A while ago, I received the book Cake Decorating with Modeling Chocolate in the mail as a review copy. I blame myself for taking so long to post about it, but I've been doing a ton of travel for book tour and, you know, for fun--Seattle, San Francisco, Portland, Chicago, Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York, Los Angeles, and probably several places I've neglected to mention. It's all been a lot of fun but sheesh--time for me to get back to spyin' sweet stuff. So, back to the book, which is coming at you from Kristen Coniaris of the website Wicked Goodies.

Have you ever worked with modeling chocolate? If not, it might be about time to expand your cake decorating repertoire. To me, modeling chocolate is sort of like working with modeling wax--if not in taste, at least in texture. It's a malleable substance that is easy to use in a myriad of cake decorating projects. And this book is here to teach you how to make them. I'll go ahead (spoiler!) and tell you about what I consider the most vital skill to be learned in the book:

Yes! How to make a camo booty out of modeling chocolate! Everyone needs to know that, because you never know when you'll need such a cake.

Joking aside, though, this cake is action-packed with all sorts of modeling chocolate information, lore, and projects. If you choose not to go for the camo booty (mistake!), there are also wonderful tutorials such as this:

aren't those flowers gorgeous?

There are also plenty of tips for the beginner, including troubleshooting for if things go wrong:

and tips on how to successfully tint your modeling chocolate like all the colors of the rainbow.

And, of course, many tips that you'll learn when you buy the book.

I found myself very drawn to the more unusual tutorials in the book, such as this pig lounging in mud.

Of course, the rainbow and unicorn-loving side of me loved tutorials such as this, for a rainbow zebra print cake:

C'est fantastique!

As you can see, this book wonderfully melds education (teaching you what modeling chocolate is, and how to use it) with creativity (refer to camo booty). It's a great volume on modeling chocolate, and if you've been interested in adding this skill to your decorating repertoire, I suggest this book!

Buy it here: Cake Decorating with Modeling Chocolate.