I HAVE BEEN ASKED TO MAKE A CAKE COVERED IN CHOCOLATE SLAB LIKE PIECES ( I HAVE ATTACHED A PICTURE)...AND I'M LOOKING FOR THE EASIEST WAY TO DO THIS!! I DON'T USUALLY WORK WITH CHOCOLATE BUT I'M UP FOR THE CHALLENGE!!
PLEASE IF YOU HAVE ANY THOUGHTS ON THIS LET ME KNOW AS I AM NEED OF SOME DESPERATE HELP!
THE WEDDING IS ON THE 20TH OF JULY!!
THANKS SO MUCH IN ADVANCE!![img][/img]

The easiest is to temper your chocolate and pour it onto acetate then break or pluck it off carefullly and apply it to the cake in sections.

You can also do chocolate cigarettes to adorn the top of the cake.

Chocolate Cigarettes are made by tempering chocolate and putting it onto a granite slab/countertop then when it's cool, not fully hard, you use a scrapper tool. As you scrap towards th chocolate (it's thin) it will roll and hence be the shape of a cigareete.

yes definately temper the chocolate. though i dont know many of the exact rules and steps to do that, i do know from experience that if you make the choc too hot when melting that the temp changes will cause the choc to bloom (turn white) and that would not be pretty on a wedding cake. when you melt,it should be done slowly and not go above body temp (100).

if the bride is not picky picky as to how to do the choc, another great idea is to do a choc wrap/collar. have you read the tutorial by shirleyw on that? here is one example that i did using that method. i have several, but this is one of my favorites. they are relatively easy too.

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=474003

as far as that photo though, i imagine that if you spread the melted chocolate onto parchment, acetate or mylar, allow it to cool, but not completely harden. take a large sharp knife and make your cuts while it still has a little softness to it. as it hardens completely, you could then take them and place them to the side of your cake. make sure the icing has not crusted or you may need to use something to glue them on. or wrap with a ribbon.

When it comes to tempering the chocolate it depends on what type of chocolate you have and what company it's from.

Valrhona tempers at a different temp than Callebrut (sp). Milk chocolate, white chocolate and dark chocolate need to be tempered differently.

Books on truffles- Bloom comes to mind and other books on chocolates and confections can describe how to temper. It is very tough and you need to make sure to charge your client accordingly.

There's a reason why chocolate truffles cost so much.