This was the second Valentine's Day sweet I made for the fiancé: chocolate and raspberry truffles. I stumbled across these when looking for things to do with raspberries and thought it sounded interesting. I want to make more sweets and truffles are in the slightly easier category I believe. They sound easy in theory anyway. I have always struggled a bit with them. Usually the dipping stage.
I actually made two batches of these. The first used a half batch of the recipe ingredients. I didn't really encounter any major problems with them. Things seemed to be going as the recipe dictated...until I got to the second chilling stage. The ganache balls are supposed to be firm enough to dip after about 2 hours in the freezer. Mine weren't. Even after being left overnight they still weren't right. It actually took them until the end of the following day, but I'd already made a second set by then, since I had decided it was down to my choice of cream. As I often do, I was using Elmlea, which is actually a cream substitute (I only learnt that about a month ago) and made with vegetable oil and buttermilk. Oil does not freeze, which is why cakes made with it freeze better than those made with butter. The oil stays liquid and keeps the cake moist. Not so good when you need something to firm up though. So I started over, using real cream.
I thought the ganache certainly came out better. I admit, I tampered with the amounts a little because I didn't think the raspberry flavour was coming through in the first batch. To deal with this, I used some more raspberries and cut out a little of the chocolate. The taste was definitely better in my opinion. However, when it came to firming up, I encountered the same problem. They still seemed too soft. I kept my hands cold (to the point that they hurt) so my hands wouldn't melt them, but I couldn't dip them cleanly. I could dip and remove them, but with difficulty and the final result is a bit messy. Not dreadful, but not lovely, neat spheres. Ah well. I was still pretty happy with how they turned out. The fiancé's Mum thought they looked impressive: "Like something you expect in Harrods", which was nice to hear. She also approved of the taste and wants some for her birthday.
The fiancé likes them too, though not as much as the raspberry cremes. I will say, the truffle centre is quite a soft truffle. I did try the ganache when I made it, and you get a lovely mix of creamy milk chocolate and a burst of raspberry. The fiancé says the ones coated in milk chocolate are better than the white chocolate ones, but each to their own. Really, they would all have been coated in milk chocolate but I ran out due to starting over. I personally like the contrast of colour though, even if the filling is the same.
Recipe - adapted from About.com
Makes about 25
I recommend leaving the balls of ganache to set overnight, so start preparation the day before you need them.
Ganache:
- 170g/6oz thawed frozen raspberries
- 15g/0.5oz icing sugar
- 185g/6.5oz milk chocolate
- 1 tbsp golden syrup
- 100ml/3.5fl.oz double cream
- 255g/9oz milk chocolate (or 125g/4.5oz each of milk and white chocolate)
- 40g/1.5oz white chocolate (for decoration)
- Red blossom tint
- Blend the raspberries into a liquid then strain into a saucepan through a sieve or cheese cloth to remove the seeds.
- Add the icing sugar then stir over a gentle heat until it has reduced by about half and is thick and syrupy. Set aside.
- Chop the chocolate into very small pieces and place in a bowl.
- Put the cream in a saucepan and heat until bubbles appear around the edges but do not bring to a full boil.
- Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and leave for a couple of minutes to melt.
- Whisk the chocolate cream until smooth, then add the golden syrup and raspberry purée and whisk that altogether too.
- Cover the bowl in clingfilm and put in the fridge to firm up. This will take about 3 hours.
- Prepare a tray by covering it with greaseproof paper and make sure your hands are cold (you may have to keep cooling them down again as you make the balls as the ganache may start sticking to them).
- Remove the bowl of ganache from the fridge and shape 1/2 tablespoonfuls of it into balls. Place on the tray.
- Put the tray in the freezer and leave overnight to firm up.
- The following day, melt the chocolate for dipping in a bowl over a pan of simmering water.
- Prepare a new tray by covering it with greaseproof paper.
- Remove the ganache balls from the freezer and coat in chocolate. (I resorted to dropping mine in the chocolate, quickly rolling them in it and scooping them out with a spoon). Place on the new tray to set.
- Melt the white chocolate for decorating in the same manner as the dipping chocolate.
- Add the blossom tint to colour it then pour into a piping bag fitted with a small, round nozzle.
- Pipe zigzags or spirals onto the truffles once their coating has set, then leave to dry.
- Keep refrigerated in an airtight container for up to two weeks.
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