Lime and Coconut Cake Truffles

In her last dying throes, my oven produced a batch of completely spread out, flat as a pancake, and pale vanilla fairy cakes. Until recently, the recipe I used for the cakes would have worked perfectly every single time, but this time they were a disaster. It was then that I decided to pack up all my baking equipment and move it to my mother's house until such time as the oven could be fixed, or replaced.

But the question remained: what do I do with the leftover disastercakes? Do I throw them out? Feed them to the ducks? Or, recycle them? That's when the concept of using them to make something else sprung to mind...

I decided to have another go at the good old favourite of the 50s American housewife: cake truffles. These may be more known to people as cake pops, which are simply cake truffles mounted on sticks. These are a good way to use up any failed/slightly stale/grand once you pick the mould off (not really, obviously) cakes that you have lying around.

INGREDIMENTS
Makes 20 small truffles

For the truffles,

• 9 ounces (250 grammes) crumbled vanilla sponge cake
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) thick coconut milk
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) desiccated coconut
• Zest of 1 lime
• Juice of half a lime

For the glaze,

• 1½ ounces (40 grammes) icing sugar
• Juice of half a lime
• 3½ ounces (100 grammes) white chocolate, chopped into pieces
• Sprinkles of your choice

HOW-TO

• In a mixing bowl, mix all of the truffle ingredients until it becomes a soft paste. You may need to use your hands. Divide into 20 equally sized pieces and roll into balls. Refridgerate for about 10 minutes.
• Line a baking tray with non-stick paper, or better, a silicone mat.
• To make the glaze, mix the lime juice with water to make 2 tablespoons (30 millilitres) worth of liquid. Put the diluted lime juice, icing sugar, and broken white chocolate together in a heatproof bowl and set over a pot of simmering water. Stir continuously until melted. Don't be tempted to do this in the microwave: your chocolate will seize.
• Take the cooled truffles and dip them in the glaze, rolling around until completely coated. Gently scoop up with a fork, tapping the fork on the bowl to let the excess glaze drip off. Put the glazed truffle on the lined tray. Sprinkle with whatever decorations you like while the glaze is still wet.
• Put the truffles in the fridge to set for about an hour, then move them to little paper cases for serving.

These are nice and zingy, with a subtle hit of coconutty richness, and the unexpected lime flavour in the glaze worked quite well: it seemed to be the favourite aspect of those who tried them out...

Homemade Chocolate Box Strikes Back: 8 Flavours!

For another Christmas gift, that requires good care and attention: homemade chocolate selection box!

As many of you may have guessed, I'm fascinated by chocolate boxes. When I was a small child, I remember watching the film Matilda, an American adaptation of a Roald Dahl classic. The villain, Miss Trunchbull, has a box of chocolates that only she can eat. I remember seeing that scene in the film and thinking "those look so nice!", and thinking that a box of chocolates was such a grown up thing to get.

Over the last few years, I've made a few different kinds of chocolate boxes: some that are dipped, some that are moulded, some that are vegan, some that are milk and dark, and all took a lot of time and effort. But one thing is universal for all the different kinds: chocolate is Hell to work with.

Chocolate is very fickle: if you don't melt it properly, or mix it too much or not enough, it sets as a soft, streaky mess. I've had good and bad luck with chocolate, and this time it was particularly difficult. Humidity, air pressure, and temperature all play a big part in making or breaking good chocolate tempering. The first batch of milk chocolates I made this time around bloomed horribly: all grey streaky and spotty, I was heartbroken.

First batch of milk from the mould bloomed a lot, which made it unusable.

Bloomed chocolate; disaster.

Tempering chocolate without a thermometer is a matter of patience: you must use a bowl over warm water, and 'seed' the melted chocolate with un-melted chocolate. There are many videos available on YouTube about this process, which I recommend that you watch.

To make the chocolate shells, I melted the chocolate correctly to keep it in temper. I half-filled each hole in the mould, then using the tip of the teaspoon, I spread the chocolate up the sides. Placing a sheet of non-stick baking paper underneath a wire rack, I then put the mould upside-down on the wire rack, allowing the chocolate to dribble out of the mould, coating the sides, the excess spilling onto the paper. Once the dripping stopped, I turned the mould right side up and scraped the excess chocolate off the surface of the mould with a palette knife. I allowed the shells to cool at room temperature before filling, because putting in the fridge would run the risk of blooming the chocolate. I filled the individual shells leaving about 2 millimetres of a gap to cap with chocolate.

