Chocolate Kitty Jack-O-Lantern

This is a centerpiece I made in school (sorry about the photo quality, I only had my phone).

To make a hollow pumpkin (egg, ball, etc.) of your own follow these directions.

• Blow up a balloon to desired size and grease.
  
• Temper chocolate and dip balloon in chocolate covering all but the top
  
• Let the chocolate dry (you can set the balloon on a plate but might want to tie a string to the top and attach to something else so the balloon won't fall over)
• Once chocolate is hard, dip again in tempered chocolate and set to dry. (Do this procees a total of 3-4 times to get a thick enough shell, so that it won't break when you carve into it)
• Once the final layer is completely dry you can pop the balloon. Depending on how well you greased the balloon, it may or may not come out.

To decorate use cookie cutters or an exacto knife. Heat the knife tip or edge of cutter over a heat gun. Careful not to burn the metal or yourself! Slowly and with little pressure insert into the chocolate to carve desired design. You will need to keep re-heating your tools while you are carving. To add other pieces of chocolate, use tempered chocolate as "glue".

Have fun!

-amanda

Dessert Table: Baby/Wedding Combo

I have been dying to make a dessert table for months now, but never had a reason to do one until now. One of my co-workers is getting married next week, and the other who happens to be her cousin is having a baby girl in November. So we decided at work to throw them a little surprise wedding/baby shower. I figured this would be the perfect event for my first dessert table. It was so much fun to do, I hope I can do more in the future!



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-amanda