Recipe: Chocolate spray paint

The chocolate paint mixture to run through the paint gun is an easy formula.  You may actually have a harder time getting a hold of cocoa butter than it was getting the gun.  Once you have it, that fine velvety texture for the surface of your dessert is more a factor of technique and practice than of the execution of the recipe.  Proper gun maintenance is crucial to maintain consistently good results time after time - clogs from leftover jobs can result in heavy streams of chocolate coming from the gun and marring the job - or worse yet, no spray whatsoever.

You will need:

2 parts     chocolate (white, dark or milk)

1 part       cocoa butter

This ratio will get you through any job.  Once you are comfortable with it and want to tweak the ratio, you can adjust the level of cocoa butter.  It is there to provide a harder shell on the dessert and facilitate a quick set during the spray process.  Considering that white chocolate tends to be softer, some chefs will opt for more cocoa butter for a harder shell.  Conversely, if you want a softer touch on a dark spray, you can reduce the cocoa butter.   A level further and you can incorporate colours to a white chocolate spray - pay attention to the amount of colour needed to get the effect you want and increase the cocoa butter accordingly to maintain the shell.

Method:

 - First of course you need your dessert.  You will want as polished a piece as possible as the gun will not cover any mistakes, rather the spray will show them off.  Use your silicone mats, acetate and whatever else you need to get all your egdes clean and sharp.  

 - Then place a parchment paper on an overturned sheet pan and set your desserts on the paper.  Space them well apart to allow for even painting on all sides.

 - Place the pan with the desserts in the freezer.  You don't need to freeze them, but the colder the surface, the faster and cleaner the paint will set.

 - Set up your "paint booth".   An overturned box with a side cut out works well,  or open up a couple garbage bags and tape them to the walls of a corner space in the kitchen.  Keep in mind that the chocolate has the potential to spray over a large area - cover the floor if you have to.

 - Melt the chocolate and cocoa butter together, strain,  then hold warm (35 - 40C / 95 - 104F) until you are ready.

 - Assemble the gun.

 - Pull the tray from the freezer and place in the paint booth.

 - Load the paint chamber of the gun, stand back a couple feet and spray in wide sweeps back and forth across the tray until you have a nice surface.  Do not spray the desserts individually - spray the whole tray as if it were one piece.

 - Quarter turn the tray and repeat the spray process.

 - Turn again and repeat until all sides look even.

 - return to the freezer to set the paint.

 - If your dessert requires you to spray the bottom, let the sides set completely, then gently turn them over to expose the bottom for the last spray.  If it will be a while before you spray the bottom, it is best to empty the gun and clean it in the meantime - keep the paint warm until you need it.

 - When cleaning the gun, spray several canisters of hot water through to clear out any chocolate, then take the gun apart and clean the individual parts well and dry them with a cloth.  Remember that chocolate hates water, so dry the parts completely.  Residual water also leaves the parts open to rust, which will render them unsafe to use again.

Note:  between the chocolate and cocoa butter, the shell created from the spray does a good job protecting the desserts short term in the freezer.  While frozen, desserts with a spray shell are easier to handle and plate up ahead - just allow time for the interior to temper up properly for service.