Today, we are going to show you how to make adorable cakes and cupcakes with chocolate candy coating in this Springtime Flowers in Chocolate tutorial!
Candy coating is one of my absolute favorite mediums to work with for all sorts of decorative cake accents. The best part of working with candy coating (aka chocolate bark, confectioner’s coating, compound chocolate, candy melts, etc.) – is that you can create your chocolate accents, chill for them just a few minutes to set, and they are ready to place on your cake or cupcakes!
Pink, Green, Yellow & White are the colors of the day~ and bright, cheerful flowers!
Are you ready?
We started with our melted candy coating, tinted with Wilton Pink candy coloring, which was in a piping bag fitted with a Wilton tip 3.
I began by piping a small daisy shape, and continued around and around, adding more “loopy petals” until we reached the size that we liked. I usually pipe each flower from start to finish with very few (if any) breaks…but I made an exception in my photos below so that you could get a better look at the process. Here’s a quick step-by-step ~
(***I am piping my chocolate onto a wax paper lined cookie sheet)
Here’s a closeup of one of our flowers…
I decided to add some Wilton Yellow Sugar Pearls to the center. If the chocolate has already set, just pipe a little fresh chocolate in the center so that the pearls will stay in place.
Here are some more flowers tinted with the same Wilton Pink Candy Color–I just used less for a lighter shade.
Now for the fun part! –After chilling the flowers in the refrigerator until firm, I pressed the flowers onto our cupcakes and cake. Run your hand beneath the waxed paper to release each flower. I used buttercream, tinted with Americolor Electric Green, to frost my cakes and cupcakes.
For the frosted cake, which was combed with an Ateco comb, I used a little smear of buttercream to glue the flowers to the cake. My buttercream border is piped with a Wilton medium round tip 12.
I love this loose and cheerful style for flowers, and you can see lots of similar variations of this style in everything from fashion and fabrics to sweets! I also love that without the sugar pearl centers, these accents resemble crocheted lace appliqués.–
Here we are!
A Few Notes for you to Keep in Mind:
You can buy pre-colored candy coating (Candy Melts, etc.). However, if you are tinting your own as I did, you’ll want to tint your chocolate with candy coloring (which is oil based) or coloring powder. The usual coloring gels for frosting & fondant will cause your chocolate to seize. Water causes the melted candy coating to seize also.
Another option in a pinch is that you can paint your white chocolate pieces using petal dust mixed with a little vodka or lemon extract. (Coloring gel mixed with vodka/extract doesn’t cover well.)
*I like to keep my pieces in the fridge and pull them out a few at a time as needed. It makes them less fragile when handling. However, once on the cake or cupcakes, they should hold up just fine at room temperature.
* My cake is a 6 inch round and is approximately 7 inches tall. There is a cake board about halfway up with bubble tea straw supports beneath. This keeps such a tall cake nice and sturdy, and keeps the serving sizes manageable. The look would be beautiful on shorter cakes as well.
HERMOSO!!!
Lovely tutorial – thanks for that! :)
Ooooo! Love this idea!!! So inspiring Michelle!! I’m so glad I joined your classes, learning so much from you!!! Best Teacher!!!! :D
Thankyou will definatley give these a go :)
that is so pretty, you have such wonderful ideas,
thanks
So cute!! Puts me in the mood for Spring. Can’t wait to try this. Thanks, Melissa!
Thank you for these simple instructions that make me feel like I could actually create a beautiful cake too!
Precious, delicate and full of Joy! Thanks for another great idea! Love it!
Hi Melissa – these are so cute, and I tried making a few tonight for a cake I’m doing in a couple of weeks. They are very easy. However, I had a hard time with my candy melts starting to firm up in the piping bag (and in the tip!). How did you deal with this or prevent it? Thanks!
