• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Recipes
  • Tutorials
  • Online Shop
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Sign in

Sugar Geek Show logo

menu icon
go to homepage
  • Recipes
  • Tutorials
  • Online Shop
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Sign in
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • Recipes
  • Tutorials
  • Online Shop
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Sign in
×
Home › Recipe

Updated: Apr 9, 2024 · Published: Oct 20, 2021 by Elizabeth Marek · This post may contain affiliate links · Leave a Comment

Chocolate Rocking Horse Showpiece

Jump to Recipe Jump to Video Print Recipe

Chef Christophe Rull shows us how to transform tempered chocolate into a 3D rocking horse showpiece! These are some of the techniques that a pastry chef needs to create strong and stable chocolate sculptures!

chocolate horse

I was so excited to see how Christophe made this showpiece, I tried to make one of my own alongside his demonstration but I made mine into a rocking unicorn haha!

What's In This Blog Post

  • Chocolate Rocking Horse Ingredients
  • Tools & Equipment
  • Making The Chocolate Pieces
  • Assembling The Chocolate Horse

Chocolate Rocking Horse Ingredients

You want to start with tempered chocolate! This is super important for a strong and stable showpiece. So if you don't know how to temper chocolate, make sure you watch Christophe's tutorial on how to temper chocolate with cocoa butter or you can temper your own chocolate using a traditional seeding method or in a microwave.

Tools & Equipment

You can download your free horse template here.

Horse Template #1

Horse Template #2

Horse Template #3

Making The Chocolate Pieces

  1. Lay your newsprint down onto the table and then place your large sheet of acetate over the top.
  2. Arrange all your templates on top of the acetate to make sure you have enough space for all the pieces.horse templates
  3. Make a border with your ¼" plexiglass spacers around the templates. Remove the templates and set them aside for now.
  4. Fill your pastry bag with the tempered chocolate and glue the spacers down.
  5. Fill the center of the square with tempered chocolate.tempered chocolate
  6. Use a ruler or straight edge to make the chocolate flat and even.
  7. Once the chocolate starts to look slightly matte (after about 5 minutes) trace between the chocolate and the plexiglass border and remove the border.tracing on tempered chocolate
  8. Place the template on top of the chocolate and trace around it with your skewer to cut out the shapes. Work quickly before the chocolate fully sets. tracing chocolate horse onto tempered chocolate
  9. You can make extra pieces just in case of breakage.
  10. Remove the templates and discard them.
  11. Place the chocolate pieces on top of a large sheet pan or plexiglass with parchment paper underneath. Put some parchment on top of the chocolate. Place a large piece of plexiglass or heavy sheet pan on top so as the chocolate sets in the cooler, it does not curl.
  12. After 10 minutes you can take the chocolate out of the cooler.
  13. Remove the chocolate pieces from the surrounding chocolate. If you have any cracked pieces watch the video to watch how Christophe fixes broken pieces. chocolate horse pieces
  14. Brush the chocolate pieces with a wire brush to create a wooden texture. Brush off the excess chocolate dust with a pastry brush.

Assembling The Chocolate Horse

  1. Begin attaching the legs with tempered chocolate and set the pieces with cold spray. Pay close attention to making sure your pieces are straight. Turn the horse over and attach the legs to the other side.
  2. Wipe off any excess chocolate with your fingers to keep the structure clean looking.
  3. Attach the curved pieces of chocolate to the base with tempered chocolate and set with cold spray.
  4. Attach all the cross pieces with tempered chocolate and set with cold spray.
  5. Attach the horse to the base with tempered chocolate and cold spray, making sure the horse is straight up and down.
  6. Attach the seat, rocking horse handles and tail and you're done! We used a food processor to blend the chocolate and form it into the handles, check out Christophe's chocolate flower for more information.
chocolate rocking horse

More Chocolate Recipes & Tutorials

Hot Chocolate Bombs

Chocolate Ganache 101

Water Ganache Drip

How To Temper Chocolate In The Microwave

Recipe

chocolate horse showpiece

Chocolate Horse Showpiece

A chocolate horse showpiece makes a great centerpiece for a fun party or event. Chef Christophe Rull shows us how to transform tempered chocolate into a strong and stable chocolate horse! You can use these same techniques for many different types of projects.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe Rate Recipe
Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes
Assembly: 30 minutes minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: French
Servings: 10 servings
Calories: 528kcal
Author: Elizabeth Marek

Equipment

  • Newsprint
  • Large and Small Acetate Sheets
  • ¼" thick acrylic strips
  • Horse Template
  • Wire Brush
  • EZ Temper Machine (optional)
  • Cold Spray

Ingredients

For the tempered chocolate

  • 1000 grams couverature chocolate
  • 10 grams tempered cocoa butter paste (optional)

