What Are Chocolate curls and How Can I Use Them?

Chocolate curls rewards a little know-how: how to choose them, cook them, store them, and substitute in a pinch. Browse 28 recipes to cook with them.

Key Points

Chocolate curls are shaved ribbons used to garnish cakes, pies, and mousse.
Shave at room temperature, 68 to 70°F (20 to 21°C); cold chocolate splinters.
A vegetable peeler on a thick bar makes quick curls in seconds.
For big curls, spread melted chocolate thin and scrape with a spatula.
Handle with a tool, not fingers, and store cool in a single layer.

What are chocolate curls?

Chocolate curls are the glossy ribbons and shavings of chocolate you scatter over a cake, pie, or mousse to make it look finished. They are decoration, not an ingredient you bake into anything, and they are easier to make than they look.

A curl is just chocolate shaved off a block at the right temperature. Too cold and it splinters into flakes; too warm and it smears. The sweet spot is chocolate that is room temperature, around 68 to 70°F (20 to 21°C), so it gives a little under the blade.

You can make them in seconds with nothing more than a bar and a vegetable peeler.

How to Make Them

For quick curls, drag a vegetable peeler down the smooth side of a slightly warm chocolate bar. Short strokes give tight curls, long strokes give loose ribbons. Warm the bar in your hand or with ten seconds in the microwave if it keeps snapping.

For big, dramatic curls, spread melted chocolate thin on the back of a baking sheet, let it set until just firm but not hard, then push a metal spatula or bench scraper across it at a low angle. The chocolate rolls up into wide cigars.

Catch the curls with a toothpick or an offset spatula and set them straight onto the dessert. The heat of your fingers melts them, and a fingerprint shows on every one. They finish cakes like this Coffee Cream Cake with Coffee Meringue Filling and crown a Chocolate-Amaretto Cheesecake.

Tips and Common Mistakes

Use a thick bar, not chips. Chips are too small to curl and their stabilizers fight the clean shave you want.

Temperature is the whole game, and the usual failure is working too cold. Chocolate straight from the fridge shatters into useless chips no matter how careful you are. If yours is splintering, stop and let it warm up a few minutes rather than pressing harder.

The other slip is handling. Curls bruise and melt at a touch, so make them over a plate, move them with a tool, and chill the finished dessert to set them in place.

Dark chocolate curls the most reliably because it is firm at room temperature. Milk chocolate and white chocolate are softer and warm up fast, so work quickly and keep the block cool between strokes.

Make-Ahead and Storage

Curls keep, which makes them a great do-ahead garnish. Make a batch on a quiet afternoon and store them in a single layer in a covered container so they do not crush each other.

Hold them in a cool, dry spot around 65°F (18°C), out of the fridge, where humidity dulls them with a pale bloom. Dark curls stay good for weeks; milk and white ones are best within a week or two before the dairy goes flat.

Lift them onto the dessert cold and work fast, since the moment they warm up they soften and go dull.

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 1 cup chips (6 oz package) (168g)

Amount per Serving

Calories 804Calories from Fat 453

% Daily Value *

Total Fat 50.4g 78%

Saturated Fat 29.8g 149%

Trans Fat ~

Cholesterol 0mg 0%

Sodium 18mg 1%

Total Carbohydrate 106.0g 35%

Dietary Fiber 10g 40%

Sugars 91.6

Protein 7.1g

Vitamin A 0% Vitamin C 0%

Calcium 5% • Iron 29%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your caloric needs.

recipeland.com/nutrition

Quick facts

Food group: Chocolate curls are a member of the Sweets US Department of Agriculture nutritional food group.

In Chinese: 巧克力卷发
British (UK) term: Chocolate curls
en français: copeaux de chocolat
en español: rizos de chocolate

How much do chocolate curls weigh?

Amount	Weight
1 cup chips (6 oz package)	168 grams
1 cup large chips	182 grams
1 cup mini chips	173 grams
1 oz (approx 60 pcs)	28 grams

Sweets

Butterscotch chips 89 Caramels (candy squares) 101 Chocolate unsweetened 769 Chocolate chips 694 Chocolate, semi-sweet 994 Mini chocolate chips 76 Chocolate chips (semi-sweet) 635 Chocolate, bittersweet 123 Chocolate curls 28 Chocolate 384

Recipes using chocolate curls

There are 28 recipes that contain this ingredient.

Coffee Cream Cake with Coffee Meringue Filling

Use meringue filling to make this rich coffee cream cake a bit lighter but still taste decadent.

Grasshopper Ice Cream Pie

Frozen grasshopper ice cream pie with a chocolate wafer crust, vanilla ice cream layer, and a fluffy mint-and-chocolate liqueur topping. Boozy retro showstopper that's made days ahead.

Chocolate Icebox Pie

Chocolate icebox pie folds whipped cream into a cream cheese and chocolate syrup filling, then freezes it in a chocolate crumb crust. A no-bake summer dessert that scoops like ice cream pie.

Favourite Shamrock Chocolate Cream Cheese Pie

Favourite Shamrock Chocolate Cream Cheese Pie recipe

Chocolate Cream Cake

Flourless chocolate cream cake made with semi-sweet chocolate, pecans, and Irish cream liqueur, crowned with a pillowy Irish cream whipped cream topping.

Raspberry Truffle Cake

Flourless raspberry truffle cake made with a full pound of melted chocolate, whipped egg whites, and butter. Topped with sweetened cream, fresh raspberries, and chocolate curls.

Ripple Mousse

Ripple mousse with dark chocolate, brandy, and vanilla, topped with swirled dark and white chocolate for a stunning two-tone presentation. Rich, airy, and elegant.

Chocolate Praline Layer Cake

Two-layer devil's food cake baked on a brown sugar pecan praline base, filled and topped with sweetened whipped cream and chocolate curls. Serves 12 and steals the show.

Chocolate Rum Cake

Vegan chocolate rum cake made with silken tofu, maple syrup, espresso, and cocoa, layered with rum syrup and a tofu-chocolate frosting. No eggs, no dairy, all decadence.

Chocolate Mint Layer Cake

Chocolate mint layer cake made with mint chocolate chips in both the batter and frosting, garnished with chocolate curls and handmade chocolate leaves. A stunning celebration cake.

Chocolate-Amareto Cheesecake

Lighter chocolate amaretto cheesecake made with reduced-fat cream cheese, cottage cheese, and cocoa. Baked low and slow with mini chocolate chips folded in.

Rich Chocolate Cheesecake

Velvety chocolate cheesecake with spiced chocolate wafer crust, triple chocolate filling from cocoa, melted chocolate and whipped cream, garnished with chocolate curls.

Chocolate Pudding Pies

No-bake chocolate pudding pies in single-serve graham cracker crusts with cinnamon, whipped topping, and chocolate curls. Ready in 10 minutes flat.

Mocha Fudge Pie

Mocha fudge pie with a brownie mix crust, Kahlua-spiked chocolate pudding filling, and a coffee whipped topping layer. Three layers of chocolate-coffee flavor on a fudgy base.

Chocolate Orange Bundt Cake

It is really a great cake, a long time favorite of mine, every time it turns out perfect, so yummy.

Chocolate Damnation

A triple-threat chocolate dessert worthy of its name: brownie shell, coffee-Kahlua chocolate mousse filling, and a glossy chocolate-coffee glaze finished with chocolate curls. Twenty ounces of chocolate across three layers. Slice thin. Share grudgingly.