Decaf chocolate covered coffee beans?/garnish ideas?

[LotusCakeStudio]

Is there such a thing? I've searched and searched no no luck. I've tried making them before and they definitely didn't look the same. How the heck do they get the finished results so darn big? It is something only a machine can do?

What would be another good garnish idea? I whole sale a 3-layer hazelnut cake with decaf espresso buttercream and. Right now I stick a boring decaf hazelnut flavored coffee bean on each rosette. I want something bigger and better. It's just so lacking in presentation right now. I was also thinking about crushing the beans a bit and adding them to chocolate to make shards. Any suggestions?

[schiznick]

Hi Lotus,

I don't know if you ever decided on a new garnish for your cake, but I have a few suggestions if you still haven't. My favorite thing is to make chocolate decorations. You can make marbled white and dark oblong triangles, or striped circles, or even filigree triangles. There are also a multitude of transfer sheets available, some with coffee bean designs. Shokinag makes a cappucino flavored chocolate that is excellent, and would be a flavorful product for chocolate decoration ( especially if you crushed up those beans and sprinkled them on before the chocolate set up.) Also, have you tried stencils? You can find some really cool designs and sift cinnamon or cocoa powder over. Please let me know how it worked out.

P.S. Can you recommend any really informative books regarding vegan baking? I have had a few requests but don't know much on the subject. Any info would be much appreciated!

Schiznick