I was watching one of the tons of cake shows and saw a guy from vegas make chocolate carnations by scraping chocolate off the back side of a cookie sheet. Anyone seen this? Do you know the recipe to make them wrinkle and fold like that? Googled chocolate carnations and came up with nothing so I was hoping someone on here had a tutorial or knew anything about it....THANKS!

Anyone know what I am talking about? Maybe I spelled it wrong?

I made these at one point in the same style you could get chocolate ribbon. The only way i know is to temper chocolate and then spread it thin on the cookie tray. Let it harden and then use the scraper to scrape off the chocolate. you may have to rub you hand on the opposite side of the sheet tray (not the chocolate side) in order to warm the chocolate a little to aid in its release.

Cool, so you think that it was just regular chocolate...nothing added to it? I have heard about and watched chocolate be tempered... but I will have to look up the exact directions on that. This guy just made it look soooo easy! Of course I am sure it is super hard!

It's not really hard per say.. just tricky. tempering chocolate involves melting the chocolate to a specific temperature, being careful not to exceed that temp, cooling it down to a certain temperature, and then bringing it back up to the final temp. That creates chocolate that will harden and look nice without blooming or being brittle. Think of it as making candy... Practice is the only advice i've got.

Oh, and yes, i don't think there's anything else in there except for the chocolate..

http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-377843-.html&sid=7bf22bca387d6c937f88820c0d565847

ahhh thanks! I guess I could also look up chocolate ruffles to get more things to pop up! Thanks for the link!

I saw that too but the only thing I remember is that he took great pains talking about how you need a really flexible knife for this, .........I think he called it a fillet knife.

Yeah I remember that too! And yay, I have a fillet knife =)

I saw a video on youtube with a guy that made carnations, but I can't find it. he used chocolate and flimsy cake spatula to spread a real thin layer of chocolate on marble and then he used another tool to pull chocolate strips (I think it was a toothpick, but I don't remember) to make the top edge sort of ribbed. while it was slightly set (soft and pliable) He held the spatula at a slight angle so it rolled up into a pinwheel (like a cinnamon roll) and pinched together the bottom to form the bottom of the flower. He made it look very easy, but I am sure it would require a good bit of practice. Sorry I couldn't find it. I did find an Elaine Macgregor video making chocolate roses on youtube though. Why couldn't you use the same concept with carnations, just thin out the upper lip of the pedal like a carnation.

The name of the chocolate artist from Vegas is Vincent Pilon.

If you want, you can also use modelling chocolate, in the same way you'd use gumpaste or fondant to make carnations.

http://www.thatreallyfrostsme.com/2010/11/white-modeling-chocolate-and-roses.html

Thanks for that link too! I just made some modeling chocolate for the first time after reading that....I am gonna play around with it once it sets. Yay I am excited

I saw that show and I am sure the chef added a small amount of oil to the chocolate

AGrand-place chocolate techniques part3.avi at you tube.