This is to show how to do chocolate transfer (to be used for cake decorating). With the same method, you can use it for buttercream.
As I made this for the Fandom contest, ongoing contest on instructables.com, I chose Thom Yorke as I like Radiohead so much. But I am not that artistic, so it kinda looks like Channing Tatum, somewhat. Hahahah.
To make this cake, you can use any of your favorite cake(s) and buttercream, as long as they are strong enough as they will be covered with fondant, and fondant can be too heavy for cakes that are sponge-type. Square cake is a bit trickier to cover compares to round cake, but I was not worried at all since it was to be consumed by myself (and my kids!!!! – see, I do remember I have kids, so I do share :P) anyways. So if you decide to make similar cake as mine, don’t beat yourself too hard if you don’t achieve sharp edges as professional bakers would have.
Thom is made all entirely from chocolate. One of the easiest way to decorate a cake is by using a technique called chocolate transfer.
For chocolate transfer, you will need:
Chocolate chips/baking chocolates/chocolate wafers
Parchment paper
Melt wafers in microwave, at 30 seconds interval, careful not to burn it.
Place in piping paper cone or you can use a ziplock.
You can freely draw/paint the chocolate, or you can use a picture and trace it using the melted chocolate.
Wait until hardened, flip carefully and peel.
Ready to use
I found a nice art (a colorful drawing/painting) on the internet of Thom and I wanted to kind of replicate that. First I did not want to print the art, but rather tracing it to parchment paper which I placed on my smart gadget. It was not that easy. Unlike regular paper, parchment is rather slippery even when I sticky-taped it somehow.
So in the end, I printed the art, placed my parchment paper over it, and trace it directly, using melted chocolate, and thought to myself, d’oh, quicker and easier than on top of a gadget screen, so silly me 😛
Channing Tatum is that you????
For each color of chocolate, you want to wait they dry first before adding other colors, so they don’t bleed or that you would smear the chocolate mistakenly.
Once the whole trace is filled with chocolate, let it harden in the fridge, and you want it to be totally firm/hard. Thom is pretty thick, so remember not to make your character thin, don’t be skimp on the melting chocolate, it would break easily or soften/melt when the weather is too hot
Am not crazy, right? The two pics above do look like Channing Tatum…. somewhat hahahah
While Thom is hardening, I decorated the tier cakes very simply. As the initial art had Thom against a brick, that is how I decorated the cake. To do so, you only need colorful edible pen.
For Thom Yorke cake, you will need:
Square cake and rectangular cake (I used 15 cm x 15 cm chocolate square cake and 9 cm x 17 cm rectangular cake) plus buttercream of your choice
White fondant, either store bought or homemade and shortening for working on the fondant
Various colors of chocolate wafers and chocolate chips
Edible wafer paper and parchment paper
Food colorings, edible food pens
Tools for cake decorating (rolling pin, brushes, scissor, etc)
And prints of Thom Yorke
Knead fondant with a little shortening, roll flat, and cover your cakes. Stack them with dowels or hard straw (for bubble tea). Decorate with edible food pen and food coloring (such as for paint splatters and bricks).
Obviously I wanted to decorate a little more, so I grabbed an edible paper, and drew music notes (using edible pen as well), which then I cut with scissor. Since Thom Yorke is a brilliant musician, I thought of making music notes coming out of his head, all over, somehow, but decided to just attached one.
Once Thom is hard, peel of the parchment paper. Pipe generous dabs of melted chocolate on the cake to secure Thom. You want to lift Thom carefully, because you know, sometime shits happen 😛 You might drop it to the floor and there you go, your hard work haha I also did the same for the music note, a melted chocolate on the cake and pressed the paper on it.
There you go, a simple cake decorating idea 😀
