Christmas
in Sydney is not at all cold (though 2012's Christmas certainly seemed so - let's hope for a repeat, shall we?).
Nope. Not one bit as freezing as Europe and those other Northern countries.
Even our Winter is warm in comparison.
But for
some reason I long for sub-zero temperatures, sweaters and socks, hot chocolate and a cozy fireplace.
Those
cold nights wrapped up in blankets, with hot chocolate and a favourite movie.(Titanic, anyone?)
*Sigh* Those are the kind of things a girl wants....
But
instead of sulking and remembering how UNBEARABLY HOT it is in Summer, and how
not-really-cold it is in Winter, I made CHOCOLATE SNOWMEN!!! YAY
These
cake balls are eeeeeeeeeasy - so easy in fact I've already made them three
times this Christmas season!
All you
need to do is bake up any chocolate cake recipe you fancy (or any other
flavour, for that matter), and then when it has cooled, crumble it with your
fingers into a bowl until the cake resembles crumbs.
Right.
Good work. That was fun, I know. Now make a small amount (maybe 1/2 - 1 cup
full) of buttercream. Should be chocolate, I guess, but so long as it's sugar I
really don't think anyone will care! Mix this into your cake crumbs until
everything is slightly sticky with frosting.
Roll
balls of cake (about 1-2 Tablespoons full) and put them on a baking sheet lined
with baking/parchment paper. These balls of deliciousness need to be chilled
until firm - about 30 minutes.
Once the
balls are chilled, melt some white chocolate buttons (I end up using about 2
packets, but not all at once since the chocolate resets quickly) and dip each
ball into the chocolate. I'll admit, this is the hardest part for me, and the
least likeable part of the process. BUT it gets better from here!
As soon
as a ball has had its dunking in chocolate, place it back on the baking paper
and quickly put a marshmallow on top for the snowman's head. Repeat with the
rest of the balls, then chill them again in the refrigerator for another 30
minutes.
Decorating
time!!! Melt some more white chocolate, and, one snowman at a time, drizzle the
chocolate over its marshmallow head until the whole marshmallow is covered with
chocolate.
You don't
want to drizzle so much chocolate that you can't see the first layer of
chocolate on the cake ball, though, since you want the snowmen to look as
though they are melting :D
Now,
quick as you can before the chocolate sets, stick a fruit tingle or other flat
disc-shaped lolly onto the marshmallow head as a hat base.
Wrap a
sour strap (cut into 4 so it's not so chunky) around the snowman's neck for a
scarf to keep himself from getting too cold.
Then drop
cachous onto the head for eyes, and a small orange (or blue for a frostbite
snowman!) chocolate chip for the nose.
If you
wish, you can add more coloured choc chips, some M&M's or some cachous onto
the body for buttons.
Dip a
mini marshmallow into some white chocolate so that it will stick to the fruit
tingle hat base.
And
voila! Gorgeous and addictive chocolate cake snowmen! Perfect for that
Christmas party, or just for some fun and yummy-ness!
