I have made them many times with just melted chocolate chips with a bit of vegetable oil added. But what I have found is they sweat and bead with moisture when they come to room temperature and the chocolate pulls away a bit from the berry. This causes the berry juce to ooze out and stain your cake icing.
The last time I made these I dipped them in Sarah Bernhardt chocolate glaze and they were wonderful. They set up creamier than plain chocolate and don't shatter when you bite into them.
They stay shiny and pretty and they don't sweat. I made the glaze and just let it set for about 20 minutes until it began to thicken a little and then dipped the berries and put them directly on the cake top, but you could line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and lay each dipped berry on and then refrigerate till set.
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-2315-Sarah-Bernhardt-Chocolate-Glaze.html
ShirleyW...............that looks so good. I'll try this one out.
Being that it's a glaze.....is hard to hold or does it set well? I know that with any choco-strawberry combo there will be a mess but was just wondering that when you hold onto it does it hold well???
Thanks ShirleyW!!!!!
I use semi sweet chips by Guittard, better quality than Ghirardelli or Nestles. I am guessing what you mean by "holding" is does the glaze cling well to the berry as you are dipping? Yes, it does because it is thcker than just melted chcolate, I just hold the berry by the stem and dip into the glaze about 3/4 of the way up the berry, swipe the bottom of the berry over the edge of the pan to remove the excess chocolate, and lay the berry on parchment or directly on the cake.
Does the glaze harden at all, or only to the touch? Your cake looks so delicious BTW, ShirleyW! I usually use a mixture of milk and semi sweet chips w/ a little bit of crisco added. I've never had problems w/ the chocolate pulling away from the berries before. Juice sometimes, though...
!!!! The glaze sets up enough that you could touch it and not have chocolate on your finger, but it stays soft enough to have a creamy texture when you bite into them. This glaze is a very versatile recipe, you can pour it like a ganache, or allow to set completely and it is about the consistency of canned icing and the cake can be iced with a spatula. It goes on easily and smooths very nicely. Once set it can be used to make a dam, pipe borders, stringwork or writing. I think it is a bit too soft for making roses, but I have never tried it. Best of all, it is just delicious. I have only had one person in all these years say it was too buttery for her, but she tried it before it had set up on the cake.
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