*Ding Dongs

Cake:
1/3 cup chocolate chips
1-1/2 cups hot coffee
3 cups granulated sugar
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour, unbleached
1-1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1-1/4 tsp salt
3 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1-1/2 cups buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla

vanilla frosting - your favorite recipe or store-bought

Chocolate coating:
1 cup heavy cream
1 TB butter
12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Cake:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Grease two 10-inch cake pans, line bottoms with wax paper cut to fit, and grease the wax paper.
In a bowl, combine the 1/3 cup chocolate chips with the hot coffee. Stir until chocolate is melted and mixture smooth.
In a large bowl sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt and baking soda. In a separate bowl, beat eggs until thickened. Add oil, buttermilk and vanilla, and melted chocolate-coffee mixture to eggs and beat until well mixed. Add dry ingredients carefully (to avoid lumps of flour in the wet mix.) Beat on medium speed just until combined well.
Divide batter between prepared pans. Place pans on rack in center of oven and bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes.  Cool completely in pans before removing cakes from pans. Carefully peel off the wax paper.

Using a round cookie cutter, drinking glass or clean aluminum can, cut circles out of the cake layers. Space them as close as you can to get the most little cakes possible. Give the cake scraps to your kids, spouse or roommates! Use a sharp knife to cut out a small circle from the top of one of the small cakes. Left the plus out and scoop a little cake out of the hole. Put a dollop of frosting into the hole and put the cake plug back in place, making it level with the top of the cake. Repeat with the rest of the cakes.

Chocolate coating:
Heat the cream and butter in a pan over medium heat. Heat to boiling stirring frequently. Put the 12oz. chocolate chips into a heatproof bowl. Pour the boiling cream over the chocolate. Stir the contents until the chocolate is melted and the coating is smooth.

Finale:
Put the cakes on a cooling rack set into a cookie sheet to catch drips. Cover the tops and sides of each cake with  the chocolate coating, using a brush or a spoon (the back of a spoon works well to cover the sides of the cakes.)  Allow the chocolate coating to set and then serve!