Chocolate flood work is a technique used most commonly in cake decoration.  A one dimensional transfer is created by tracing an image with dark chocolate, then “flooding” in between the traced lines with colored white chocolate.  The result is a fully edible, nearly perfect image that can be applied to cakes or cupcakes.

You will need the following supplies to create flood work:

Dark chocolate semper (chocolate that does not need to be tempered, available at cake & craft supply stores)
White chocolate semper
Candy color (oil based food coloring, available at cake supply & craft stores),
Cardboard cake board
Acetate (clear plastic sheets found in art supply stores)

Here’s a step-by-step guide to creating a flood work piece:

Choose an image.  Flood work tends to work best on simple designs.  The more complex, the more muddled the chocolate and therefore image can become.  For a first project, stay with a simple design.

Flip the image horizontally. In other words, create a mirror image.  Because you will be tracing the image, when the chocolate is removed, it will be a mirror of the copied image.  This is not incredibly important when making characters, however if you are creating a logo with letters or writing, you will need to make sure you have flipped your image before you begin.  This can be done with most graphic design programs, and is also available as a print option in the newer versions of Word.

Prepare the image. Cut out the image and tape it securely to a piece of cardboard (cake boards work well).  Cut out a piece of acetate slightly larger than your image and tape that down.

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Here’s a fun hexagon cake that I made over the weekend.  Mickey and Daisy are both made of out white chocolate, using a technique called flood work.  Flood work allows you to trace images with chocolate and, when they harden, transfer them to the cake.  (How-to post to follow).  I tried to continue the whimsy of the characters with a fun multi-colored bubble border.  And yes, Kristin, (my Disney obcessed cousin) I thought of you the whole time I was making it – and no, this can’t be the basis for your wedding cake one day.