These are really lovely, can’t wait to try it. Thanks for the clear tutorial and brilliant photos. jacqui @ cake.gb.com xx
Hi jamimess– I didn’t have trouble with my chocolate firming up before I was finished. I pipe my flowers quickly and so that may be why…or maybe the brand of candy coating differs slightly in the amount of time it takes to thicken, or maybe my chocolate was just a little warmer to begin with. Also, if your bag was ever resting on a cold countertop, or if your piping tip was cold, that could also be an explanation. Towards the end of my piping, my chocolate was a little thicker, but it never made it to the point of being too firm. However, I did have to melt more chocolate when I ran out, and cleaning out the tips is a pain. So, it’s good if you have a few on hand and then clean them out later. (Any drops of water will cause the chocolate to seize) —
**You really may want to skip the tips altogether and just snip the very end of your piping bag. This will even allow you to pop the bag in the microwave for a few seconds if the chocolate sets up before you are ready. Let us know how it goes!
Wow those look lovely! I’m definitely trying them. Thx for the tutorial :)
Thanx for lovely tutorial
I have a question
How do you get your chocolate to work with the metal tips? everytime I try to do that, it just hardens as soon as it hits the tip. Is there a trick to this? Do I just need to wait till summer when it’s a lot hotter? :)
Hi Deniece– I don’t have that problem but if your piping tips are cold, then it will firm the chocolate up in a hurry. You can skip the metal piping tip altogether & just snip the tip off of your piping bag! ;0) –
Very pretty and yet so simple! Thanks for the great ideas & inspiration!
~ marie
So fun. Using similar and previous design on a carrot cake
Thank you for demystifying what looks to be vey complicated. The amount of detail is very much appreciated. I might even be able to create those cute little flowers!
Just love these cakes,can’t wait to make them ,Thanks for your lovely tutorials Melissa.
Wow Melissa that is gorgeous. Thanks for a great spring idea
Hola, buen dia!!!
Es maravilloso despertar y encontrarse con este hermoso tutorial q has compartido, es una belleza, muy facil y practica.
Ahora solo falta ponerlas en practica :-D
Saludos
Love the flowers! I will have to try this on some cupcakes! Thanks for sharing!
What a great idea, and so easy to follow.
a tip to jamimess – use squeeze bottle to pipe , that way u can pop it in microwave to heat if it gets hard.
love the look of your work here… super cute…… thanks for sharing with all of us your pretty flower decorations and cake……
I tried this today, not using a tip and melting the candy in the disposable bag. Worked well, looked really cute.
That’s great, thanks for letting us know!!
Gracias, excelente idea, quedó hermoso el trabajo final
Just lovely! Thank you.
beautiful fondant cake. A curiosity that I have, is how a piece of cake is left? It seems a perfect cake with cupcakes even as a wedding cake.
Thanks Melissa, I can’t wait to make some of these ! Beautiful and whimsical !
I. Love. This! Thankyou!
So pretty!
I absolutely LOVE this look….I’m definitely going to give it a try. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I was wondering if these could be made ahead of time and frozen. I am doing a wedding cake and cupcakes and the bride really likes these. But my sister is the bride, so I am strapped for time. LOL Thanks!!
Thank you for all of your comments!! —
@Amy–are you asking if the chocolate flowers can be frozen, or everything (frosted cake and cupcakes, etc.) —
If you are asking about just the decorations, then you can definitely do these days in advance. I usually just keep them in a cool room or refrigerate. Freezing can sometimes do funny things to the consistency of color.
You can bake the layers and cupcakes, wrap and freeze in advance. Then, warm to room temp when you are ready to decorate. I prefer doing that over freezing the frosted cake and cupcakes simply because it cuts out that extra worry of condensation. Then, you can refrigerate for a day or two.
Glad that you are making these! ;0)
Melissa, Thanks for responding. Yeah I was just wondering about the chocolate pieces. I was already planning on freezing the cake layers ahead of time and then thawing and decorating them the day before.