This chocolate box includes 5 moulded and filled flavours (in both milk and dark chocolate), and 2 dipped milk chocolate flavours:

Soft Caramel
To fill these chocolates, I used the same caramel recipe that I used for my banoffee pie: 7 ounces (200 grammes) light brown sugar, 7 ounces (200 grammes) evaporated milk, 2½ ounces (60 grammes) of butter, and 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence. I mixed all the ingredients, except for the vanilla essence, in a medium saucepan, and cooked it gently over a low heat until the butter and sugar melted together fully, then brought it to the boil. I boiled it gently for about 5 minutes, until the mixture thickened into a creamy saucy consistency, and darkened slightly. I allowed it to cool before using it to fill the shells.

Pecan Nut Praline
To make the praline for the truffle filling, I put 2 ounces (55 grammes) of pecan nuts, 2 ounces (55 grammes) caster sugar, and 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) of water into a frying pan. Over a low heat, I heat the mixture until the sugar dissolved, then increased the heat to medium-high. I cooked the mixture until the sugar became thick and dark brown. I poured this mixture onto some oiled non-stick baking paper, and let it set completely. I pulsed the praline pieces in a blender to a powder, then mixed it into some chocolate truffle mixture (see below) before using it to fill the shells.

Strawberry Fondant
I mixed some strained strawberry jam in equal weight quantities with icing sugar to thicken it slightly, and used this to fill the shells.

Lemon Truffle
To make the lemon filling, I used 1 ounce (30 grammes) of caster sugar, 1 fluid ounce (30 millilitres) of milk, 1 ounce (30 grammes) of butter, 3½ ounces (100 grammes) white chocolate, chopped into pieces, 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence, and the zest of half a lemon. I heated the sugar, lemon zest, and milk together in a saucepan over low heat until the sugar dissolved. I brought it to the boil and cook for about a minute or two until a little syrupy. I removed it from the heat and stirred in the butter, chocolate, and vanilla essence, then returned it to a low heat, mixing until smooth. I allowed it to cool before using it to fill the shells.

Coffee Crème
To make the lemon filling, I used 1 ounce (30 grammes) of caster sugar, 1 fluid ounce (30 millilitres) of strong coffee, 1 ounce (30 grammes) of butter, 3½ ounces (100 grammes) white chocolate, chopped into pieces, and 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence. I used the same technique to make it as the lemon filling, and allowed it to cool before using it to fill the shells.

Almond Marzipan
I made some marzipan using this recipe, and used it to make 1 inch (2½ centimetre) balls, pressing them into ovals, and dipping them in properly melted chocolate.

Turkish Delight
I made some Turkish delight using this recipe, and cut it into 1 inch (2½ centimetre) pieces, dusted very lightly with icing sugar (brushing off any excess) and dipping it twice in properly melted chocolate, allowing to set fully after the first dipping, and sprinkling on some coloured sprinkles.

White and Dark Truffle
These ones were a bit of an experiment, but they turned out nicely. I mixed equal quantities of melted dark chocolate and buttercream icing together until it became a thick mixture, then chilled it overnight. I allowed the mix to return to a cool room temperature before rolling into balls. I chilled them thoroughly before dipping in melted white chocolate. These ones were very tasty,

Chocolate Truffle Box: Dark Raspberry and Milk Orange

For my next trick, moulded chocolate shells filled with truffle and fruit jam! I made my Dad a box of these for his present, and he really appreciated them.

A few weeks ago, I was in Dealz (PoundLand) and I found a lovely sillicone mould with shapes of various tea time things, like cakes, teacups and teapots, and I thought this would be ideal to make some nice truffle filled moulded chocolates for Christmas. Over the next few weeks, I designed what would go into each chocolate.

Seeing as the mould had 15 holes, of 5 different designs, I thought I could do 5 different fillings, but in the end I thought of a better idea: to use the mould to make one whole batch of dark chocolate truffles, and one whole batch of milk chocolate truffles, then just make a box including one of each shape and colour, making a box of ten in total.

