Different types of chocolate

Read about how chocolate is prepared, and their different types. If you are obsessed about chocolate decoration, you will probably leave halfway whatever you are doing right now and go through instead!  
Each year, the finest cocoa beans are picked from different parts of the world and a good number of their varieties are blended to achieve that distinguished, deep and rich flavour that chocolate lovers crave for.

After roasting at high temperature to get the rich chocolate flavour, the cocoa beans are shelled and the remaining nibs are carefully crushed into a thick, evenly formed rich liquid called the chocolate liquor.  The liquid is then modified, altered or moulded in a number of ways to produce a range of chocolate products and decoration items.

Unsweetened chocolate
Unsweetened variety is the most pure form. It is satin smooth, highly rich in cocoa butter and good for baking. It is however too bitter to eat but it provides great flavour to brownies and cakes. Unsweetened chocolate is usually prepared by blending fine cocoa beans which are roasted, crushed and ground in massive heated rollers.

Semi-sweet chocolate
This type of chocolate is also prepared following the process of unsweetened chocolate but it’s usually made richer by adding sugar, cocoa butter and vanilla. It’s nice for garnish and fondues.
Bittersweet chocolate
It contains chocolate liquor, additional cocoa butter and sugar. It’s dark because of high chocolate liquor content.

Milk chocolate
The name suggests that it’s prepared using milk solids, cocoa butter and sugar. We all love to eat this as a candy bar.

White chocolate 
It’s made using cocoa butter, milk and sugar without cocoa solids. It’s often used as coating for edible products. Technically it is not a chocolate!

So, this is the broad classification. Now when it comes to chocolate decorations, there are choco chips, shortcake balls, choco curls, choco spaghettis and many more. Click the link above to explore.  

About Cake Sprinkles

Sprinkles are very tiny pieces of confectionery commonly used in decoration or to add different variety of texture onto cupcakes, cakes, doughnuts and other forms of edible content. In the Netherlands and Australia, people even savour them on the flavoured sandwiches and breads. Tiny candies are prepared in a variety of colours and are used as a food topping or a decorative element.

These toppings make the bases more enjoyable. Many people even call them jimmies. Actually there is no functional difference between jimmies and sprinkles. Those are only two names. If you are in Boston, Philadelphia, or somewhere else in the inland US, you might ask a vendor for jimmies. New Yorkers usually say sprinkles.

How to buy your sprinkles?
You can get your sprinkles at a cake décor store or from supermarkets. But to save on time, effort and money; check out the online options. There are so many vendors online who supply a range of chocolate decorations, cake decorations including a variety of sprinkles. You can choose the products based on your custom requirements. If you buy sprinkles online in bulk you can even ask for discounted rates.

But before you choose a vendor, you need to do some research work. Browse into a number of websites and learn the details of each and every sprinkle product on display. You should look for a site that has a reputation and never uses any artificial ingredient. Artificial substances, used in cake decoration and sprinkle products can cause serious health issues.

Besides many supplier sites post instructions, tips and recipes which can be useful. Cake sprinkles with no artificial colour, flavor and hydrogenated fats are safe for children. You should go through the client testimonials also. To know more about sprinkles, cake décor, and edible decoration products; please click the website. You can compare, buy and choose from a range of affordable products that are true value for money.

About different types of icing

Selecting proper quantity of icing and spreading it evenly on an edible content is always a fun thing to do as much as it is a learning achievement. Icing can be of different types, and you can mould, modify and customize in accordance with the personalized and/or budgetary requirements.

At this brief blog, we aim to let you know about 3 basic icings you would love to prepare at home and use on your edible content to not only impress your guests but also to give the cake a mouth-watering facelift.  

Butter cream
Butter cream icing is prepared by mixing butter with icing sugar, vanilla, and milk. When done, it yields into a creamy, soft and delicious icing spread which is good to go over a cake or piped into nice patterns. Perfect for small cakes; (read cupcakes) it can be flavoured with a range of improved colour and chocolate variations

Fondant
The shiny, tasty icing can be rolled out to cover fruit and even chocolate mud cakes. Its firmness helps keep cakes fresh and so it is used to decorate wedding cakes, and other types of cakes that require travelling a certain distance.

Meringue 
This is an American-styled frosting and usually prepared using egg white, caster sugar and water. After whipping, it is spread onto a cake using a palette knife. The top of the cake looks awesome when decorated with fresh edible flowers. The icing sets quickly and so you need to be quicker if you want to add sprinkles

Other than the ones mentioned above, you can even choose from other varieties of icing decorations such as Ganache, cream cheese icing, royal icing etc. While we cover part 2 of this article with introduction to those icing varieties, please take out time to visit the website. Cake Décor Group has a range of cake decorations and they do provide doorstep delivery.

A brief overview of Sprinkles

Sprinkles are very small pieces of confectionery commonly used as a popular decoration product or to bring texture to desserts such as cookies, cakes, cupcakes, ice cream etc. They are even used to decorate sandwiches and breads in Netherlands and Australia.

Types
Manufacturers often label sprinkles in different ways – depending on the colour, nature of use and flavour, but for a common consumer these are simply decorative items that are sprinkled randomly over the surface of an edible content, contrary to decorations that are evenly placed at singular spots. Sprinkles are becoming a popular decorative content because of their use and colour.

Uses
Sprinkles generally require icings or frostings to remain stuck to the cakes and cupcakes. Those are available in different patterns and as mentioned above in different offerings and colour combinations. You can get those purchased from décor stores or super markets.

