Caught up in a web of chocolate

We went out with Victor's sister and her husband last night to celebrate her birthday, so we wanted to bring a cake with us for dessert.  This is a chocolate cake with a whipped cream filling and covered with melted dark and white chocolate. 

I used Cool Whip for the filling rather than making my own whipped cream.    The concept came from a book I have entitled "The Essential Guide to Cake Decorating Guide" although my mom had made a similar cake for me when I was young.  When my mom made it, she used white icing with a chocolate web.  

The recipe in the book leaves the sides of the cake unfrosted, but I was unfortunately a little sloppy with the Cool Whip while filling the cake, so I had to do something on the sides to try to cover that up.   I was really happy with the top of the cake but the sides didn't look great.... I also think I may have messed up a little with the dark chocolate.  The recipe called for 2 oz of butter and 2 oz of dark chocolate.  I figured, a cup is 8 ounces, so 2 ounces would be essentially 2 tablespoons?  And since I have a block of chocolate, I just sort of eyeballed what I thought 2 ounces looked like.  However, when it was all melted in the sauce pan, it tasted too buttery to me, so I added some more chocolate.   Anyway, listed below is the recipe from the book, but feel free to improvise as I did. 

Victor did the dragging of the skewer through the chocolate to make the spider web effect.  I think he did a really nice job. 

For the melted dark chocolate: 

Melt 2 ounces of butter and 2 ounces of dark chocolate over a low heat until melted.  Remove from heat and let cool (somewhat).   

For the white chocolate (2 ounces): 

Place white chocolate in a small heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water until melted.   Remove from heat and leave to cool slightly.  Spoon the melted chocolate into a small piping bag.  Snip off the tip and pipe a small circle in the center of the cake.  Pipe another circle around it and then carry on until you have covered the top of the cake.   Before the chocolate sets, drag a skewer and repeat this process, making lines evenly spaced and working around the cake.  

After the cake was all assembled, I put it in the refrigerator to firm it all up which helped the chocolate set.   Given the Cool Whip filling, I would recommend storing any left over portions in the fridge as well.