First, let me start off by saying this dessert will impress and surprise your guests leaving them thinking you are a true sweet genius. You can pretty much put anything you like in this lovely chocolately ball. I went with cheesecake and pecans because I thought it would pair nicely with the chocolate and caramel giving it a Turtles Chocolate feel. However, next time I think I will try some ice cream for a tasty new spin on the traditional sundae. 

What you Need:
Chocolate, use good quality I used Lindt and you can really taste the difference
Silicone or chocolate mold (I got mine from Golda's kitchen and they were perfect)
Candy thermometer
Caramel Sauce, you can either make it yourself (my recipe here) or buy it store bought
Something to fill the ball with

What to do:
Begin by tempering your chocolate, this is the process of bringing the chocolate up to a certain temperature and then cooling it down. Tempered chocolate is smooth, glossy and has a snap to it. Untempered chocolate will be soft and will not hold the shape of the ball and it will also "bloom", those white spots you see on chocolate. I do not provide a tutorial on tempering here but you can Google it for in depth tutorials. 

Once your chocolate is tempered using a spoon or small scoop pour some chocolate into your silicone or chocolate molds.

Using the back of a spoon or a brush coat the entire interior of the mold completely. Once coated, flip the mold upside down onto a piece of parchment paper and give it a gentle shake to get rid of the excess chocolate. 

Using an angled spatula, start at one end of the mold and scrap across to the other, give you a clean outer edge on each half circle. Flip it back over and allow it too cool upside down for approximately 1 hour..

Once the chocolate has cooled and hardened, carefully push the chocolate out of the mold using your thumbs and then peeling back the silicone. The chocolate should come out fairly easily. 

Now the fun part, fill one of your half circles with any cake, ice cream or anything else you can think of. You can use a cookie cutter to cut it or you can just cut the cake to fit into the circles. I cut 2 1/2 inch circles of cheesecake and topped it with chopped pecans. 

Melt a small amount of chocolate and place a small dab on your serving plate, this will help hold your ball in place. Place the half filled chocolate circle on the melted chocolate and hold for a few seconds to adhere.

Heat a pan or oven safe dish in the oven just until warm. Take the other half circle and place on the warm dish for just a few seconds to melt the ends slightly. Now press this half on to the other very gently, the melted chocolate will act as a "glue" and hold the two pieces together. 

Now that your chocolate dessert ball is complete make the caramel. You can use this recipe or if you're using store bought heat your caramel until it is hot. NOTE: regardless of what caramel you are using it must be HOT otherwise it will not melt your chocolate and expose your hidden treasure. 

Carefully pour the hot caramel over the chocolate ball and watch the magic, the hot caramel will melt the chocolate ball causing it to implode into itself. Stand back and revel at the masterpiece you just created and then enjoy because it tastes just as amazing as it looks!! Eat as little or as much as the sauce as you like, it's quite decadent but the chocolate and caramel work perfectly together.