When they are used as decorations on birthday cakes, cookies and other sweet confections, chocolate letters taste as good as they look. Made by melting chocolate or chocolate candy coating, the trick to creating attractive letters is to make them ahead of time, and place them on the cake after they harden. With this technique, you can make any size or style of letter you choose.

Print out a computer-generated copy of the letters or words you want to make out of chocolate. Alternately, you can write the letters by hand on a sheet of paper.

Tape the sheet of paper to a clipboard or another flat board. Tape a large piece of waxed paper over the sheet of paper, and set the clipboard aside.

Melt 1 cup of chocolate candy coating discs or chocolate bits in a small microwaveable bowl on “High,” stirring every 30 seconds until the mixture is melted and smooth.

Cut the bottom 1/2 inch off a disposable plastic decorator’s back and insert a #2 decorating tip into the bag. The #2 tip has a small round hole in the end.

Spoon the melted chocolate into the decorator bag, and twist the top of the bag to push the chocolate into the tip.

Hold the tip above the clipboard, and slowly squeeze the bag, following the outline of the letter pattern carefully. If you make a mistake, just wipe the chocolate off and try again. With a little practice, you can make intricate letters and designs in chocolate.

Put the clipboard in a cool spot until the chocolate letters harden. To remove the letters, place the waxed paper on a countertop, and pull the edge of the waxed paper straight down over the edge of the counter. As you pull, the chocolate letters will slide to the end of the counter and off as you pull the waxed paper down and away. Be sure to support delicate letters with your hand, or ask a helper to pull the waxed paper while you support the letters.