Chocolate Transfers- Ever Have Melting Worries??
Decorating By elvis Updated 18 Apr 2006 , 6:14pm by SquirrellyCakes
Hi! I'm fairly new to cake decorating-- just really started around Christmas time. I often prefer chocolate or candy melts transfers and stand-up decorations to fondant or royal icing b/c for me, its faster and tastes better :O) --
But now that we're into Spring, its getting warmer and I'm thinking ahead to hot summers too! Have any of you had bad experiences with chocolate or candy melts decorations melting? Even with the customer transporting the cake in a hot car-- how do they hold up??
I'd love any feedback on this! Maybe I need to change my decorations in the warmer months :O)
This weekend I delivered a cake that had chocolate transfers arranged all around the front. It got up to 90 F that day! I was setting up the cake on site, so I took all external decorations (large gumpaste bow and CTs) separate from the cake itself.
So, CT were all face down on a metal cookie sheet. Drove 30 minutes with the AC on as high as I could stand. Got to the place, put everything together and went to pick up my CT off the tray and they looked a little shiny. NOT GOOD! I gently touched an edge of one of my extras, and sure enough it squished a little, and wores, wouldn't come off the tray. YIKES!
The cake looked ok without the CT, though I was disappointed, until somebody suggested putting the whole tray in the fridge. Well, they had a big old freezer so we stuck them in there for about 5 minutes, and voila! They all popped right off the tray and onto the cake in beautiful shape! Except for the giraffe. He was a foreleg amputee, but we managed to sort of mask that. (sigh of relief)
All this to say, with CT you really do need to be careful of high temps and direct sunlight. Unless it's flat on the cake I wouldn't let a customer drive off with (semi) freestanding or upright CTs in hot weather. Or I would at least warn them what could happen if they got too hot. They're definitely not suited for outdoor occassions in summer!
HTH,
Bekah
omg! i made a dora cake for my daughters birthday last month out of the choc. transfers!! i loved it, was soooo cute....then went to bed and left finished cake on table (of course forgetting that the morning sun comes through that window) and when i got up at 9:00 my choc. pieces where melted!!!!!! i coulnt salvage them at all!! i was very sad. ALL my fault for leaving cake on table with curtians open..... but that was a warm morning in march....i dont think i'll be doing any choc. transers this summer.
melody
Yikes! 
I have nightmares about stories like that! Thanks for your input-- I guess I'll be working a lot more with royal and fondant during the warm months. I'm trying not to think about the candy melts wedding dress I made last Saturday-- I'm going to assume it made it to the shower in one piece! ugggg.. Oh well, thanks for your stories-- you probably saved me from a summertime chocolate disaster! 
With chocolate, you want to keep the temperature it is exposed to below 75F or you will get bloom, the whitish appearance that chocolate gets when the cocoa butter starts to separate. So even before the melting risk, you have the bloom risk.
You can refrigerate chocolate, sometimes it will make the chocolate items break easier if handled too roughly as chocolate snaps easier when it is cold. Always place chocolate items in parchment lined containers when transporting. Keep out of the heat of the sun and transport in an air-conditioned car.
Hugs Squirrelly
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