Death by CHOCOLATE! A Velata PARTY!

This weekend we had a few people over to a Velata Chocolate Party.  As you might know, we sell Scentsy and as my may not know, Scentsy just opened a new division called Velata.  Velata is the finest, the most rich and decadent Belgian chocolate in an EASY fondue form.  It's perfect for parties!  We had the Caramel Milk Chocolate and Milk Chocolate.  AWESOME!  I'm not just saying that!  It was sooooo good! You can check it out here: Chocolate Whimsy

As with most parties, this one whipped our butts into high gear and Matt decided we needed new steps to the patio since we were having the party on the patio.  Just like Murphy's law states, the easiest jobs sometimes turn out to be the hardest!  When we (lol, actually that is HE) removed the old stairs we realized that the ledger board on our house below the patio door was rotted. Good Times, good times! A quick phone call to my father for some help and then double the stair budget later it's all fixed and we have pretty new stairs!  Matt was putting the treads on about an hour before the party started!  We work well under pressure!  The rail is not up but when it is I will post a pic.


The fondue warmer that came in our kit was red and I'm not a big RED fan (GASP!) so I thought I'd have a hard time getting a "table" display that I liked.  Then I remembered the AWESOME brown and red Dooney and Burke purse my niece got for Christmas a few years ago and all my problems were solved!  I used a piece of burlap angled loosely over a white table cloth and then threw in pieces of red fabric in the form of fat quarters from JoAnn's. (WITH a coupon!)  I "borrowed" the antique Coca-Cola crates from Cole's room to give me some height for the table.  Height always adds interest!  I put the warmers on one crate and a Ghirardelli Fudge Cake on the other.  While at JoAnn's, I found this ADORABLE CHOCOLATE MOLD.  I put a few swirlies and some leaves around the bottom and voila' it looks like it took me all day!  This is a delicious cake with an awesome chocolate butter cream too.  Here's the recipe:


GHIRARDELLI FUDGE CAKE


2 Cups        flour
3/4 Cup      Ghirardelli unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp           baking powder
1 tsp           baking soda
1/2 tsp        salt
1 Cup         butter softened
1 3/4 Cups sugar
1T              vanilla
2                 large eggs
1 1/3 Cups  milk


Preheat oven to 350.  Grease and lightly flour 3- 8" round cake pans or 2- 9" rounds.  In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside.  In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy.  Reduce speed to slow and add vanilla and eggs one at a time, scraping bowl occasionally.  Alternately add on slow speed, dry mixture with milk, beginning and ending with dry mixture.  Blend in vanilla.  Pour into the pans and bake for 30-35 minutes  (don't mind the not so attractive frosting, it was as humid as pea soup here!


GHIRARDELLI  Butter cream  I double this recipe


6 T    softened butter
2 2/3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/3 sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla


In mixing bowl, beat butter until light and fluffy. In a separate bowl mix the powdered sugar with the cocoa. Blend the butter with the sugar mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with milk.  Mix in the vanilla.  Enjoy!