ECLAIR TORTE--A YUMMY, EASY, BEAUTIFUL DESSERT!

This recipe for a delicious ECLAIR TORTE has been in our family for some years now.  It is a basic eclair recipe, formed into a circle on a pizza pan, split, filled, then topped and drizzled with a homemade hot fudge sauce.  Try it--it's one of those recipes that is sure to impress--yet so easy and pretty quick!  You'll always get requests for it, I guarantee!

DOUGH:  1 Cup water
                 1/2 Cup BUTTER (1 cube)
                 1 Cup flour
                 4 eggs

Bring water and butter to a boil.  Dump in flour and stir until blended and it forms a ball.  Remove from heat and beat in eggs, 1 at a time, mixing well.  Form the paste into a ring on UNGREASED pizza pan or stone, leaving a 1 1/2" edge.  Bake at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes, or until lightly browned.  Cool completely, on a wire rack, then split horizontally and fill.

FILLING:  2 3-oz. pkgs. INSTANT vanilla pudding 
                 1 8-oz. Cool Whip
                 2 1/2 Cup cold milk
                 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

HOT FUDGE SAUCE:    4 Tbls cocoa
                                          2 Cup sugar
                                          4 Tbls Flour
                                          1 can EVAPORATED milk
                                          1/2 Cup BUTTER
                                          1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix together and bring to a boil over medium heat. Stir and boil for 3-5 minutes.  Pour into a quart jar.  Can be stored in the refrigerator for 3 months.  For hot fudge topping, warm up in microwave for a minute.  For topping for Eclair Torte, drizzle warm sauce over top of torte.  Refrigerate.  (This will make more than you'll need for the torte) 

NOTE:  I like to cut mine into 'slices' before I fill the torte.  To do this, after you've split the torte horizontally, mark the top of the bottom and the top torte with a toothpick.  Cut into how many pieces you want to serve, (I usually divide mine into 12 servings--the one pictured was cut into 16, because that's how many my son, Cole, needed for a party.  But, I think 12 looks nicer). Take off the top pieces, keeping it in the order you've cut it, so your pieces will match up, and spoon chilled filling onto each serving, using all of the filling equally among the 12 slices.  Top with the pre-cut top pieces.  Drizzle hot fudge onto each piece.  In this way, to serve all you need to do is use a pie server and you won't 'squish' the torte when cutting, and the hot fudge isn't messy.