Edible Art Techniques
Beyond the radish rose
by Stephanie Kern

When it comes to edible art, the standard radish rose always comes to mind. But there are other simple yet impressive techniques out there. Apply the following techniques to any dessert and up the wow factor of your final course.

Chocolate Mint Leaves
Here’s a technique that is super simple yet still has an impact.

You’ll need: some mint leaves, a few bakers chocolate squares, a small paint brush (the kind you would do art with—imagine that?!), a few chopsticks and lastly, wax paper.

Melt the chocolate in the microwave for about one minute, then stir until smooth.

Set out a piece of wax paper with a chopstick on top. Paint the chocolate to cover the underside of the leaf. This is not a time to conserve chocolate, so really layer it on or the chocolate won’t peel off later.

Set aside the leaf—chocolate side up—over the chopstick. Repeat with as many leaves as you like.

Place in the refrigerator for 15 minutes and then peel the leaf away from the chocolate. While the method is simple, it will make you want to pull out your hair if it is very humid or if your mint leaves are a little wilted (or both, in my case).

Uses: Place leaves on top of mint chocolate cupcakes, plain cheesecake or use to garnish vanilla ice cream.

Truffle Eggs
If you have never made chocolate truffles before you should give it a go—it’s much easier than you might think and they taste unbelievably delicious.

Any recipe for truffles will do, and once they have set in the fridge for about 10 minutes hand form pieces into egg shapes and place in the freezer for an hour.

In the meantime prepare the coating. Melt chocolate over a pot of simmering water. Once the chocolate is fully melted, split it into two bowls (if you plan on using two different colours).

Using gel paste food colouring (useful for its thick consistency, so it won’t add liquid to the chocolate) make a zigzag design in the bowl and swirl with a fork.

Let the coating cool slightly and then drop in an egg truffle, rolling it around so that the swirled mixture coats it entirely.
Remove from bowl and place on parchment paper
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When all the eggs have been dipped put back in the fridge for another hour.

Gel paste food colouring isn’t everywhere; however, many Bulk Barns carry it, as well as many other hard-to-come-by baking related ingredients.

Uses: Make a great cake topper or serve alone on top of a “nest” of shaved chocolate.

Sugared Edible Flowers
So easy to create, the hardest part of making sugared edible flowers is finding the flowers themselves! They are beautiful and definitely worth the trek to either Augusta Fruit Market in Kensington, Harvest Wagon in Rosedale or St. Lawrence Market.
All you need: is a small paintbrush and a teaspoon of water whisked together with the egg white of one large egg.
Paint each flower petal with the egg white mixture, then sprinkle with superfine sugar.
Place the flowers on parchment paper and leave out on the countertop overnight. The egg white will dry and the sugar will sparkle, creating an impressive effect.

Uses: Garnish cupcakes or, well, pretty much any dessert going…

All of these edible art techniques can also be used to garnish store-bought desserts—hey, I won’t tell if you won’t tell! All that really matters is that you tried something new and surprised yourself with how artistic you can be in the kitchen!

(All recipes courtesy of Martha Stewart’s magazines.)

Stephanie Kern is an event planner at Hart House, a trained chef and is certified by the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers.