Making a Chocolate Camera

The process of creating a chocolate camera involves several steps, starting with preparing the shape and size of the camera body. The author begins by pouring chocolate onto a foil template to create the base shape of the camera. To achieve a flat bottom, they shave off a layer of chocolate, creating a smooth surface.

To address the issue of uneven sides, which can cause the camera to lean forward when standing upright, the author carves off additional layers of chocolate, using a knife to carve away excess chocolate and create a rounded corner at the top. This process is repeated until the entire container has a flat surface, ensuring that the camera will sit straight.

The next step involves creating the square-shaped piece of chocolate with sloping sides, which will be attached to the front of the camera body. The author cuts out the square in the desired thickness and trims it down to the specified slope, using a template to ensure accurate measurements. They then pour additional chocolate onto the foil and let it set before trimming around the edges.

To create the sloping side of the square piece, the author uses a knife to shave off small amounts at an angle, matching the shape shown on the paper template. The finished square is then attached to the front of the camera body using melted tempered cocoa butter as an adhesive.

The author then proceeds to carve away the excess chocolate from the camera body, creating a flat surface. They use a pastry brush dipped in tempered chocolate to add texture to the middle area of the camera, applying it with a thin layer before turning the camera over and doing the same on the back.

To remove any scrape marks from the knife used during carving, the author applies a small amount of melted tempered cocoa butter to the affected areas, effectively erasing them. The next step involves adding the camera controls, placing the hot shoe and additional controls in their correct positions.

The finished camera is then completed by attaching the viewfinder and LCD screen to the back, followed by adding the chocolate lens to the front. Finally, the camera is turned over and laid flat, ready for use.

Tips and Variations

One of the author's suggestions for creating a more realistic texture on the camera body is to use a chocolate transfer sheet or texture mat. They also recommend experimenting with different patterns and designs, encouraging viewers to be creative with their camera-making process.

Using tempered cocoa butter to smooth out scrape marks and create a uniform surface can make a significant difference in the appearance of the finished camera. The author also suggests sharing photos of creations made from their recipes on social media platforms, providing an opportunity for others to showcase their own work.

Sharing the Experience

The author expresses gratitude to viewers who have shared their love for nail art by featuring their designs in comments and on social media. They also acknowledge the creativity of fans who recreate their ideas, using the example of Denny's amazing recreation of the Lightning McQueen cake as a testament to this enthusiasm.

As the article concludes, the author invites readers to subscribe to "How To Cook That" for more creative recipes and videos. They encourage viewers to share their own creations in the comments section on the website, providing an opportunity for others to showcase their work and receive feedback from the community.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enWelcome to How To Cook That I'm Ann Reardonandtoday we are making a camera made completelyout of chocolate.It is surprisingly easy to make this, thetrickiest part was designing the actual templatewhich I do on my computer for you.Lots of people have said where do you getthe templates from?I sit down and make them and I'll put a linkbelow to my howtocookthat.net website andI'll put the template up there so you candownload that there.The first part of the camera that we wantto make is the body of the camera.Take a sticky note and draw a mark at theheight shown there so you know how thick thebody needs to be.Find a container that is around the rightsize, mine is a little big but with chocolatewe can just trim it down afterwards.Place the sticky note inside and line thecontainer with acetate.Acetate is just thin plastic and you can getthis from chocolate shops, cake decoratingshops or even stationary shops as overheadprojector sheets if you look there, you'llbe able to find them.Pour in some tempered chocolate about halfway up and then add in some fruit and nutsand just push those down.I have a video on my channel that shows youhow to temper chocolate at home (it's calledCHOCOLATE SECRETS), if you don't temper thechocolate then at room temperature it willbe soft, it won't set firm and it will melton your hands and be sticky so make sure youwatch that if you don't know how to temperand do that first.You could, of course, use honeycomb or otherthings here instead of fruit and nuts, whateveryou like the flavour of.And because we are going to cut it down tosize it will give a bit of a pattern in thechocolate, if you don't want that you canleave it completely plain.Top it up with more chocolate so that it reachesthe line that you drew.And then drop it on the counter a few timesto get rid of any air bubbles.Then you just want to leave that to set.Next we want a square of chocolate in thethickness shown, which is quite thick.Find a container that is a little bigger thanwhat we want and pour chocolate in there.Now I'm not adding fruit and nuts to any ofthese smaller parts because they all haveto be carved down to size, it's just goingto be easier if they're plain.Tap it on the counter again the get rid ofair bubbles.Pour some chocolate onto some acetate andspread it so it is the height shown on thetemplate.Pour some more and spread that out a littlethinner, so that you have some of each heightthat you need.If you don't have acetate you can use foilinstead.Once the chocolate is firm but not hard usecircle cutters to cut out the circles in thesizes shown.Some of the pieces have a circle cut out ofthe centre to make a ring and some are fullcircles.Just follow the template to get what you need.Now I actually have a set of circle cutterswhich I think are just really good, I usethem all the time and they're not that expensiveso I'll find the link to those, I'll dig thatup and put it on the website for you as well.Continue to spread out the chocolate in differentthicknesses shown for the various parts andcut out all the circles and the little squareand the different shapes.Now I am going to use dark chocolate for someparts of this camera for variation in thecolour.You can make it all one colour or mix up thewhite, dark and milk chocolate however youlike.Just a tip once you've spread your chocolateif you give it a little shake the top willsmooth out.This is the smallest circle cutter that Ihave but I need some circles that are evensmaller than that, so I am going to use astraw and for the slightly bigger ones usethe lid of a texta (marker).And for the ones that are slightly biggerthan that I'm going to use a piping tip.Now the chocolate gets stuck in the pipingtip because of the shape and if you try andpush it out while the chocolate is still softyou're just going to be poking holes and leavingmarks in the chocolate.So just pop it in the freezer for a few minutesand then it will be easy to push it out.Use a knife to cut around the template forthe LCD screen like a frame there.And cut the little rectangle, and all of thesepieces are colour coded on the template soyou see where they belong on the camera.Once your chocolate is firmer you can useyour knife to neaten off your edges and shaveoff a little bit so that the outside edgeof the LCD screen is angled in slightly.Now for your really thick pieces, make sureyou cut them while the chocolate is soft,otherwise you're not going to get the cutterthrough, then leave them to firm up.Hold the circle using some foil so you don'tget fingerprints on it.And then cut straight lines across all theway around the circle.Then using your knife cut in on an angle intowards the cut you've just made so that youtake out a little strip or a little chunk.And you end up with a pattern all the wayaround.Do the same thing on the thinner circle thatis patterned around the edge as well, andit tells you on the template which ones arepatterned and which ones are plain.Once your big thick body chunk of chocolateis set take that out of the container andtrim it to the size shown on the template.And this sill be easiest if you cut an indentthe whole way around the block at the levelwhere you want it to cut and then cut downso it will just break off neatly.Look at all that fruit and nuts, mmm mmmmm!Ok so now it is the right size but mine slopesout on the sides which means when I standit up the camera is kind of leaning forward.To fix that I am just going to shave off alayer of chocolate.Now if your container has straight sides thenyou won't need to do that but mine obviouslydidn't so I'm just going to keep going untilit's flat.You can see on the template the camera bodyis rounded at the corners not square.So again just using your knife carve off somechocolate so you get a nice rounded corner.Wouldn't it be cool if it was this easy tocarve wood, like if you could soften it andmake it set firm again.I think I'd probably quite enjoy carving then.We've got a couple more pieces to make.So we need a square of chocolate that is slopeddown, so we'll cut out the square first inthat thickness that's shown there and thentrim it down to the slopes afterwards.Pour your chocolate onto the foil and letit start to set.Then trim around the edges so that you havea nice square.Then just shave off the corners on each sideon the angle shown on your paper there sothat you get a nice straight slope.Once your chocolate in your container is settake that out and cut it to the square sizeshown, again you'll find this easiest if youcut a line all the way around before tryingto push your knife all the way through it.Put the template on top and make sure theedges are straight shaving off a small amountat a time.Now you can use these shavings on top of dessertson top of icecream or you can just put itback in a bowl and re-temper it and use itfor other parts on the camera.Now flip that to one end and put the slopetemplate on top and cut off the corners tomatch the angles shown.Turn it over to the other end and put thesmaller one on top and shave off the chocolateon an angle across the top, not quite allthe way to the other end.So this is what it will look like when you'redone.It will be skinny at the front like your templatepiece... fatter at the back sloping down andthe side and top look like this.Thanks to everyone who said they love my nailwraps, these ones are called Confection Cutieand there's junior ones of these as well,and I'll link you to those below where youcan get them.Now to join our camera altogether.Starting with the lens pipe some chocolatein the centre and add the next piece on top,and you'll find this easiest if you put yourchocolate parts on the template printout sothat you know which order they are in.Then you can just stack those up.Join together all the other little parts inthe way shown so you have all the camera controls.Let's turn up exposure ... and put it backright :)Add the square piece on the front of the camera,slightly to one side.Then add the carved bit to the top of that.Now you can see the camera body has two linesaround it.So use a ruler to keep you straight and pipelines of chocolate across the camera body.Now to give the middle area a different textureI'm just using a pastry brush dipped in sometempered chocolate and brushing it on.Once that side is dry turn it over and dothe same thing on the back.You could use a chocolate transfer sheet ora texture mat for this patterned are if youprefer, you can be as creative as you likewith your camera.Now because in the creation process of makingthis camera we have carved our chocolate youcan see scrape marks from the knife.So to get rid of those just rub on a smallamount of melted tempered cocoa butter ina really thin layer and that will bring itup to looking nice again.Add the controls into place, put the hot shoeon top and more controls on the other side.Turn it around to the back and place the viewfinderinto place and then the LCD screen.Turn the camera over and lay it flat so thatyou can add the chocolate lens into placeon the front.And your camera is complete and ready to eat.Share this video for me with a friend wholove photography,Subscribe to How To Cook That for more crazysweet creations, click here for the recipe,here for more chocolate videos and here formy YouTube channel.Champion of the week goes to Denny who didthis amazing recreation of my Lightning McQueencake.When you make a cake or anything from my channelmake sure you put a photo up in the commentssection on the website so I can see it andthe rest of the world can see it too.Make it a great week and I'll see you on Friday.\n"