Dress up a cake with a gorgeous chocolate border all around it, also known as a Chocolate Cage. I personally think it looks like a fancy fence.
Frost the cake with a thin layer of icing or frosting, so that you have an even and smooth surface. (For the recipe of this cake, click HERE.)
Start with measuring as much parchment paper as you'll need to go all around the cake. You may need to tape two pieces of parchment paper together, or use half at a time. Make it as tall as you want it to be around the cake.
Melt chocolate over a double boiler or in the microwave and put it in a piping bag. Here's a helpful post about how to make a Homemade Double Boiler.
Place the chocolate in a piping bag. Cut off the corner of the piping bag and pipe out whichever design you like.
Make sure the chocolate lines aren't too thin, which will make it fragile and you will have the possibility of it breaking.
You can leave the chocolate to set at room temperature, but depending on the type of chocolate you use, it may take a long time. Here's a trick that I like to use.
Before I start melting and piping out the chocolate, I place two large metal baking sheets in the freezer. When I've piped out the chocolate, I take our the chilled baking sheets, invert them upside down, top with parchment paper, and place the strip of swirled chocolate on top of the cold baking sheets. In just a minute or so, the chocolate will firm up just enough for you to wrap it around the sides of the cake. The chocolate should still be bendable.
Place the cake in the refrigerator until the chocolate is completely firm. Peel off the parchment paper off carefully.
I also have a detailed tutorial on how to decorate the top of your cake with this lovely chocolate petal design, which you can check out HERE.
Can you just use a cooked cocoa drizzle icing instead of ready made chocolate??
I would like to know which brand of . Chocolate you use because when I made the fence it didn’t stay in o
Thanks for your explanation
Hi! I like to know how do you stick the two ends of the cake? Thanks 🙂
heat the sharp tip of a knife and use it to "trim" off the excess chocolate cake that overlaps so that it is even with the other end - its the easiest way ive found to make an even seam 🙂
Hi! I'm just wondering what type of chocolate did you use? Fake (palm oil etc.) or real/couveture chocolate (cocoa butter)? Because for real chocolate you need to temper it so it doesnt wilt in room temperature? and apparently the fake one - doesnt need to be tempered to be stable at room temp and sets quicker than untempered real chocolate? Thanks!
Also do you have to keep your cake in the refrigerator afterwards?
I don't remember what type of chocolate I used, Mary. I made this cake 2 years ago.
However, I know that I placed it in the refrigerator to set the chocolate, just as I wrote in the post.
Yes, you do need to keep the cake refrigerated. I always refrigerate any cake that has any type of frosting.
Hello-
How long does the chocolate take to harden in room temperature? I just melted some Hershey's chocolate bars in a double boiler and it has been 30 mins but it is still melted and have not started to harden up at all. Thanks in advance.
Hi I am very new to icing the cakes . May I know is it cooking chocolate ?and your making leaf pattern is amazing . I would like to iced ASAP. Thanks
You can use baking chocolate or just use a bar of chocolate. Hope that helps.