Product reveiw: Wagner paint guns

Have you ever seen some of those high end desserts that look like they've been covered in chocolate velvet and wondered how they get that effect?  Then did you dig into the dessert to find a silky mousse and wonder how that velvety layer can only be as thick as a few sheets of paper, yet have the strength and crispness to hold that mousse in shape?  The answer is surprisingly simple, the technique is easy (and a lot of fun), and the equipment needed is readily available and very affordable.  The dessert has been sprayed with chocolate paint from a paint gun.

You may even have a paint gun around the house and be familiar with using one - whatever you do, DO NOT USE IT FOR YOUR DESSERT!  That said, if you want to try this technique, get a brand new gun, clean it thoroughly, and you can be rest assured it's foodsafe.  When I got mine, I washed every part I could three times with soapy water, then rinsed them really well and sprayed several canister loads of warm water through the gun (mostly to get rid of that factory "new plastic" smell).  My gun only sprays food and if I ever needed to paint something around the house, I would go out and buy a second one for real paint.

I have painted mousses, layer cakes, and even ice cream - it's literally a blast every time, and always impresses.  Resist the temptation to spray your friends with chocolate - these guns put out some serious PSI's.  Technically, any brand new gun should do the trick, but for what it's worth, I have a Wagner and every workplace I've used one in uses Wagners too.  Beyond providing a reliable and even spray, it is nice is that you don't need an additional external air compressor - you can take it right out of the storage case, load it up and get to work.  They are also very easy to clean afterwards - just run successive canisters of hot water through to blast any chocolate out, then disassemble and dry all the parts well.  Amazon.com has this one and others, CHECK IT OUT HERE.