I filled the dark chocolate shells with raspberry jam and dark chocolate truffle, made with what I like to refer to as a faux-ganache, and then the milk chocolate shells where filled with orange marmalade and milk chocolate truffle. To make the chocolate shells, I needed 3 1/2 ounces (100g) chocolate per tray.

I melted the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over simmering water until almost completely melted, then I removed to bowl from the heat and continued stirring until fully melted; this is the lazy man's way of tempering, and has served me well so far. I put one teaspoon of chocolate into each shape in the mould, then using the tip of the teaspoon, spread the chocolate up the sides; if it spills out a bit, that's okay.

Put a sheet of non-stick baking paper underneath a wire rack, then put the mould upside-down on the wire rack; the chocolate will dribble out of the mould, through the rack, onto the paper. This will coat the sides completely. When the dripping stops, turn the mould right-side up again; scrape the excess chocolate off the surface of the mould with a palette knife, or the back of a normal knife. Put this in the fridge to set for about 10 minutes before filling. On removing from the fridge, fill each hole leaving a eighth inch (3 millimetre) gap at the top.

To make the fillings, you will need:

RASPBERRY DARK CHOCOLATE TRUFFLE

• 2 ounces (55 grammes) chocolate, broken into pieces
• 1 ounce (30 grammes) butter or margarine
• 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) raspberry jam
• 1 ounce (30 grammes) raspberry jam, sieved

Heat together the butter (or margarine) with the tablespoon of jam until melted and just starting to bubble. Remove from the heat, and stir in the chocolate until smooth. Leave to cool slightly before using, so as not to melt the shells. Use the sieved jam and the ganache to fill each shell.

ORANGE MILK CHOCOLATE TRUFFLE

• 2 ounces (55 grammes) milk chocolate
• 1 ounce (30 grammes) butter or margarine
• 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) milk
• 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) caster sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 1 ounce (30 grammes) orange marmalade, sieved.

Heat together the butter (or margarine) with sugar and milk until the sugar and butter have melted together and the mixture is just starting to bubble. Remove from the heat, allow to cool slightly, then stir in the chocolate until smooth. Leave to cool slightly before using, so as not to melt the shells. Use the sieved jam and the ganache to fill each shell.

I put a quarter teaspoon of jam (for dark) and marmalade (for milk) into each shell, then topped each one off with about a half teaspoon of ganache. Allow to stand for ten minutes. There should be some melted chocolate left over from making the shells, and the chocolate that dribbled onto the paper should be a little bit set by now, so take all the chocolate off the paper, add back into the heatproof bowl, and re-melt very gently over simmering water as before until almost melted.

Stir until completely melted, then spoon onto the tops of the filled chocolates, gently spreading it into the corners. Allow to set completely at room temperature for an hour, or pop into the freezer for 10 minutes. Gently turn each hole inside-out to get the chocolates out, and put into little paper cases.

These turned out really well for my first, and I hope that future attempts will only improve!

Chocolate Truffles (Gluten and Dairy Free)

This weekend was the 25th birthday of one of my longest standing and closest friends, and her boyfriend organised a surprise birthday party for her inviting me and all her other friends to Dublin where they live and work.

About this time last year she was diagnosed with a large amount of food allergies and I had to keep this in mind when coming up with a present for her, which actually turned out to be rather easy. I've had enough practise at developing recipes for people with obscure food allergies at this stage I can pretty much make these things up as I go along.

In truth when you buy chocolate truffles by the bagful from any sweet shop they're not made using the traditional chocolate and fresh cream ganache approach. I was suspicious of this in the first place when I saw speciality truffles advertised as being "made with fresh cream", which made me think what are they usually made of? After reading the backs of a few bags of cheap sweet shop truffles I learnt the answer to this: they are usually made of chocolate, vegetable or coconut oil, and gluscose syrup.

I know this approach is to cut costs for the chocolate manufacturers, but in my case it would be necessary to create chocolate truffles that my friend could eat without exploding.

In the box I also included some chocolate dipped coconut ice which I made using this recipe, however I replaced the milk with half coconut milk, half water.



