
Around this time last year, I shared a post on some of my planning and methods for the Christmas showpieces I created for the hotel (still relevant 365 days later, check it out here). This year, I was pretty chuffed* about how my deer themed – yes, deer themed – showpiece came out so another behind-the-scenes post seemed appropriate.
*That means pleased. Just trying the word on for size.
My 2017 showpiece post was really about the step-by-step process I go through in creating any of the pieces I make, whether in chocolate or sugar. I don’t want to repeat myself too much here, so I’ll try and focus on some of the unique aspects of this particular project.

Presenting: Glitzen! – My festive, glamorous, deer buddy.
the design
It all starts with the design, and for me, all designs start with sketching. I constantly emphasize the importance of sketching out your ideas, and no excuses for not being an “artist.” Sketching is never about putting your work up on a gallery wall, it’s about firing off your neurons in a way that differs from just thinking about an idea, and it can really help your creative process.

The sketch that started it all. This was my first sketch of the piece.
The kernel of inspiration for this piece was vague recollections (real or perceived) of a crest or coat-of-arms with a gilded stag head. Something that might adorn a wall in a Harry Potter movie. Anything gold is pretty Christmasy if you ask me, and I like the imagery of a deer/stag a lot. The holiday themes for showpieces can be pretty cliche – Santa, ornaments, a sleigh or train, etc. I wanted to create something that felt unmistakably festive but with more of an adult feel. Not everything has to be about the kiddies.
I’ll never really be able to explain exactly how this happens, but once I had the idea of doing a golden deer head (and felt safe I could create a piece that wouldn’t come off as morbid), the rest of it just sort of materialized in my head. A holly wreath around the deer’s neck and tendrils of jingle bells became part of the vision and the piece was born. I wanted to contrast a mostly gold piece with accents of dark chocolate, creating something that was bold and grand but had an understated and elegant tone as well.

The final sketch!
The next step for the project (and really for all of my projects) was finding source material to use as reference in creating my sculpture. Lots of images of deer heads were found, printed, and sometimes accidentally left around the hotel causing some concern from my colleagues. They think I’m odd enough as it is, I’m sure.

This was my main inspiration (which is pretty obvious). The major shapes of the face and structure of the antlers were based off of this particular sculpt. I decided to render my version with slightly more realistic features, especially in the jowls. Photo courtesy of www.hobbylobby.com.

Another image I used for inspiration. Photo courtesy of www.qdma.com.
I also sourced images of holly wreaths. Although I feel pretty comfortable with how a wreath looks, I think it’s always worth having some images of the real thing handy, because these pieces are all about the details, and all the small details, like how a leaf lays over another, are easily lost in memory.

Photo courtesy of www.gardentherapy.ca.
the blueprint
Just like with my Christmas showpieces last year, once I had a solid sketch, I mapped out the relative size of the elements and translated that to a full size sketch. You can see on my original sketch how I measure out the various pieces in centimeters (sorry inches, your accuracy doesn’t cut it) and then scaled that up. This is a step I have incorporated only within the last few years and it really helps me visualize the piece. A sketch is great, but it can be surprising how something that looks good on a small piece of paper doesn’t make sense at full size.

With a ruler and a little math – a scaled rendition of the piece will soon be born!
the mise en place
With the full-sized dimensions locked in, I moved on to making the molds to create the piece. I don’t have access to custom molds, so I always make my own basic forms to start with. From there I carve away/add chocolate to get the final piece. I take a bit of pride that my pieces are very much hand-made and labor intensive.

Luxury molds using only the finest of materials. In the background are my molds for the antlers, middle ground are the two halves of the base, foreground is the wreath mold.
This piece was surprisingly custom, and I didn’t have many existing molds in the form of mixing bowls and containers that I could use. Much of the molds I used, I created from scratch using my favorite combo of foam core, cake boxes and hot glue. You have to have some imagination when it comes to making molds like this because the original molded piece is always far from the finished product.
the base
It may not seem like it, but the base for the piece – the gold column that the deer head sits on – was surprisingly tricky. It is an hourglass tube that tapers into the center. Experienced chocolatiers, fabricators, engineers, etc. will think on that for a second and see what I mean – not an easy shape without a wood lathe (If anyone out there has an extra lathe lying around, I take donations in the form of lathes. But seriously, I want a lathe.). Making things worse is that the piece needed to be quite thick but sturdy, and a large amount of liquid tempered chocolate sets very slowly, leaving the center of the shape crumbly and weak.
I decided to cast two hourglass shaped pieces, and then glue those together to create a single block that was as thick as I needed it to be. From there it was good old fashioned carving – I used a vegetable peeler and a paring knife for most of it – to get the tapered look.
the head
I custom made generic-shaped molds for the deer’s neck, face, and the center component of the antlers. Two castings in mixing bowls made the structure for the deer’s skull and a sphere mold was used for the muzzle. I glued the basic structure together, creating a mildly horrific deer-ish head shape thing. From there I used one of my favorite techniques – blending chocolate in a food processor until it softens and binds into a paste – to add material to the head structure. After a few hours of adding and carving away, I had a deer head. Still horrifying, but a little bit Christmas magical too.
This is a cool video showing some of my technique in making the head.
the antlers
I glued the antler sections together and trimmed/carved them to look like a single piece. I then once again used blended chocolate “clay” to roll out and add the other segments of the antlers. Once everything was assembled I painted over the surface with tempered chocolate. This creates a pretty accurate antler texture and also strengthens and solidifies the antlers as a whole.

