White Chocolate Leaves

These chocolate leaves are the most impressive thing you will ever make. They look positively unreal. And when I say unreal, what I really mean is TOTALLY REAL.

Sorry for the caps. I'm just a little bit excited. 

These are also really easy to make, which nobody ever would have guessed. I mean, did you guess that? No. That's because they look professional. This is not a time for modesty, my friends. I'm simply stating the facts.

So, if you want to impress your friends, but don't have the patience or skill to make homemade croissants, look no further than here. Throw a few of these on top of a cake and it instantly goes from mediocre to jaw-dropping in no time flat.

White Chocolate Leaves

Here's what you'll need:
A square of white baking chocolate
Some small leaves, cleaned and dried
Some wax paper
Cocoa powder
Two small, clean paint brushes

First of all, pick out your leaves. Make sure that they are very textured on the underside. I think the ones I used were from a Bee Baum. Lay them all on a sheet of wax paper, upside down.

Melt your white chocolate in the microwave in a small dish. Be very careful not to overcook it or it will get clumpy. White chocolate can be very persnickety when you're trying to melt it, so I even turn the power of the microwave down to about 60%. 

Now make sure all of your leaves are upside down. Paint a layer of chocolate on the underside of each leaf. Make sure it's pretty thick because you want them to be sturdy.

Now put these leaves in the fridge or freezer, depending on what kind of a rush you're in. Once the chocolate is set, you can peel off the leaves. Set each leave in your hand, chocolate side up, for a few seconds to warm it up enough to peel the leaf off. Think of it like trying to get a homemade popsicle out of a mold and dipping it in hot water so that you can slide them out. If your leaf rips, just warm it a little more with your fingers and it should come off easily. Once you have removed all of the leaves, you can put your chocolate leaves back in the fridge because they should be cold for the next step.

Get out some cocoa powder and a clean paintbrush. Brush each cold chocolate leaf with cocoa powder, making sure you get it in the cracks. This makes the crevices show up better. Be very careful when you do this because you don't want to break the leaves or melt them with the heat of your hands. Just gently hold it in place while you brush it.

Piggie did the honors of hand modeling since my fingernails were completely encrusted in dark chocolate at the time.

Well there you have it. Chocolate leaves. And it took you only about ten minutes. I'm so proud of you.

To make fall leaves, divide the chocolate up into a few different dishes and add food coloring to each one. Then paint it onto maple leaves. Another version I've done before is dark chocolate on mint leaves. The possibilities are endless, so don't be afraid to use your imagination.
Here's a picture of the fall leaves on a cake I made a few years ago: