Happy St. Valentine's Day

What better way is there to show love then a heart shaped chocolate cake?? Well, the week before Valentines day, my Mother and I were invited to a friends home to learn all about chocolate. Melting, mixing, icing, molding, decorating, cooling, and my favorite part; Tasting. The cakes pictured above were baked the day before and our wonderful instructor, Kay, was there to guide us as we made chocolate Ganache (If you didn't already know, it's pronounced; Ga-nosh) to ice them with.

Cutting up the chocolate was a lot harder then it looked. But it helps it all melt quickly and easily to be a smooth and rich liquid.

We made a batch of Ganache and poured it out in a pan to cool so we could make truffles later.

While that cooled and we waited for the second batch of Gonash to melt, we all enjoyed a cup of Chocolate Punch. (Yes, CHOCOLATE PUNCH) Mmmm....

With the Ganache melted and warm, we spooned it over the cakes.

It was difficult to get all the edges covered well, but other then that it was fun.

Then we could decorate them with what ever we wanted. There was toasted almonds, toffee bits, red and white sprinkles in all shapes and sizes, powdered sugar, and cocoa powder.

Bethany (of http://bethjoy.blogspot.com/ ) and I with our iced and decorated cakes.

After enjoying a pleasant lunch with relaxing fellowship, we got right back into it with the dipping chocolate. This was really fun and a bit crazy as we were all reaching across each other to grab pretzel sticks, marshmallows, strawberries and dried fruit to dip in the pots of melted chocolate and decorate with the afore mentioned decorating items.

The chocolate-marshmallow forest.

A simple cup of pomegranate tea and a chocolate raspberry pastry was a perfect end to a day full of fun, food, friends, and fellowship. Thanks to our teacher, Kay, for her willingness to share her knowledge, and to our hostess', Mrs. McAdams and Morgan, for all your hard work to put on such a wonderful party!