Chocolate Hazelnut... Homemade Nutella

This was from our July Chocolate Therapy Challenge. I've finally got around to posting it. We found 2 different recipes for homemade nutella. I tried one and Duff ABC's tried the other. They were both short and easy, using whole Hazelnuts that you grind yourself. And there is the issue I had with the recipe. Not the grinding, that was easy, but my at home food processor just couldn't get the nuts ground enough! The end product was just a bit too grainy. By other than the texture (a big deal for me, but not my Husband) the taste was amazing. If I could find a way to grind it better, and create a smoother finish I'd never buy Nutella at the store again.

Homemade Nutella
3/4 C (90 grams) powdered sugar
2/3 C (100 grams) ground hazelnuts
1/3 C (70 grams) butter
3.5 oz (100 grams) dark chocolate
1/2 C (1 deciliter) milk

Combine sugar and hazelnuts.
Melt chopped chocolate with butter in double broiler. Add hazelnuts with sugar in it and stir it.
Pour milk in the hot chocolate mix and stir it, until it becomes smooth (it takes about one minute).
Pour into a container and refrigerate it.

Using weight works more accurately than C's. But I did my best to get the measurement accurate. I included the original grams just in case...)

Pirate cake

So I've done a few cakes lately, but nothing really out of the ordinary until now, my 3 year old's birthday cake. It was SO much fun to do, there was so much detail that went into the cake, I had a blast making it. I actually started the extra stuff 5 days before. The ladder, sides, ropes, barrel, wheel and cannon balls... I also made poles, a flag, sails and a crows nest out of fondant, but here in the Humid south they never dried all the way (too thick) and broke when I tried to use them.

You can't really see very well, but there is wooden plank detail work on the ship and the cake base (you can click on the picture for a larger image). And I also wrote D.A. on the side of the cake (it stands for Destroying Angel, a nickname) and wrote "Cap'n ____" on the water. And I added 3 black candles sticking out of the side for cannon's and that is what he blew out. I experimented and created chocolate marshmallow fondant for the ship. It worked out well, and tasted nice too! It was a huge hit, everyone loved it and I was pleased!