Chocolate Typography - Mini Oreo Bookcover Pies
Posted on August 31 2016
My buddy Sebastien de Castell asked if I could whip up something for his book club's celebration of the completion of their novels. As this was the "August of Pies that are Not Shaped Like Pies" I thought four little book-shaped pies would be the perfect thing! But how to represent the title of each book? To pull this off I decided to try my hand once again at painting with chocolate... only this time verrrry tiny.
Time to create:
- 20 min to make the pies
- 2 hours to make the top decorations (yeah, it's a bit labour intensive this one)
Ingredients:
- melting chocolate
- mini chocolate balls
- 1 package of Oreos
- 1/4 cup melted butter
- 1 small brick cream cheese
- 1/2 cup icing sugar
- 1/2 litre whipping cream
Supplies:
- rectangle takeout containers
- scissors
- computer
- printer
- masking tape
- parchment paper
- toothpicks
- fondu pot and candle, or your own (safe!) chocolate melting rig
- egg beaters
- mixing bowl
- something to smash Oreos with
- cutting boards
Step 1 - Select your typefaces and print out your titles reversed
Free hand drawing with chocolate or icing would never result in the level of typographic fidelity I wanted - I knew I needed to trace with a very fine instrument. This meant that chocolate melts or edible ink were my only options. I opted for the chocolate because it tastes better.
Step 2 - Set up your work area
After you have printed out your type, cut them out and tape them down to a movable work surface (like a cutting board), and then tape a layer of parchment paper over top, roughly the same size as your finished pies.
Step 3 - Paint in the type
Put on some nice music and settle in for the next couple hours, this part takes a while. You can check out a little video of me working on this (with some Monty Python in the background to keep me awake):
Once you've painted all the chocolate, put the sheets aside while you make the actual mini pies.
Step 4 - Cut down your "book" shaped containers to size
I used little metal containers that I found at the grocery store and cut them to be about 2 inches high.
Step 5 - Make your Oreo pies
Check out my recipe here for Oreo pie: https://piesareawesome.com/blogs/jessicaspieoneering/pie-another-day-a-no-bake-james-bond-oreo-pie - it is dirt simple! Wrap 'em up and pop 'em in the freezer when you are done.
Step 6 - Transfer the designs
Pop the sheets with the chocolate type into the fridge for about ten minutes just to harden up a bit (not too long or you risk discolouration/dullness) then place back on your table. When the mini pies are frozen, take them out and place them upside down precisely on top of your type design. Tip - draw some registration marks on your parchment sheet to make it easier to align.
Then carefully flip over and remove the tape.
Your design should be right where you want it now, and in once piece!
Gently press the chocolate type into the pie...
Then peel off the parchment paper.
Voila! Teeny tiny chocolate type.
Step 7 - Final decorations
I added some chocolate balls around the perimeter just to finish off the edges, but you can add anything you like - pipe some chocolate rosettes, add sprinkles, stick in some D+D guys, whatever.
Step 8 - Done! Plate and serve
It is a bit fiddly tracing such tiny type with chocolate, but I was quite happy with how well it held together, transferred, and actually looked like the typefaces I chose. I would def use this technique again the next time I want to emulate a specific tiny design.
If you attempt a chocolate type transfer like this, let me know! I may feature you in my Ins-pie-ration section. And if you liked this recipe/tutorial, please tweet, pin, instagram, etc. with the buttons below, or leave a comment.
Thanks for reading! See ya'll next Wednesday...
π > ∞
Jessica (aka @ThePieous)
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