sure 'nuf! I'm still looking for that flower that I seen on a cake while looking for how-tos for modeling chocolate that looks like the flower on the jar on the cover of the polymer clay magazine.

I found it! I found it!

scroll down a little more than halfway...there's a flower on a cake and the same kind on a cupcake....

http://neohiodecorators.tripod.com/id13.html

looks like the same technique used in the flower that's on the jar on the cover of this how-to book for polymer clay...

http://www.amaco.com/prod-clay-techniques-with-a-pasta-machine-547.html#

I reckon I was just tryin' to substantiate my claim that pretty much anything you can do with polymer clay you can also do with candy clay/modeling chocolate/chocolate plastic....sorry if I got carried away.

Now this thread turned into a really useful one for me. Thanks for the interesting links. I wasn't too intrigued by striped cakes before but reading about it makes me want to do it really bad.

all4cake, the page you are referring to won't pull up. It clicks on and then goes to an advertisement.

Could you get the same affect buy rolling out the clay and using masking tape and then painting inside? (or airbrushing) The lines would be straight.
Jen...

Painting chocolate can be a pain.. it likes to resist the paint. It could be done though.

Even using the pasta machine you wouldn't be able to get two sheets exactly alike as on this cake. It looks to me like they did an edible image on top of their choc clay wrap. Either that or a chocolate transfer, where the pattern is rubbed off the sheet onto the clay wrap then applied to the side of the cake. I don't see how anyone could get strips of fondant applied that perfectly straight, let alone make it so exact on one tier after another.

I love some of the patterns on the cakes on the Cake Work site. Wow!

Here's a thought . . . what about Sugarveil? Saw some postings regarding another topic 'stretchy royal icing' and saw this. Could be the trick they use to get the clean lines and ease of use.

http://www.sugarveil.com/index.htm

B2B

Hum - lots of ideas from everyone here but I personally think that he paints onto chocolae plastic sheets.

His dilema was in making the lines even which occur when applying the whole sheet to the cake as he stated under one of his pictures on Flickr. If you notice in one of his pictures (68 of them total) he rolls the end point which is a clue that he rolls the entire sheet and then unrolls onto the cake when applying to the cake which would account for the uneven lines.

So, my vote is for a painted surface, either with brushes of different widths or with an airbrush.

I haven't read this entire thread yet but there is a thread around here someplace on wrapping a cake in chocolate by ShirleyW -- those techniques could easily be adapted to do these horizontal stripes.

I was fascinated with all the links that were posted, including the polymer clay and the pasta machine, all4cake. Plus the photos of the cakes that you posted with it. I don't have a pasta machine but I think I'm going to get one.

Cakeworks uses rea whitel chocolate callebaut in their modeling chocolate. The pattern is there signature using proprietary screen printing techniques.The guy at baking arts use to work (possibly still does) at Cake Works.

Did you guys see Ace Of Cakes when they made a striped cake? It wasn't chocolate, but maybe the same idea would work. They had to call Collette to figure it out, and what they did was roll out a large sheet of fondant to wrap around the cake, and while it was still laying on the counter, adhered to stripes to it. Then they lifted the whole thing up and wrapped the outside of the cake...maybe that's how they made this cake?

I didn't see that episode of Ace of Cakes (I thought I had seen them all), but wouldn't it be nice to just "call Colette" whenever you have a question about cake decorating?

Thank you so much for all your posts, I had been all day at an ICES day of sharing and I have just got home.

I am going to play with this and see how it comes out, I tried horizontal stripes already with fondant but they werenât very straight... (cake is in my pictures).

I love CC Thank you again!!

. . . striped white modeling chocolate . . . http://flickr.com/photos/7518775@N04/2595327965/

Hey Dragonlady ! Love the avatar ! Great link !

. . . thanx fiddle . . . it's turkey day in Canada (Thanksgiving weekend) . . .

Well Happy Thanksgiving to ya !

. . . thanx . . . . . . only trouble is that with the server problems lately sometimes the avatar is there and sometimes it's not . . . . . . I will have to change it soon . . . Halloween is next . . . so hopefully the issues will be resolved soon too . . .

Oh I hear ya ! Things just keep disapearing around here !

This is a bit late, but this effect of the horizontal stripes on chocolate clay is done using a screen (similar to a silk screen) to make the transfer sheets, that were mentioned earlier in the post, which are then transferec onto the chocolate. Having a screen made up is a bit, costly, but there was an article in ACD a few years back with instructions of how you can make your own screen, and then you can make your own transfer sheets.

The Kitchen Krafts and countrykitchensa websites have some pre-printed cake prints that you can just slap on the cake (I think it's like a transfer sheet). It can be placed on buttercream, fondant, chocolate, and fudge. They have a variety of prints and patterns:

http://www.kitchenkrafts.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_CD3705

http://www.countrykitchensa.com/catalog/mini.aspx?T=1&ShopId=38&CatId=624&SubCatId=1719

It is in fact very easy - you cut fondant or modelling chocolate stripes with the pasta cutter. then use a little Crisco on a parchment paper  and put it together into the preferred pattern tightly against each other. accurately measure your cake diameter and cut your stripes sheet to the appropriate length.Then holding your sheet "transfer" it to the cake. the only cons to that is that method is that you will probably have a slightly noticeable seam at the back of your cake.Enjoy!

I believe Richard has this technique tutorial for purchase at http://cakemasters.com.  I just tried to get on and look but it appears the website is have technical difficulties.