A rich chocolate cake is an enduring favourite that will forever be requested from bakers and cake decorators. So we’ve put together a selection of some of the most stand-out chocolate cake designs plus tutorials to inspire your chocolate cake decorating.
The stunning creation (top left) by Jessica Vu takes a tall, cube-shaped chocolate cake and sets it off with a giant statement sugar peony to create a masterpiece in cake art. (You’ll find a peony tutorial on our Cake Tutorials page here.)
Jacqueline Butler of PetalSweet, one of the worlds most admired sugar flower experts, has created a smooth and chic chocolate cake above right, accessorised with a show-stopping splash of purple anemones and stephanotis blossoms for a super stylish luxe chocolate cake. (Check out the PetalSweet blog above for more details on Jacqueline’s international teaching dates. In the meantime, you will find an anemone tutorial here.)
While sugar flowers have traditionally been paired with white iced cakes, the cake trend setters above have proven that chocolate is one of the best canvases for showcasing amazing sugar floristry, with two more beautiful examples below by Ara Galetes via Craftsy (left) and by Mina Magiska Bakverk (My Magical Bakery in Sweden) right.
Double-barrel cakes have been a huge design trend for the last while in iced cake decorating and the trend has crossed over into chocolate cake decorating too. We have two fabulous “tall-boy” chocolate cakes below from Sweden’s Made by Mary (left) and via Tumblr (right). Chocolate wedding cake expert, Nicky Grant shows you how to decorate a cake with a chocolate wrap in this tutorial here: chocolate wrap cake tutorial.
Chocolate shards add a terrific dramatic effect to any chocolate creation whether in dark chocolate or white. You’ll find a tutorial here to help you make these great chocolate cake decorations: chocolate shards tutorial. (Cake below left via the former Willow Blog and below right, via Southern Living).
Chocolate superstars Choccywoccydoodah never fail to impress with their chocolate fantasy cakes. The design below left features a abstract sculpture of white chocolate fans resting on a cake finished with their signature dripping ganache effect. (You’ll find a chocolate fan tutorial here.)
South Africa’s chocolate master Kanya Hunt right created a show-stopping dessert cake (below right) to grace the most elegant dinner tables with a white chocolate fan rose and glossy chocolate ganache. (For a super shiny chocolate covering, you find a receipe for chocolate glaze here from Rachel Allen.)
Chocolate curls fashioned into a chocolate ruffle corsage create a beautiful cake top decoration from Curly Girl Kitchen, below left. (You’ll find a chocolate curl tutorial here.)
Below right is another exquisite chocolate dessert idea with modelling chocolate rolled extra thin, then wrapped around a mini chocolate cake with the surplus bunched together at the top (by pastry chef, David Calleja at the Westin Hotel, Malta). Simple, rustic and divine.
More exquisite chocolate cake decorating ideas below with a multitude of chocolate roses for the ultimate in chocolate cake luxury. Below right, Zoe Bakes have created a beautiful chocolate gift cake and below left, chocolate triangles have been cleverly arranged to create the effect of chocolate rose bouquet cake (via Pinterest).
The chocolate roses can be piped with chocolate buttercream or chocolate ganache (see tutorial here: how to pipe a rose) or can be hand-made from modelling chocolate (see chocolate rose tutorial here).
San Franciso’s famed pastry shop Miette have created one of the most simple, but most elegant chocolate cakes of the last few years – their iconic “Tomboy” cake below with a swirl of pink buttercream and a single sugar rose.
The popular baking blog Lemon Sugar have featured the scumptious chocolate cake decorating idea below – the “hot chocolate cake” covered in lashings of creamy chocolate ganache and topped with a cocoa-dusted stack of home-made marshmallows.
You’ll find a recipe here to make your own home-made marshmallows (in UK measurements) or you can buy some gourmet home-made marshmallows online at The Maple Cakery.
Two more ultra chic chocolate cake decorating ideas below – a showy chocolate bow created with chocolate transfer acetate sheets in milk and dark chocolate (image via Tumblr) and an über-elegant chocolate seal monogram petit four via Once Wed. You’ll find instructions on how to create this stylish chocolate decoration here: chocolate seal monogram tutorial.
You’ll also find a tutorial here to help you create a wow chocolate bow: chocolate transfer sheet bow tutorial.
A quick and simple chocolate cake decorating technique is to use a cake stencil placed over your cake and then dust with icing sugar. You’ll find the template for the bow stencil (below right) at Martha Stewart Living here: chocolate brownie bow stencil template (no longer available).
The beautiful cake decoration on the right was created with a lace cake stencil, which are available to buy online: lace cake stencils.
If you happen to be the lucky owner of one of the edible lace kits currently on the market, then the cake design below by Bellaria Cakes Design of The Netherlands is a breath-takingly elegant design to inspire you. The chocolate cake creates a dramatic backdrop to highlight the delicate beauty of the lace and the crowning sugar corsage.
