Last Monday the big day arrived: showpiece time. I had prepared several elements over the previous weekend so that on the day itself I only needed to assemble everything into a single piece.
I chose a simple color scheme—dark chocolate and white chocolate colored pink—so the design focused on deep brown and soft pink tones.
I began with the base and the ring, planning three chocolate layers: two dark-brown layers with a pink layer sandwiched between. The dark chocolate layer went smoothly; tempering and pouring worked well. When I moved on to the white chocolate, however, the process slowed. My white chocolate was a bit too warm and took a long time to cool and temper properly. Because of that delay, the dark chocolate had already set too firmly and the pink layer slightly overflowed onto the brown edge instead of meeting it with a crisp, clean line. It was disappointing, but for a first attempt I still thought the result was attractive.
Time lost to tempering meant I couldn’t finish some additional decorative elements, like chocolate curls, which I had planned to include. By then I had already made many components, so I decided to keep the piece simpler. I had also prepared several small molded chocolates, finishing some with piped chocolate to resemble tiny cupcakes. I made quite a few but used only a few on the final piece. I’d also created a back panel shape for the showpiece, but ultimately left it out because it would have crowded the composition.
In the end I had produced many elements but used only a selection. The finished showpiece felt balanced—simple, with a retro touch and a modern twist.
I’m very pleased with the final result. Looking back, the only addition I might have made were the chocolate curls; they could have been integrated without overpowering the design. Otherwise I wouldn’t change anything.
Creating this showpiece sparked several new ideas for working with chocolate, and I’m excited to explore them.
What do you think of the final result?