I heart Ding Dongs ~ The Sevy's

For Valentine's this year I wanted to make ding-dongs. Here is a little step by step of their creation:

I found this cute little heart shaped cake tray at Michael's. I'm pretty sure it was the last one!

Borrowed these pans from my Mom. I really loved the size of these! They were almost twice the size of the hearts made from the tray above ^^^.

For the cake:
I did the usual Chocolate Mousse Cake recipe. Instead of using 1 box of Duncan Hines Devil Food, I used Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge cake mix.

1 box Duncan Hines DCF cake mix
1 large box instant chocolate pudding
1 cup oil
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup warm water
4 eggs
1 cup mini semi sweet chocolate chips

Mix first 6 ingredients, stirring well. Stir in mini chocolate chips.

Then I filled the pans and let them cook at 350 degrees for about 20-25 minutes. Make sure you don't over cook them!!
Once they cooked, I let them cool for a few minutes and then sliced off all of the extra cake that cooked over the edge. They should be flush with the pan now.

Then let them cool for another 5 minutes and push them out of the pan. Then I cored the cakes so I could add a cream filling.

Next, I made a ridiculously light, whipped filling. I was pretty impressed! Here is the recipe:

For the cream filling:
1/2 cup of milk
2 Tablespoons flour
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla (use clear to keep the filling white)
1/2 cup powdered sugar

1. Whisk 1/2 cup of milk and 2 tablespoons of flour in a sauce pan over medium heat. The milk and flour will make a pasty gravy.
2. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
3. Cream 1/2 cup of shortening and 1/2 cup of granulated sugar in a separate bowl. Then add the gravy mix and beat on high for 5 minutes.
4. Add 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla and 1/2 cup of powdered sugar.
5. Continue beating until fluffy.

Once you have finished the cream filling, make sure the cakes are completely cooled (I think I even popped mine in the refrigerator for a bit) so they don't melt the filling. Then I used my icing back with a star shaped tip to fill each of the cakes.

Next I sealed the cakes with a dipping chocolate.

Then I made a chocolate ganache.

For the chocolate ganache:
8 oz. of semi sweet chocolate chips
8 oz. of heaving whipping cream

1. Combine chocolate and cream in microwave safe bowl.

2. Heat for 2 minutes and stir.

3. Stir and heat again until all the chocolate has melted

4. Mix ganache well. As the ganache cools, the thicker it will get. (I let the ganache sit for a while so it would not completely slide off the cake.)

Once the ganache cooled and thickened I poured it over each cake individually, making sure I covered each one completely. Then I let me sit in the refrigerator overnight.

The following day (about 24 hours later) I made my favorite buttercream frosting and put the finishing touches on the cakes to make them look like real ding dongs.Be careful not to touch the ganache. Your fingerprints might not be too appetizing to others! ; )

So cute!! I love how they turned out!!

Here you can tell I sprinkled some edible glitter over the the bigger cake.

This is Spence and I at the Chocolate Bar in downtown Houston. It was so much fun! Such a fun little hangout spot. We love that it was open until midnight!!

Also, we were able to go visit Spencer's grandparents out in Waskom, TX. It was most likely our last visit out there since his grandparent's are planning on moving to Houston in the next few months (fingers crossed). It was seriously one of the best and most relaxing weekends I had had in a while. I love being out in the country away from the Houston hustle and bustle, seriously!