{"id":149,"date":"2013-12-01T08:11:55","date_gmt":"2013-11-30T20:11:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.asyouwish.co.nz\/blog\/?p=149"},"modified":"2016-01-13T09:24:16","modified_gmt":"2016-01-12T20:24:16","slug":"chocolate-christmas-tree-centrepiece","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/asyouwish.co.nz\/blog\/chocolate-christmas-tree-centrepiece\/","title":{"rendered":"Chocolate Christmas Tree Centrepiece"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1><em><span style=\"color: #888888;\">12 Days of Christmas Ideas &#8211; Day 7<\/span><\/em><\/h1>\n<p>I like table centrepieces.\u00a0 They look pretty and are a simple way to decorate for a special occasion.\u00a0 In fact whenever I am styling an event, one of the first things we consider are the table centrepieces.\u00a0 They draw in the guest\u2019s attention and help to set the atmosphere for the occasion, and I believe this true whether you have 20 tables at a wedding or just the one for Christmas day dinner.<\/p>\n<p>A friend mentioned today\u2019s Christmas idea to me a few years back, but it has only been in the last few months that I decided to give it a try.\u00a0 And here it is, \u2019The Chocolate Christmas Tree Centrepiece\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0 It took me couple of tries to get this to work, but once I had the right materials it came together very quickly.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_150\" style=\"width: 471px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-150\" class=\" wp-image-150 \" title=\"Chocolate Tree 1\" src=\"http:\/\/www.asyouwish.co.nz\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Chocolate-Tree-1-768x1024.png\" alt=\"Chocolate Tree 1\" width=\"461\" height=\"614\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-150\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Chocolate Christmas Tree Centrepiece<\/p><\/div>\n<p>How I did this was to start with a cone.\u00a0 You could make one out of card or stiff paper but I just bought a polystyrene one from the craft section at <a title=\"The Warehouse\" href=\"http:\/\/www.thewarehouse.co.nz\/red\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Warehouse<\/a>.\u00a0 I then covered the cone with baking paper, using two flat head sewing pins to hold it in place.\u00a0\u00a0Then I sat it on a small ramekin so that it wouldn\u2019t get stuck to the plate when I put the chocolate on it.\u00a0 I melted the dark chocolate buttons in the microwave and allowed it to cool just enough so that I could handle it once it was in the piping bag.\u00a0 Using a small round tip icing nozzle, I drizzled the chocolate all over the cone.\u00a0 Once it set hard I removed the cone and gently peeled away the baking paper.\u00a0 The easiest way I found to do this was by pushing a bamboo skewer into the polystyrene, then as I pulled it out I gave it a slight twist and it brought the cone out with it.<\/p>\n<p>From there all that was left to do was to display the chocolate tree.\u00a0 I chose to use a cake stand with some artificial greenery and Christmas tree baubles &#8211; but you could use anything you like.<\/p>\n<p>If you decide to give this idea a go, I would love to see your finished product.\u00a0 Either email me or leave a comment below.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>My tips for working with Chocolate:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Your tree is less likely to collapse when you remove the cone if the chocolate has set hard.\u00a0 Some chocolates seem to set harder like dark chocolate or cooking chocolate, but it is also important to consider the temperature of the room \u2013 the cooler the better.<\/li>\n<li>When melting chocolate in the microwave, cook for short periods of time only and always at 50% power.\u00a0 Stir well between each cooking time and be patient.\u00a0 If you rush the process you\u2019re likely to ruin the chocolate.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>12 Days of Christmas Ideas &#8211; Day 7 I like table centrepieces.\u00a0 They look pretty and are a simple way to decorate for a special occasion.\u00a0 In fact whenever I am styling an event, one of the first things we [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,25,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christmas","category-crafts-and-things","category-fabulous-food"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/asyouwish.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/asyouwish.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/asyouwish.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/asyouwish.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/asyouwish.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/asyouwish.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2042,"href":"http:\/\/asyouwish.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149\/revisions\/2042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/asyouwish.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/asyouwish.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/asyouwish.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}