Since we had a church gathering that night, we decided to go old-school, and make some cake for the fudge to ice.

This is the finished product of the cake; now, onto the main event, the fudge!

The first step is the butter, and I know… Four sticks?! But the recipe only calls for ten tablespoons! We ended up quadrupling the recipe because of how many people we had to feed. Okay, enough about that. You start out by greasing the sauce pan and letting your butter melt a bit before adding the cocoa.

After the butter melts a bit, add in some good old Hershey’s Cocoa. The standard recipe calls for 6 tablespoons. Since we quadrupled the recipe, 24 were needed.

Be sure both the butter and the chocolate are melted completely before adding in your 2/3 cup of milk.

Next, add sugar.

Not-so-pro tip: carefully add sugar, making sure it doesn’t touch the sides of the pan until fully melted. Granulation is a horrible thing.

Stir continually until temperature reaches 240 to 245 degrees.

Remove from heat when it reaches 245 degrees.

Stir until mixture cools enough to add vanilla.

Stir some more until fudge mixture reaches the desired smooth consistency.

Finally, pour on cake, if you are using it as icing.

Or, pour in pan and enjoy straight!