Luxurious Ways To Style Chocolate Strawberries (& Gold Leaf)

The only thing I love more than eating food, is decorating it.  Better yet, creating something beautiful (and sparkly!) that transforms the ordinary into something much, much more special.  I've wanted to experiment with chocolate strawberries for a little while, and having recently picked up a few sheets of gold leaf, now seemed like the perfect moment!  One thing is for sure, there's no reason to leave it at simply dipping the strawberries in chocolate.  If you're looking to create a platter of eye-catching treats, there are tons of ways to quickly embellish chocolate strawberries - minimal effort, maximum impact!

Before anything else, make sure your strawberries are clean and totally dry.  Next up, decide whether or not you want to completely immerse your fruit in chocolate (personally, I feel as though they look more stylish 100% concealed).  Okay, to the fun part!  A few suggestions off the top of my head...

Drizzled Chocolate - Choose a contrasting colour of chocolate to drizzle from side to side across your fruit.  After melting the chocolate, pour it into a piping bag and get drizzling!

Gold Leaf - Undeniably luxurious in appearance, though quite expensive per sheet (for UK readers, I purchased mine at Waitrose).  Depending on how many sheets you have, options include concealing the entire strawberry, or just the tip.  Alternatively, you could create a small cluster of 23ct gold leaf in the centre of the fruit.  Warning: gold leaf will stick to everything and anything!!  I used a cocktail stick to position it, and my fingertips to press into place.

Flakes - Coconut, chopped nuts, sugar crystals, chocolate curls etc.  Not only does it create a gorgeously thick, 3D effect, it's also ideal for those with less-than-steady hands!

Glitter - Edible glitter is pretty much my best friend at this point.  Use a small sieve to distribute it evenly.  Gold glitter against dark chocolate can be seen in this post, though another high-impact option is edible black glitter over white-chocolate strawberries 

Caramel - Along with drizzling chocolate from side to side, look at other ingredients such as caramel.  Who could resist?!  

If you get practicing now, when you next find yourself at an impromptu gathering, you could be whipping out your batch of beautifully-embellished strawberries!  Mmm...

With love,

Gabrielle x