If you have ever wished to make decadent chocolate truffles at home, then this is the page for you. Using only three ingredients, you can bring the taste of Belgium home for all your friends and family to try.
This recipe makes around 24 truffles.
Ingredients:
125ml heavy cream
285g chocolate (I love using around 100g milk chocolate and 185g dark chocolate, but you can use any type of chocolate and any ratio. The important thing is using good quality chocolate, this gives the truffles a rich and luxurious taste, do not use baking chocolate.)
Approx 15g unsalted softened butter (this is optional but I find it gives the truffles a creamy, velvety texture.)
Truffle coating of choice (chocolate, cocoa powder, chopped nuts)
Optional extras for filling, for example orange zest and juice, liquor etc
Equipment:
Pan to heat the cream
Bowl
Spoon/spatula
Dish/container/mould for ganache to set
Baking parchment/tin foil
Method:
Break up the chocolate of your choice into small pieces and place inside the bowl.
Heat the cream on a medium heat in the pan until it is simmering.
Pour the cream over the chocolate, leave it to sit for 2/3 minutes to melt the chocolate and then gently start stirring the cream and the chocolate together. (Tip: Don’t use a whisk as this adds air to the mixture, use a spoon or spatula.)
Add the softened butter and continue to stir until fully integrated.
Your ganache is now ready to use...see how easy that was.
Optional extras: Ganache with liquor
Add chosen liquor to the mixture after the butter has been added and the ingredients have been throughly mixed together. You can add as much liquor as you wish, however for every 1ml of liquor you use, make sure you remove 1ml of cream from the recipe. Too much liquid will prevent the ganache setting to the correct consistency.
My favourite version uses fresh oranges:
You will need the zest and juice of 3/4 to 1 large orange.
Peel the orange with a vegetable peeler and avoid the orange pith as we don’t want the chocolates to be too bitter.
Follow the instructions for the usual recipe, add follow the changes below:
In the pan, heat the orange juice so it reduces in volume by half. Remove from the pan and put to the side.
Add the zest/peel to the cream in the pan before heating, once the cream has been heated, remove the peel.
Once you have the chocolate, cream and butter fully mixed, add the reduced orange juice to the mixture and stir in.
Consistency:
As soon as everything has been fully mixed you have the perfect consistency for a fondue, great for dipping fruit.
Once the mixture is cooler, after 20 minutes or so, this is the optimum time for piping the ganache into chocolate shells.
I love to put the mixture into a lined container straight away and wait at least 6 hours, even over night. This forms a hard ganache which can easily be shaped for your chocolate truffles.
Top tip! Tap the container on the surface to remove any air bubbles.
Shaping the chocolate truffles:
For square or rectangle truffles, slice the slab of ganache you have created to the ideal shape and size.
For round truffles you can take a spoon from the bowl and mould them with your hands, but I prefer to slice them up like you would the square ones, which means they all come out the same size. For round truffles I like to use gloves as it can get very messy, roll them out in the palms of your hands, pop them back in the fridge for an hour, then roll them again. This way the surface becomes very smooth.
For other shapes eg hearts, pour the mixture whilst it is still liquid and tap the mould to remove any bubbles.
You can coat your truffles in chopped nuts, cocoa, coconut or chocolate. This is the moment to get creative.
I love coating mine in tempered chocolate and getting creative with different designs and even playing around with lustre dust to give those chocolates and amazing shine.
Top tip! Lustre dust when used on its own gives a subtle glimmer and iridescence, but if you mix it with a little vodka or rum, you can paint the lustre dust on and it gives you a brilliant metallic effect. The alcohol will evaporate so it is safe even for the kids.
As you can see the basic recipe is so quick and easy and you can play around with designs and flavours. This is a fantastic way to make gifts for your friends and family, or even make these truffles with your loved ones.
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