FREE FROM
☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Yeast
☑ Wheat
☑ Gluten
☑ Nuts
☑ Eggs
☑ Dairy
☑ Refined sugar products

CONTAINS
☒ Cocoa


 INGREDIMENTS

For the truffles:

• 7 ounces (200 grammes) dark chocolate, at least 70%
• 2 fluid ounces (55 millilitres; 4 tablespoons) sunflower oil
• 2½ fluid ounces (75 millilitres; 5 tablespoons) honey
• Pinch of salt
• Optional: 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence

For coating:

• 5½ ounces (150 grammes) dark chocolate, at least 70%
• 2½ tablespoons (37 millitres) sunflower oil
• Or desiccated coconut, cocoa powder, coloured sprinkles, chocolate sprinkles, flood consistency royal icing

HOW-TO 

• Melt all the truffle ingredients except the essence, if using, in either a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, or in the microwave set to "Defrost" in one minute bursts. Melt until smooth then remove from the heat.
• Stir in the vanilla essence and then allow to cool to room temperature. Chill in the fridge until fully set, about 6 hours or overnight.
• When it's time to roll the truffles, remove the ganache from the fridge and allow to come to room temperature for about an hour. Using a teaspoon, scoop out the ganache and roll into balls with your hands.
• If you are going to chocolate dip them, set them on a plate and allow to chill in the fridge for about 20 minutes. If you are not, simply drop the truffles into a coating of your choice and roll around to coat. Put the truffles into little cases if you have some.

To chocolate dip:

• To make the chocolate coating, melt the chocolate and oil together as above. Using a fork, lower each chilled truffle into the chocolate and roll around to coat. Raise the coated truffle from the chocolate and gently tap off the excess, allowing it to fall through the fork back into the bowl.
• Put the dipped truffles onto a tray lined with baking paper and allow to set completely at room temperature for at least 2 hours. If you like, you can add sprinkles or other decorations while the chocolate is still wet.
• Once set, put the truffles into little paper cases if you have some.

In my opinion, these are actually a lot nicer than regular cream-ganache truffles because they seem a little lighter and cleaner on the palate. You could also add other flavourings instead of the vanilla such as peppermint essence, grated orange zest, or fine espresso powder.

THIS TIME LAST YEAR: Variations on a Theme: Neapolitan Coconut Ice

Homemade Box of Chocolates = WIN

So, as I mentioned in a previous post, it's my parents' wedding anniversary tomorrow and I decided to embark on a quest to make a selection box of chocolates from scratch. And here she is!!

The selection includes milk chocolate coated:

• Coconut ice (topped with little shreds of coconut)
• Chewy caramel (topped with a sprinkle of coarse salt)
• Creamy fudge (decorated with ridges made with a fork)
• Milk chocolate truffle (ball shaped with a dusting of dark cocoa)
• Praline truffle (ball shaped with pale cocoa dusting)
• Gooey orange fondant (drizzled with orange flavoured white chocolate drizzle)

For my first attempt at something like this, this turned out excellently! I'm so pleased with it, and am very proud of my efforts. Some didn't work, but those didn't go to waste as they were guzzled down by my siblings without any hesitation. It's all learning for next time... and there will be a next time.

I will upload all the recipes and make some photo tutorials for the dipping, and especially the moulded chocolates, which are the ones with orange drizzle. I used a silicone mould for those, in which I cast the melted chocolate. Weirdly enough, the casting technique is one I learnt from my time studying ceramic product design in college; the same principle, it turns out, can be used in chocolaterie.

The only change I would make is that I would spend a little bit more money on good quality chocolate for coating. The stuff I bought was cheap and wasn't tempered properly to start with, so tempering myself was almost impossible. I had to add some solid vegetable fat to make it flow and set nicer; don't worry, it can't be tasted.

I also made the box using a very simple technique.

• Take a piece of A4 card, coloured if you like.
• Using another piece of card cut to a 1½ inch (4 centimeter) width, draw a 1½ inch (3.8 centimeter) margin around all four edges of the card.
• Following the template below as a guide, cut along the red lines and fold along the dotted lines.
• Now, you have an A4 page with four little tabs. Fold up all four sides, folding the little tabs behind the short sides towards the middle. Glue together and allow to dry.

• To make the lid, follow the above instructions but make the margin around the page 1⅓ inches (3.5 centimeters) instead.

And now you have a lovely box to keep you chocolate in! Sit the chocolates in little cupcake cases and arrange inside.