Chocolate Wasted!

Josh and I had a very wonderful Christmas, first of all! We really enjoyed staying home and having our families visit us! Waking up on Christmas morning in our own home was something we won't soon forget! I got Josh a new digital camera and he has been testing out new techinques ever since! It's great to see him embarking on his hobby again. He didn't have time to spend on it during pilot training, so I thought now that he's done, he should have a new camera to use. My parents also got him Rock Band 3 with the keboard. Its been a blast to play with! He's playing it as we speak!

I got my very own KITCHENAID MIXER this year! I am sooo excited! I also got some handy cookbooks and baking utensils! Obviously, I have been baking/cooking up a storm this past week. Here's something that we all really enjoyed....Chocolate cake balls.

They were surprisingly easy to make. I bought some chocolate cake mix and canned vanilla frosting (not whipped). I baked the cake and let it cool. Then I divided it into four equal parts and crumbled each piece into a big mixing bowl, leaving no big chunks. Then I took the can of frosting and dumped 3/4 of it into the mixing bowl, combining the two with the back of a large spoon until it looked like this:

Then I used a contraption that looks like a mini ice cream scooper to dig out little cake balls. I placed them on wax paper on a cookie sheet.

I placed them four in a row, knowing they would be put in the freezer for about 15 min (or several hours in the refridgerator) and not touching each other.

While they were in the freezer, I began melting one bag of snack sized hershey's chocolate bars. The recipe called for candy coating (melts easier, less sweet) but I couldn't find that at our store. Hershey's worked out well! You can melt in the microwave or on the stovetop. I chose the stovetop so I could monitor the melting process better.

I had to do this more than once to get the heat on the stovetop just right. Low heat and longer wait is the best route! Once the chocolate was melted and the cake balls were firm from the freezer, I took them out and one by one, placed them in the chocolate pot. The recipe said not to move them around so you don't get cake crumbs all in your chocolate. So I simply placed them in the pot and used a big spoon to pour excess chocolate onto the ball, covering it completely. Then I just used to two big spoons to pull it out and put it back onto the wax paper. Once they were all covered (or really I just needed more chocolate), I placed them in the freezer for another 15 min, then moved them to the fridge until someone wanted one!

As yo can tell by the picture, they were eaten! :) They were VERY rich and I could only eat one myself! But they were delicious and way easier than I anticipated!