Best way to make chocolate curls?

[wheresJenny]

Hi all- I have a great white chocolate cheesecake that I make every year for Thanksgiving- I always try to top it with chocolate curls, and I most of the time fail miserably at it and end up sprinkling it with what amounts to chocolate flakes (ie the failed curls). Help or advice? Thank you!

 

[Dawgluver]

Have you tried a vegetable peeler? That's how Ina Garten does hers.

Welcome to DC!

 

[bakechef]

I use a vegetable peeler. Make sure that your chocolate is room temp or slightly warmer. I often put mine on top of the fridge for about a 1/2 hour, it is slightly warmer there and will peel a bit better.

This is how mine usually come out.

 

[Andy M.]

Here's another way: How to Make Chocolate Curls - Decorating and Making Chocolate Curls

 

[wheresJenny]

Thanks you guys! Bake- The cake is beautiful! Andy, I think I will try the molding chocolate as it says in the link. It may be that some of the trouble I have is due to a very dry climate, so maybe the molding chocolate will be more elastic...?

 

[mudbug]

wow, that's pretty, Bakechef. is it a flan, or ?????

 

[bakechef]

It's an orange swirl cheesecake.

 

[wheresJenny]

Ok - the melting chocolate worked a little better, and the temperature matters a lot! But... Still not super excited about the end product-

 

[wheresJenny]

There it is- white chocolate cheesecake with chocolate curls!

 

[buckytom]

you might try using a mandolin or a cheese knife.

 

[wheresJenny]

Thx Tom - I used a cheese plane - see pic above...

 

[wheresJenny]

Hey my cheesecake won a contest at work yesterday!

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Hey my cheesecake won a contest at work yesterday!

Congratulations!

 

[wheresJenny]

. Thanks! I've never won a cooking contest before!

 

[PrincessFiona60]

. Thanks! I've never won a cooking contest before!

Now you must post your prize-winning recipe in the Cakes Forum.

 

[Soma]

Beautiful cake!

I have been wanting a 'butter curler' tool for awhile....to take to potlucks with monks who fill their big bowls, from which they eat with small spoons. I've seen them struggle to put butter onto their food, and was thinking that butter curls would make their eat easier.....

but I can't find a butter curler locally; can order one from Amazon.com. Perhaps a cheese cutter would work on butter?

 

[taxlady]

Beautiful cake!

I have been wanting a 'butter curler' tool for awhile....to take to potlucks with monks who fill their big bowls, from which they eat with small spoons. I've seen them struggle to put butter onto their food, and was thinking that butter curls would make their eat easier.....

but I can't find a butter curler locally; can order one from Amazon.com. Perhaps a cheese cutter would work on butter?

I sometimes use a cheese plane when my butter is cold & hard. It doesn't curl very much for me.

I would think one could curl butter by scraping with a teaspoon.

 

[Soma]

have you tried this, taxlady? doesn't work for me....I might bite the bullet and buy a butter curler off Amazon.

 

[wheresJenny]

Thanks! . I will post the recipe ...

I haven't tried it on butter, but if it's anything like the chocolate the temperature will matter a lot. Cold and hard just crumbles, too warm and soft just mooshes. I'll guess that the transition between too hard and too soft happens a lot faster with butter than chocolate.

Did you try a vegetable peeler ? Someone here suggested that for the chocolate. It makes thinner curls and I found it more difficult to get the right angle on the chocolate but maybe it would work better with butter.

 

[taxlady]

have you tried this, taxlady? doesn't work for me....I might bite the bullet and buy a butter curler off Amazon.

Nope, haven't tried. Maybe it's temperature dependant. I often get curls with a knife, if the butter is cold and hard. Of course, that's when I'm not trying for curls