I tried making chocolate swirls with baking chocolate to wrap around a cake. It melted a bit lumpy. when I put it in my icing bag it was still very hot, had to use a tea towel to hold it. it was not smooth and could not get the swirls evenly. am i using the right choc. I used regular eating choc before but it did not set.

For my chocolate wrapped cake, I used candy melts. I microwaved them for about a minute (stiring every 20 seconds). The candy melts held up wonderfully. I used a tip 2, and I found the chocolate to be a bit thin, and it did break at the seam, but I think using a tip 3 and some more pressue should solve this problem.

Here's a picture of the cake I just did.

http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1918080

Hope this helps

If the chocolate was a bit lumpy, I think that's the problem. It needs to be smooth in order to pipe smoothly.

Thanks CrescentMoon. We do not get chocoate melts in South Africa. Baking Choc is the only product that sets and can stand that I know of thats available here. Anyone from South Africa care to enlighten me otherwise?. Love what you did with the colours

cheatize, I had the choc over a double boiler. Do you think the choc was to cold or too hot that it was lumpy? When I started scooping it there was a bit of a solid layer of choc covering the surface and no matter how much I stirred the lumps would not go away

Here is a pic of my first attempt. I like the effect looking like twigs. i did not wait for the choc to start setting. It sagged quite a bit. I put it over White choc ganache. Not too bad. http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/9467/dscn0481r.th.jpg

If it's lumpy you're overcooking the chocolate. You need to have it on a double boiler, the water should never touch the bottom of the bowl. Have the water barely simmering, and melt it that way. It is always best to use the best quality chocolate you can afford as that has the highest amount of cocoa fats and sugars. If normal chocolate does not set it is because it is not tempered. Google tempering chocolate and read about the process.

HTH

Thanks a million LisaPeps. all the best with that ticker, hang in there

Thanks everybody for the input. thanks Lisapeps, I got it right and made a "to die for" chocolate ganache which sold quickly. :d

Hi Sharon
I agree with everything Lisa said. I get my chocolate from the Chocolate Den in Johannesburg. Chocolate is tricky to work with but so rewarding.
good luck.