Conquering the Heat

I have received numerous emails from people living in tropical climates. Most of these emails expressed some frustration with the Chocolate Method and getting the designs to set and not blur, or whipping up batches of buttercream that don't turn to soup. Seeing as New York does get pretty hot and humid in the summer I have had to deal with these problems to a certain extent, although we do have some air-conditioning. (See older blog posts for some quick fixes in the heat)

I was thrilled to receive an email from Nicholai in the Philippines who has mastered the Chocolate Method, despite not having air-conditioning, and uses our buttercream recipe as well.

Here is what Nicholai has to share... words and pictures.

I don't have an air conditioned kitchen. In fact, I do my decors while people are cooking and roasting something so you can just imagine how hot the surrounding is.

The colored chocolates I use are the ones sold in blocks. It comes in red, yellow, blue, dark green, violet, orange and pink. I don't know if it's the same as the wafer chocolates you've mentioned in your book. The store owner, whom I buy from, said they're compound chocolates. I cut them into cubes for easy mixing and melting. It's easy to melt but hardens quite fast even if the weather is hot.

I have to work with a microwave oven beside me when I'm doing the artworks so I can just pop my cones inside to heat for about 7 to 10 seconds to maintain the flowing consistency of the chocolate in the cone. I've tried having a pot of hot water with a shallow aluminum pan on top but my chocolates tend to seize when I leave them too long on the pan. I haven't tried a heating pad though. For now the microwave works best for me:)

I follow your instructions in the book when I start drawing. Candy colors are not available here so i mix colors and create shades using vegetable oil to thin the colors and use a paint brush to apply them. Once I'm done with the decors, I let them harden on a cookie tray until I need to place them on a cake or cupcake. Before I flip them, I put them in the freezer for about 5 minutes. The decor comes out smooth, shiny and sturdy. If I put it in the freezer while the chocolate is still soft, it tends to crack, so letting it sit until it hardens is very important, which takes about 15 minutes. Sometimes longer when the weather is really hot. What I find quite ironic is, when I leave the chocolate decors inside the freezer longer, they tends to melt faster. It happened to once or twice, thinking that leaving them longer will make it harder but the opposite happened. So now I follow a strict 5 minute rule :)

The only problem I come across with when I put them in the freezer is the sweating, which I resolve by laying the decors on a smooth facial tissue face down before arranging them on the cake. I only need to do this when I do big cakes and big batches of cupcakes and decors need to wait before I can arrange them. But most of the time, I try to work fast and arrange the decors straight from the freezer.

If I don't do this process, what happens is, the details stick on the cellophane and I'm left with the last layer of chocolate I applied. I also use latex gloves when I handle the decors so as not to leave finger prints on them and let the heat from my hands melt the details.

When I do big decors, I put popsicle stick(s) at the back to support the its weight and prevent from cracking. I also let the chocolate harden longer, about an hour or more to make sure it doesn't crack and clings to the popsicle frame properly.

When I have enough time, I do the decors ahead of time, let them harden as long as over night, put them in the freezer for 5 minutes, flip them over, let the sweating dry up and arrange them in an air tight container on a parchment paper. I just leave them at room temperature which is most of the time around 24F to 28F.

During summer time, when it's really really hot, I work at night when it's cooler and the kitchen is not busy.

I haven't really encountered a total melt down with your chocolate method. Our hot and humid weather is a challenge to work with in cake decorating but yours hold up the best compared to the others even if the parties I serve are held outdoors.

I hope what I wrote above can help your followers from tropical countries like mine and accomplish what I have using your magical technique.