Chocolate Lace Cups

These are some edible chocolate cups, or miniature bowls, I have made that will serve as the base of my Valentine's dessert tomorrow. Chocolate cups are a great way in which to serve a completely edible dessert - dish in all, and further incorporate the use of chocolate. They are also incredibly easy to make. Tempered chocolate, chocolate melting wafers, or plain melted chocolate all work well for this technique. There are several different styles of chocolate cups, all of which basically involve pouring, painting (using a pastry brush), or piping melted chocolate into the cup or bowl mold. Any size muffin liners, and ramekins, cups, and bowls of any size lined with either plastic wrap, aluminum foil, or parchment or waxed paper work well as molds. For fancier or neater designs, balloons may be used to dip in the chocolate to create uniquely shaped cups. The cups I made are a little bit different. They are lace cups made by piping chocolate in a random design, and allows more room for error as there are supposed to be holes to give the lacy appearance. This can be done with just one type of chocolate, as can any of the cups, but I like the contrast of creating a design with two different types of chocolate. Any of these cups could be designed more creatively by using several different types of chocolate. This lace cup design is a bit more difficult to create good sides, which are why mine appear a little flat, but they will do they trick for my purpose. The lace cups also are not as stable and therefore cannot be made as large as solid chocolate cups, and keep in mind that foods like ice cream will melt through the holes. Lace cups however, do have their good uses and certainly have a dainty appearance.