One of the most popular form of sprinkles is the rainbow sprinkle that comes in unique colour combinations. These sprinkles are more commonly used in designing cakes. In one of our earlier articles, we covered how to use sprinkles to decorate a rainbow sprinkle cake. If designed properly with right amount of sprinkles, the cake becomes an awesome piece of art!

Where to buy your sprinkles
You can buy sprinkles at a décor store, but if you want to save on money, time, and effort, which everyone wants to, the right mode of buying is online. There are vendors who provide affordable variety of quality sprinkles. If you buy in bulk, you can request for discounts.

One such sprinkle supplier is Cake Décor. They are known for making cake sprinkles with no artificial colour, no artificial flavour and no hydrogenated fats. To know about their sprinkles, compare the products and buy one; please visit their website.

How safe are cake glitters?

This blog post is an extension of a news article published in The Telegraph in the year 2012. Because the topic is still relevant and its significance has not diminished yet, we thought to do a follow-up so that consumers, who buy glitters for decoration and consumption, become informed consumers.

An investigation by food security authorities found that some glitters used for cake decorations were unsuitable for human consumption and in most cases suited exclusively for use on greetings card. Even many of the glitters were made from low-quality non-edible polyester plastic. When the plastic glitter was held under a microscope, it was shown that these are made with hexagonal fragments with jagged edges. Too bad, literally! If that was not enough, in one of such cases they even found finely powdered brass in glitter content.

The problem is most sellers label these glitters as non-toxic– which does not confirm whether it is safe to eat or not. Then, small-scale craft bakers and cupcake-makers assume that the toppings sold by the sellers are safe for consumption and they can use the products.

Given the gravity of the situation, it has been made clear that only glitters that are marked as ‘suitable for eating’ should be used for decorating cakes, pastries and consumption.

As a consumer, what should you do?
As mentioned above, if you are going to use glitters only for decoration, any type of glitter can work. But if you need them on the cakes and for consumption, buy after carefully reading the label. To save on time, and money, you can buy cake glitters online.

A good glitter supplier to consider is Cake Décor Group. Their products are 100% natural with no artificial colour, flavour and hydrogenated fat. You can choose from a range of products and select an offering depending on your budget.

How to Make Your Edible Glitter

Who said you can’t consume glitter? Well, we are not talking about glitters that are made from artificial ingredients and exclusively meant for decoration purpose. We are talking about the glitters that are good for both decoration and consumption, which are naturally prepared without the inclusion of any artificial substances.

The good news is such glitters are readily available at décor stores in a variety of colour and flavours. But then if you want to make a few batches of edible glitters yourself, you can do it very easily. All you require are some simple ingredients–

½ cup of white sugar

Coloured liquid food dye

Step 1 –
Put ¼ cup of white sugar into two bowls. Once done, add ½ tablespoon of coloured liquid dye into each sugar bowl.
It’s time for you to coat the sugar. So, start by stirring the dye into sugar with a fork or spoon. Repeat the step with different colour combinations.

Step 2 –
Preheat your oven. Get a parchment paper and spread the dyed sugar on the paper. Bake your glitter for around 8-10 minutes. Once you are sure you can break up the chunks, get them off your oven.
Once the process is done, you can store your glitters into jars or bowls and start using.

So, the process is simple and easy, takes a few minutes and you require ingredients readily available at your home. It is always a good idea to prepare your edible glitter at home to save on time, and money.

Home-made edible glitter is even good for quality. But in case you are thinking to order your products from a vendor, get yours online. There are some vendors who provide naturally sourced edible glitter and other decoration products at an affordable rate; that too without compromising the quality. Order your glitter sugar from one such vendor, now!

Cake decoration Trends of the year

The trends related to cake decorations change while the basic influences remain constant. Be it just any type of cake – a wedding cake, a graduation cake or a birthday cake – each type of occasion deserves a special care from the cake makers. The more detailed, event-specific and practical the cake is, it becomes more sought-after. As far as the cake and dessert decoration trends of the year (2015) are concerned, the limelight is on aromatic flavours, bold patterns and inclusion of diverse ingredients.

Some of the most popular trends of the year so far –

Use of Middle Eastern and North African flavours
Middle Eastern and North African spices occupy a special position in baking. The rich flavour of Za’atar, Aleppo peepers and other rich spices bring complex flavours that pair very well with dark chocolate, sweet treats. They are often used in baking so that the cake gets a different taste.

Dessert mashups
Cake and dessert enthusiasts are work hard to give their innovations a twisting personality by mashing-up and re-mixing flavours into each other – such as mixing cake flavours into cookies, cookies into ice cream and so on!
A more dignified ruffled cake
Ruffled cake is a very popular cake theme for years, and this time experts are finishing it off with bold patterns and fresh flowers in and between the tiers; earning a sophisticated look and colourful, natural flavour.

The flower statement
Freshly-bloomed blossoms like peonies and ranunculi add unique designs to cakes.  The addition of flowers earn the cakes colour and a bold statement.

Other trends
Modelling cakes with thick chocolates or giving it a butter cream texture is in the trend now. Bold patterns and cakes painted with gold embellishment are also in-things.

For other trends, do not forget to keep reading our blog. Meanwhile, if you want to design your cake; why not visit this website – a unique assortment of different types of designing products are available for you to compare, choose and buy. Buy cake decorations products affordably!