I am so happy my girlfriend in Canada shared your site with me. You are both so amazing!!! I love this chocolate melt idea. when I have left overs from another project I can make a few flowers and keep them in the fridge
Thanks for all you do
How many layers is the cake in the picture?
Hi Lauren, the cake is approx 7 inches tall. There are 3 six inch layers, bubble tea straws (dowels) for support of upper layer……a cake board then another two six inch layers. The design would also look good on a shorter cake.
these flowers are super cute!! im gonna use them for my daughters 3rd birthday (tea party). thank you so much!
Hi Melissa, these are beautiful. I plan to make these for my daughter’s birthday in 2 weeks. I tried making two on last Saturday using Wilton candy melts .. it was impossible to get it out when I used a coupler and a tip, may be as you mentioned the tip could be cold. It was a little easier with snipping up the bag, but then since the bag tip is not round, it came out flat instead of looking full, if you can understand what I mean. What brand/product chocolate do you use for these ? Thanks a lot for the tutorial !
I just made a few with almond bark, came back to write a comment to let you know that it made world of a difference ! Wilton candy melts doesn’t work as good :)
Thanks again !
Thanks so much for the update! Great to hear your feedback and I’m glad that it worked for you this time!
Hi
thank you so much, I am so happy to be part of mycakeschool.com
My cakes have improved and my clients are very happy.
Can this be done with royal icing? I am doing this for a wedding and its very hot. Do you recommend it? Thanks in advance :)
Those are so cute. You make things look so easy, yet elegant. I really want to make some of those along with the modeling frosting I saw you work with. And the topsy tervie cake… Who knew… Glad I signed up for these classes. Thanks Melissa and Bebe.
Hi Delores, thank you, Melissa and I appreciate your nice comments.
Simple but very elegant. Thanks for the step by step detailed explanation for your creations.
This is so easy and elegant at the same time.. thanks for sharing :)!
Awesome…thank you for the step by step pictures. I have never worked with candy melts…so I have something new to try. Love your blog and tutorials…keep them coming!
I used a bag and tip and they didn’t turn out. I then read the responses and tried a bottle made for candy decorating. It made ALL the difference in the world. I made all my flowers today and will attempt the cake tomorrow! Thanks for sharing!
Just put a plastic coupler on your bag, then you can remove the tip easily and rewarm bag in microwave.
Hi there
My cake is decorated with whipped cream, can I place these chocolate flower decorations on it or will they melt by the wetness of the whipped cream?
Thanks for letting me know.
Hi Christine, I think the flowers would begin to soften in the whipped cream frosting. You would need to put them on just before serving for it to work.
Vou aproveitar esta dica e irei fazer como tema no niver de minha filha.
Beautiful job. I will be doing something simular for a shower cake. Thanks for the inspiration
Great work, weldone
What is the difference between Wilton Candy Color and Wilton Icing Color? I’ve used their regular icing color to color candy melts but wondering if I need the candy color product. :) TIA!
Hi Dee, Wilton Candy Color is an oil based color that can be used to color white chocolate and also candy melts. Using icing color on chocolate will cause it to seize ( become hard and crumbly and impossible to use) Wilton Icing Color is used to color buttercream, cake batter, royal icing, fondant, gum paste……things that are not oil based.
I really want to make this flowers. you give the ingredients but don’t give the actual recipe of how much. Would you please post the exact recipe to make these flowers? Thank you
Hi Lori, Actually, no recipe, we just melted and tinted the candy coating, (chocolate bark, or candy melts) It melts quickly in the microwave, so just melt the amount you think you might need for the number of flowers you would like to pipe.
tres jolis travaille
Will these flowers ok for cream cheese frosting? Thanks.
Hi, can I use white chocolate for the flowers?
Can you use a mold rather than free hand. I’m not steady enough to free hand and thought if you lightly coated the mold with a non stick spray then poured the chocolate in the mold it would come out without breaking. ??
Hello, great tutorial!!
What kind of icing is on the cake?