How to create an AWARD WINNING Garnish in a few easy steps

 Last weekend I had the opportunity to help out one of my family members by creating a few delicious desserts to enter into his Holiday work party.

We decided to make my mini cheesecakes with raspberry swirls as well as these cupcakes with a beautiful garnish. I guess I am going to have to come up with a name with them huh?

To my great surprise, the cupcakes took the grand prize! I was so excited I had to share with you how easy it was to create this beautiful garnish. It looks intimidating but really in just a few super easy steps, anyone can make it.

Recipe: How to create a beautiful chocolate garnish
Idea source: Emmy in her Element

You will need:
White baking chocolate/white chocolate chips (7-10 squares)
Semi sweet chocolate chips (1/4-1/2 cup)
Parchment paper
A small glass pan
A fork, a microwaveable bowl, and a strong spatula

Directions:
Take a few squares of your baking chocolate. Place them in a bowl and microwave for just 30 seconds. Stir. You wont be able to stir much but you need to do this each time. Microwave for another 30 seconds. Stir. Now again for 20 seconds. There may be just a few small pieces left un-melted, do not heat again just stir and they will melt. You do not want to overheat chocolate or you will seize it.
Now that the chocolate is silky, take your fork and a small amount of the chocolate and create a "star" movement with the fork in hand onto the parchment paper. These do not have to be perfect! Let them sit out and room temperate until they have set and are no longer glossy. I like to put them in the fridge for about 2 minutes right before I place them on the cupcakes just to really harden them up.

 

 

Use the exact same heating steps for the chocolate chips. 30 seconds at a time and stir in between. My chocolate chips melted a little faster than the white chocolate so they were ready after only two 30 second rounds. Just make sure and stir to melt the remaining chunks until it is silky smooth.

Spread chocolate on the back of a glass pan very thin and smooth.

Let cool and set at room temperature or in a cool room in your basement. Take a strong spatula and scrape chocolate. It will curl and form into pretty little garnish chips. The cooler and stronger the chocolate it set, the better it will curl for you, so be patient!

 

Do you need a great frosting recipe? Go here to use mine. For these cupcakes I simply made one batch of white vanilla cream, and one batch of chocolate buttercream. I used a star frosting tip and a zip lock bag to create the pretty look. If you don't have a frosting tip, just cut a small corner off of the zip lock and use that!

Now you are ready to add your garnish! Make sure and set the cherries out on a paper towel for a little bit to drain all the juice off. You want them to be on the drier side when you use them.