Chocolate curls are a simple and elegant garnish that would be lovely on top of cupcakes, cake or frosted cookies. My first time making chocolate curls was when I was practicing for the wedding. I was worried that making chocolate curls would be so time-consuming that it wouldn’t be feasible to use them on cupcakes for the wedding, but they don’t take too long to make.
The process for making the chocolate curls is simple. Getting the chocolate to just the right temperature to curl is… less simple. Once you melt the chocolate and shortening and spread it in a thin layer on a cookie sheet you can put it in the freezer to help the chocolate chill faster. I found that 4-5 minutes in the freezer was long enough. When it’s the right temperature, you should be able to leave a very slight indent in the chocolate when you firmly press your finger into it. If you start scraping the chocolate and it’s breaking, the chocolate is too cold so let it sit at room temperature for a minute or two, then try again. If the chocolate is just smooshing up against the spatula, it needs a few more minutes in the freezer.
White Chocolate Curls
Ingredients
- 3 oz. chocolate (dark, semi-sweet, white, whatever you’d like!), finely chopped
- 1 tbl. shortening
- Melt and chocolate and shortening in a double boiler, stirring occasionally until smooth.
- Use a metal cookie sheet (a plain one that doesn’t have non-stick coating on it), flip the cookie sheet over and use an off-set spatula to spread the chocolate out into a very thin layer. Place in the freezer for a few minutes until firm.
- Press a sharp, metal spatula into the chocolate and slowly push it forward so the chocolate curls. Use a toothpick to transport the chocolate curl to a plate or container. Store in the freezer until you’re ready to use them.
Honestly, I’ve always been a little intimidated by chocolate curls, so I’ve never tried them…thanks for sharing, maybe I’ll be brave & try it sometime
Give it a try, it’s way easier that it looks! I was intimidated too, but it’s really not hard!
Is there an alternative to shortening? I try to avoid it when baking. You made this look so simple, I’m scared to attempt it.
I haven’t tried it with anything other than shortening. I usually try to avoid it when I can as well, but I figured it was such a small amount in this recipe that I didn’t worry about it. If you google ‘how to make chocolate curls’ other recipes will come up that just use chocolate (no shortening). For now I’m sticking with the method I wrote about since it was so easy, but it looks like there are other methods out there if you want to avoid the shortening. If you try any of them please let me know how they turn out!