but wants it to look super smooth and set hard like real chocolate. I have suggested ganache but this may not be what she is after. Any ideas what she can use to achieve this? Has anybody used straight chocolate melted to ice a cake before? Thanks

I'm thinking you want a chocolate glaze or poured ganache.

If you iced the whole cake in straight melted chocolate it is just going to crack and break off when they go to cut and serve.

Thanks. Thats what I figured about the straight chocolate.

I use a chocolate glaze of unsalted butter & Callebaut chocolate, melted, cooled slightly and then poured overtop. Great sharp corners, nice firm chocolate coating. I can't quite remember the ratio, but I *think* it's 1:3