Instructions

Making the Chocolate Pieces

  • Lay your newsprint down onto the table and then place your large sheet of acetate over the top.
  • Arrange all your templates on top of the acetate to make sure you have enough space for all the pieces.
  • Make a border with your ¼" plexiglass spacers around the templates. Remove the templates and set them aside for now.
  • Fill your pastry bag with the tempered chocolate and glue the spacers down.
  • Fill the center of the square with tempered chocolate.
  • Use a ruler or straight edge to make the chocolate flat and even.
  • Once the chocolate starts to look slightly matte (after about 5 minutes) and is slightly tacky but not fully set. You may need to start tracing in areas where it is set. The chocolate doesn't always set at the same time.
  • Trace between the chocolate and the plexiglass border and remove the border.
  • Place the template on top of the chocolate and trace around it with your skewer to cut out the shapes. Work quickly before the chocolate fully sets.
  • You can make extra pieces just in case of breakage.
  • Remove the templates and discard them.
  • Place the chocolate pieces on top of a large sheet pan or plexiglass with parchment paper underneath. Put some parchment on top of the chocolate. Place a large piece of plexiglass or heavy sheet pan on top so as the chocolate sets in the cooler, it does not curl.
  • After 10 minutes you can take the chocolate out of the cooler.
  • Remove the chocolate pieces from the surrounding chocolate. If you have any cracked pieces watch the video to watch how Christophe fixes broken pieces.
  • Brush the chocolate pieces with a wire brush to create a wooden texture. Brush off the excess chocolate dust with a pastry brush.

Assembling the Chocolate Horse

  • Begin attaching the legs with tempered chocolate and set the pieces with cold spray. Pay close attention to making sure your pieces are straight.
  • Wipe off any excess chocolate with your fingers to keep the structure clean looking.
  • Attach the curved pieces of chocolate to the base with tempered chocolate and set with cold spray.
  • Attach all the cross pieces with tempered chocolate and set with cold spray.
  • Attach the horse to the base with tempered chocolate and cold spray, making sure the horse is straight up and down.
  • Finally, attach the seat to the top of the horse.
  • You can add more details like eyes, ears, handles or other decorations and details if you want.

Video

Notes

EZ Tempering Machine
Waring Chocolate Warmer
Cacao Barry Chocolate
Cocoa Butter Drops
Thermometer
If you haven't watched Christophe's video on how to temper chocolate with the EZ Temper machine, you'll want to watch that first.
No tempering machine? No problem! You can temper your chocolate in the microwave or use the traditional seeding method to get your chocolate tempered.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 528kcal | Carbohydrates: 49g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 43g | Saturated Fat: 26g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 14g | Sodium: 5mg | Fiber: 10g | Sugar: 34g
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

More Recipe

  • close up of tomahawk steak
    Reverse Seared Tomahawk Steak Recipe
  • close up shot of breakfast scramble
    Breakfast Scramble
  • close up of sausage gravy on biscuits
    Keto Sausage Gravy
  • close up of keto biscuits on a plate
    Fluffy Keto Biscuits

Reader Interactions

5 from 2 votes (2 ratings without comment)

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




All comments are subject to our Terms of Use

Primary Sidebar

Liz Marek with strawberry cake

Hi, I'm Liz! I'm an artist and cake decorator from Portland, Oregon. Cakes are my obession, which is why I'm dedicated to crafting tried-and-true recipes, small cake tutorials, as well as advanced online cake courses!

More about me →

Buy Flawless Fondant

Sugar Geek Flawless Fondant
It's incredibly stretchy, stays soft on the cake and can be rolled 50% thinner than other brands without tearing or becoming transparent. No elephant skin, no frustration, just flawless fondant every time. Buy Fondant

Our Cake Greatest Hits

Check our our best cake recipes

Summer Recipes

  • closeup of vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream slice on a white plate
    Moist Vanilla Cake Using Cake Flour
    Cook Time45 Minutes
  • slice of pink velvet cake with whipped cream frosting and fresh raspberries on a white plate
    Pink Velvet Cake
    Cook Time40 Minutes
  • slice of fresh strawberry cake on a white plate with strawberries behind it
    Fresh Strawberry Cake
    Cook Time1 Hours 10 Minutes
  • close up shot of double chocolate chip cookie
    Chewy Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
    Cook Time20 Minutes
  • Fast Bread Recipe
    Cook Time1 Hours
  • sourdough bread cut open to show crumb
    Beginners Sourdough Bread Recipe Step-By-Step
    Cook Time25 Hours 10 Minutes

Popular Recipes

  • ganache cake with dark, milk, and white chocolate on it
    The Best Chocolate Ganache Recipe
    Cook Time20 Minutes
  • close up of easy buttercream rosettes
    Easy Buttercream Frosting
    Cook Time10 Minutes
  • close up slice of marble cake
    Moist and Fluffy Marble Cake Recipe
    Cook Time40 Minutes
  • close up of red velvet cake slice
    Red Velvet Cake Recipe
    Cook Time1 Hours 40 Minutes

Footer

↑ back to top

About

  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  • Fondant

Newsletter

  • Sign Up! for emails and updates

Contact

  • Contact
  • About Us
  • About Liz Marek

Copyright © 2024 Sugar Geek Show, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Rate This Recipe

Your vote:




A rating is required
A name is required
An email is required

Recipe Ratings without Comment

Something went wrong. Please try again.