I'm new to the cake decorating world & am looking to "create" the birch tree/bark look for a small wedding cake.  

The couple was a basic (not covered entirely in fondant) buttercream frosted cake.  

Anyone have any suggestions how I can do this?  I talked to my local cake supply store & she suggested using a clay mold imprint sheet to get the "bark" look.  While I've never done anything w/fondant, I was thinking about using white/brown chocolate for the bark.  

I saw a You tube video where they used a light coat of white chocolate (letting it cool) & then went back over the top w/brown chocolate to get the look they were going for.   That's where I go the idea of using chocolate & not fondant.

Would I be ok in doing this?  It's a night wedding, so I don't think the "heat" thing is going to be a problem.  I'm looking for thoughts anyone might have.

Mary

You can use chocolate for that as long as heat isn't an issue. I'd experiment with it beforehand, though, to make sure it looks the way that you want it to. I'd use modeling chocolate, not straight chocolate, though.