Dark Chocolate Plastique Recipes

Steps:

• Gently melt coconut oil in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir cocoa powder, honey, and vanilla extract into melted oil until well blended. Pour mixture into a candy mold or pliable tray. Refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour.

Steps:

• Arrange a shelf in the lower third of the oven, place a baking stone on it, and preheat the oven to 350°F/177°C.
• Spray VERY GENEROUSLY a 13 x 9 x 2-inch (33 x 23 x 5-cm) rectangular pan or two 9 x 2-inch (23 x 5-cm) round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray. Line the bottom of the round pans with parchment and spray on top of the parchment. With the rectangular pan, line and extend up the long sides with a piece of Release foil or parchment sprayed lightly with nonstick cooking spray.
• In a heavy saucepan, stir together the sugar, salt, cocoa, and baking soda. In another saucepan, bring 1 cup (237 ml) water to a boil. Stirring constantly, pour boiling water a little at a time into the cocoa mixture. It will bubble up at first and then get dark and thicken. Stir the cocoa mixture briskly. Place on the heat and bring back to a boil. Turn off the heat and allow to stand in the hot saucepan for at least 10 minutes.
• Pour the hot cocoa mixture into a mixing bowl. Add the oil and vanilla and beat on low speed for about 10 seconds. On low speed, beat the flour into the batter and then, with a minimum of beating, beat in the egg yolks, whole eggs, and buttermilk. This is a thin batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan or pans. Place in the oven on the stone and bake until the center feels springy to the touch, about 25 minutes for round layers or 35 minutes for the sheet cake. Allow to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes on a rack. Run a thin knife around the edge and jar the edge of the pan to loosen. Invert onto the serving platter. Cool completely before icing.

Steps:

• Melt the chocolate over in a stainless steel bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, and stir in the corn syrup, then the cornstarch. Allow the mixture to come to room temperature, stirring occasionally. If your room is warm, put the plastique in the refrigerator for 10 minutes or so for it to firm up. If you plan to add food coloring to part of the batch, this is the right time to knead it in. It should come together with the consistency of a pie dough or a slightly melted Tootsie Roll, and it will become more flexible as you work with it. Store the plastique wrapped in plastic or in a sealable plastic bag.

Steps:

• Soften the white chocolate plastique so that it is malleable. Knead the mixture on parchment paper as if it were bread dough. It should feel dry to the touch like Play-Doh, and you should be able to mold small chunks of it without it sticking to your fingers. If it is too sticky, you can sift some cornstarch over it to dry it up. Divide the dough into 3 or 4 different disks if you plan to knead in food coloring. To color the plastique, use parchment paper over your work surface and latex or vinyl gloves. Add a few drops of food color to each disk of white chocolate plastique to create different hues for roses and leaves. Knead the color in until it is fully incorporated and you achieve the shade you like.
• For the roses, roll out a disk of the plastique on parchment paper with a rolling pin as if it were a pie dough. Roll it until it is thin, about 1/4 inch. Then, make small circles using the back of a pastry bag tip. If you don't have a pastry bag tip, you can use a bottle top from a milk jug or anything that will cut uniform circles about 1-inch in diameter. Separate the circles (which we will now call "petals") on the parchment paper, and flatten the outer edges of each petal with the back of a spoon to make them almost transparent.
• Peel up the first petal off the parchment paper (a small offset spatula helps with this job) and roll it tight, like a cigar. Pick up the next petal and wrap it around the first one. Each petal should get successively looser and wider, mimicking the way a rose in full bloom opens. You can attach as many petals as you like to create the style of rose bouquet you want. Place each completed rose on a plate covered with parchment paper, wrap the plate with plastic wrap, and put in the refrigerator until you are ready to use them.
• To make leaves to round out your bouquet, add a few drops of green food coloring to a disk of the white chocolate plastique, roll it out thinly as above, then use a paring knife to cut free-form leaf shapes. Once you have completed a number of roses and leaves, you can form a bouquet in a plastic cup that fits inside a flower vase.

Steps:

• Melt the chocolate in a stainless steel bowl over a pan of simmering water. Once the chocolate is melted, stir in the corn syrup. Remove from the heat and allow the mixture to come to room temperature, stirring occasionally. The chocolate plastique should come together with the consistency of a pie dough or a slightly melted Tootsie Roll, and it will become more flexible as you work with it. Roll it out on a work surface covered with parchment paper. Roll it thin (about 1/4 inch) in order to cut designs with cookie cutters. Store the remaining chocolate plastique covered at room temperature or in the freezer in a tightly wrapped sealable plastic freezer bag.