Making the center structure of the antlers solid cast chocolate gives them the best chance of staying strong over time and in warmer conditions.
the wreath
I made a ring mold for the basic wreath shaped and then carved it down to round the edges. The leaves were simply made. I piped chocolate onto sheets of acetate and drew out points from the center with a skewer. I love easy.
the finish
The finish of this piece was simple and difficult at the same time. Simple, because I had just one color I needed to use. Difficult, because that color was metallic gold, which is a pain in the butt to do well in the chocolate world. There are some decent gold colored cocoa butters out there, but none of them have a strong metallic luster. For that I would need to use metallic gold dust. I love gold dust, but shit does it get everywhere. It doesn’t stick well at all to set chocolate so I had two options.

Creepy chocolate alien deer head…thing. With a pretty wreath around its neck!
The first option was to assemble the piece, stick it in the cooler for a day or two until the chocolate started to sweat, and then quickly and thoroughly brush the gold dust on. I didn’t like this option because I didn’t trust the piece to be safe in a hotel cooler for 5min. let alone days. Also, brushing on gold dust may work for small items (like my chocolate jingle bells) but for a piece as large and complex as a deer head and holly wreath, I felt like a mess was imminent.
I chose to go with a second option. I first sprayed the piece in a few coats of good quality gold cocoa butter, letting each layer set before spraying the next. Once I had a base coat, I sprayed a coat of cocoa butter in sections on the piece, and while the cocoa butter was still “wet” I used an air gun to shoot gold dust onto it, covering the piece evenly in a thin coat of dust. This turned out way better than I expected, and I was really pleased with the final look.
All that was left was some careful assembly. I should note that the cocoa butter/gold dust finish looks great, but is basically Teflon when it comes to gluing chocolate onto it. Any point of contact for a chocolate element had to have the gold coating scraped off so that chocolate touched chocolate for good adhesion.
I’m really happy with the final product, a special Christmas deer I’ve named…Glitzen.



Cheers – Chef Scott
Glitzen is probably the most amazing animal I have ever seen. Your post is so beautiful and so funny at the same time! I have been following you here on your blog and on Instagram for a while now and want to thank you for sharing so much of your professional knowledge. In fact I am in the middle of making the chocolate bells – if I succeed ;-), I will share them on Instagram…
Helga (covered in gold dust)
Hi Helga,
Sorry to respond so late to your comment…the holiday craziness swept me up and I’m just now getting my life back together. You are very welcome, I’m just happy that people like you enjoy and appreciate what I’m sharing! I hope your chocolate bells came out as you intended (and that you give it another go if they didn’t). Have a wonderful 2018!
Cheers – Chef Scott
Unbelievable. Glitzed is beautiful. A masterpiece from a Master!!
Hi Kathy,
Thanks!!
Absolutely stunning…and love the name! You should be chuffed!
Chuffed… a great English expression.
Really like the piece, the wreath in particular.
Beautiful Chef!
Thank you so much for sharing your work!
Very inspiring!
Hi Daniel,
Thanks so much, you’re very welcome!
Cheers – Chef Scott
I just had tea at the Langham today and saw this in person. It’s beautiful and very impressive! You are an artist!!
Hi Kari,
Thanks so much! I hope you enjoyed tea!
Cheers – Chef Scott
Stunning work, Chef…thanks for sharing the process. What happens to Glitzen at the end of the season?
Hi Donna,
Thanks! As much of Glitzen as possible will be remelted to be used for future decorations and projects. The gold coating on him makes that a little difficult since that has to be removed, but we’ll try and make the process as humane as possible.
Cheers – Chef Scott
Hey chef, I need you on speed dial for showpiece Q&A: when making your own molds, do you need to tape the cake box cardboard shape down to whatever that white board is so that the chocolate doesn’t slip through? What is that white board anyways? Does it have to be a particular medium? And it looks like you taped all of the corners of the cut out cardboard cake box mold…I am assuming these molds are reusable as well? THANK YOU for guidance…miss your pastry posts…I want to buy a cutting board still
Hi Monica,
Haha, I need a toll-free number! 1-800-DFK-HELP (oh man, that is so perfect!)
The white board I use as a mold base is called foam core – here’s a link to some, or you can get it at an art store or craft store (it will be more expensive that way). I trace my mold shape onto the board then cut the surface without cutting through the board. I slip the cake board walls of the mold into that board and it prevents any chocolate from coming out of the sides. If I have two separate walls that come together at a corner, I will tape those together. The molds are reusable so long as you don’t damage any of the components of the mold unmolding the chocolate, but usually they’re just one use.
I am launching a YouTube channel with video tutorials of all of my recipes (and now I think I should include a post about making chocolate molds! I’ll give you a shout-out on the video 🙂 ). These video posts will take the place of most of my DFK blog posts (although I’ll be adding links to the videos and still writing essays on the blog). I hope you give the channel a look and feel free to suggest any videos you’d like to see!
Cheers – Chef Scott
As promised, may want to check out this video 🙂
FAN GIRLING SO HARD.. YOU ARE THE BEST.. I can’t wait to try!! Thank you!!
Woohoo! Let me know how it goes 🙂