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If you're looking for a simple way to give your chocolates and sweet treats a professional, stylish finish Chocolate Transfer Sheets are for you. Use them to create beautiful decorations for cakes, cookies, desserts, and to easily personalise your products to suit your customer's needs. There are so many uses for Chocolate Transfer Sheets you'll be questioning why you have not thought of them sooner. In this article, we focus on their application for decorative chocolate bark, shards, curls, shapes or toppers.

Custom printed wedding favours by Bakedown

First up, a bit about Chocolate Transfer Sheets. As with anything, there are a variety of sheets available on the market of varying quality. Edible Image Supplies Chocolate Transfer Sheets are high quality thin, food safe, plastic sheets, which have been coated with a cacao-butter product. They are designed specifically for use in a dedicated edible ink printer. When fed through the printer the printed image/design melds with the cacao butter coating. On contact with melted chocolate, the cacao butter pattern is transferred to the surface of the chocolate. 

Spreading melted chocolate over printed Chocolate Transfer Sheet

Printing your designs and images onto Chocolate Transfer Sheets with your edible ink printer is just as easy as using icing sheets or plain paper. There is however one crucial difference when printing on Chocolate Transfer Sheets - you must ensure that you print the image onto the sheet in "mirror image" or media type "T-Shirt Transfers" (see image below). This is because the printed side of the transfer needs to make contact with the chocolate surface in order for it to "transfer" to the chocolate. 

To make barks, shards, toppers, curls or chocolate shapes decorated with Chocolate Transfers you will need to use tempered chocolate if you're confident doing so, if not it's best to start with chocolate-flavoured candy melts. This is a chocolate flavoured product made with vegetable or palm oils instead of cocoa butter, making it quicker and easier to use then tempered chocolate. You can grab some from your local cake decorating/baking store.

Here is the easy 1, 2...10 how to for applying printed Chocolate Transfer Sheets to create decorative chocolate bark, shards, curls, shapes or toppers:

1. Print your pattern, design or picture onto the blank chocolate transfer sheet using an edible ink printer. Ensure you print the image onto the sheet in "mirror image".

2. Place your chocolate transfer sheet printed side up on a large flat baking tray lined with baking paper.

3. Melt your preferred chocolate product to a sauce-like consistency for ease of spreading.

4. Spread the chocolate all over the transfer sheet with a metal offset spatula ensuring the chocolate is of an even thickness and covering the entire printed sheet. You can gently tap the tray against your bench to remove any air bubbles from the chocolate.

5. Leave the tray to sit flat on the bench for a few minutes.

6. Place the tray on a level surface in the fridge for 10 minutes.

7. Whilst still not completely set, remove chocolate from the fridge and cut into desired shapes or pieces with a large sharp knife or a cutter. DO NOT try to remove your cut out pieces from the transfer sheet at this stage.

9. Put the chocolate tray back into the fridge and leave it for another 20 - 30 minutes. NB: setting times will vary due to ambient temperature.

10. Remove tray from the fridge and further cut chocolate if required.

Once set, carefully peel the shapes from your transfer sheet. Voila! They are ready to use!

So if you're keen on chocolate art or enhancing and customising your creations with decorative chocolate, then Chocolate Transfer Sheets are an essential addition to your kitchen. They're easy to use, versatile, and a speedy way to add design and colour to your chocolaty treats.

* If you do not yet have an edible ink printer, pre-printed sheets can be sourced from a variety of suppliers (we do not sell any pre-printed products).

Corporate cake toppers made by Tasty Typography using Printed Chocolate Transfer Sheets.
Cover picture by Little Dot Chocolate Shop