You can pipe melted chocolate using any of these options. It’s best to use a professional piping bag for piping chocolate frosting, as you’ll need to use the fancy piping tips due to the frosting’s thickness. Professional piping bags come in disposable plastic or reusable canvas or silicone.

Be careful when you take the bag out of the microwave, as the chocolate will be hot. You may need to use oven mitts when handling the bag initially.

Rip off more than 18 inches (46 cm) if the width of your parchment paper is wider than 18 inches (46 cm).

Throw out the rectangular piece of parchment paper. Keep the triangle piece of parchment paper.

The final results should be a piece of parchment paper in the shape of an ice cream cone.

Once the ends are folded inwards, the paper cone should hold the shape on its own.

Both bittersweet and semisweet chocolate tastes ‘normal’ when eaten on its own. Therefore, it can be used in recipes where the chocolate isn’t being mixed with other ingredients.

Cocoa powder is also considered unsweetened chocolate but can be used in small amounts as a finishing detail on cakes or truffles.

Dark, milk, and white chocolate go from very bitter to very sweet, respectively.

If you’re unable to find chocolate wafers to make your chocolate decorations, use chocolate blocks instead. Chop the blocks into smaller pieces before melting them.

If your chocolate blocks are too soft to grate, put them in the fridge for 30 minutes first.

Make sure the glass bowl you use is for cooking purposes and can be heated. Select a saucepan in which the bowl will fit, without touching the boiling water at the bottom of the saucepan. You may need to use oven mitts to remove the bowl from the saucepan.

If you do burn the chocolate, you can use the burned chocolate to practice your piping rather than eat it.

Use a smaller spoon to scrape the chocolate off the large spoon and back into the bowl so you don’t waste any.

Keep an eye on the melted chocolate while it’s cooling. You want it cool enough to hold its shape when piped, but not cool enough that it’s no longer liquid. If you wait too long, you can remelt the chocolate and try again.

Don’t make the shapes too large in size; stick to shapes that are no more than 2 inches (5. 1 cm) across.

Start with one baking sheet for your chocolate decorations, but feel free to use as many baking sheets as you need.

If the tip you cut off is too small and makes the lines of chocolate too thin, use the scissors and make the hole a little larger.

Remember, you can eat any of the chocolate you pipe, even if it’s not good enough to use for your decorations! Therefore, feel free to do as many practice rounds as you need. You may find writing letters in cursive to be easier than printing the letters, as you don’t have to pick the chocolate up off the paper as often.

You’ll know the shapes are cool and ready to be used once you can pick them up without them bending.

At this point, the chocolate shapes and letters can be eaten as is or used to decorate something else (like cupcakes).

If you notice light-coloured spots on your chocolate, this means those parts were exposed to moisture. The chocolate is still edible if this happens. You do not need to store your chocolate in the fridge or freezer unless you have no cool locations in your home (e. g. , you live in a very hot climate with no air conditioning).

Do not pipe frosting onto baked items that are still warm or the frosting will just melt and run.

If you can’t hold the bag while filling it, you can put it into a tall glass to hold it in place while you use two hands to add the frosting.

To change tips, simply unscrew the two pieces, remove the old tip, insert a new tip, and screw the pieces back together.

You can secure the end of the piping bag with a twist tie if you’d like, or just keep the bag twisted while you pipe. Either way, you’ll be able to reopen the bag to add more frosting if needed.

Place your piping bag into a tall glass when you’re not using it. This will keep your counter clean and the frosting flowing towards the correct end of the bag.