A favorite recipe

Today after Chase and I got home from the dog park, I wanted a smoothie, or Popsicle. Chase suggested that I make Frozen Hot Chocolate, it's one of our favorite treats. Now I've never been to New York and had the frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity so I have nothing to compare it to. We usually don't have whipped cream to put on top. I also like to use the ice from Sonic if I have some, it blends up better.

Frozen hot chocolate
6 half ounce pieces of a variety of your favorite chocolates
2 teaspoons of store-bought hot chocolate mix
1 ½ Tablespoons of sugar
1 ½ cups of milk
3 cups of ice
Whipped cream
Chocolate shavings

Chop the chocolate into small pieces. Place in top of double boiler over simmering water, (or melt in microwave using 10 second increments and stirring after each 10 seconds.) Stir occasionally until melted. Add the hot chocolate mix and sugar. Stir until completely melted. Remove from heat and slowly add ½ cup of milk until smooth. Cool to room temperature.

In blender, place the remaining cup of milk, the room-temperature chocolate mixture and the ice. Blend on high speed until smooth and the consistency of a frozen daiquiri. Pour into a giant goblet and top with the whipped cream and chocolate shavings.

The Cake

So today was the day to cut open the cake, everyone was excited to see what kind of cake it was. I wasn't about to tell. It was a surprise. Yum to Neapolitan cake. Everyone loved the cake and the fondant, and I hardly saw any go in the trash.
I also wanted to let everyone know the changes mom and I made to the recipe. Instead of using 2 Tbsp of water in the beginning we just used 3 Tbsp, we also added 1tsp of clear vanilla after heating and before pouring the marshmallows into the powdered sugar. Also only 1/4 Cup of shortening, use about half for greasing your hands and mix the other half into the melted marshmallow mixture. Sift the powdered sugar into a bowl and make a well in the middle. Pour in the marshmallow mixture, and grease hands. Fold the powdered sugar around the marshmallow mixture, it will still be messy. But you won't have the mess on your counter to clean up, you can do the whole process in a bowl.
Make sure after you have covered your cake and trimmed the bottom that you poke a few small vent holes with a needle or pin, or the sides of your cake will end up full of air and bowed like mine did. (sorry don't have a picture to prove my point.)
I'm sure learning a lot about cake decorating, I think I'm ready to try doing a cake all on my own now, guess we'll see.