Firstly I’d like to apologise, it’s been over a month since I put anything up here and I’ve really missed updating the blog. At the beginning of the month I went on a fantastic week long holiday to the Lake District. We stayed in a lovely little cottage and did lots of hill walking with our dog Dylan.
On our return home, we’re now having some renovation work done and the house is in total disarray. I’ve also been without an oven for a few days (hence why I’ve made truffles) in preparation for the arrival of my brand new AEG Steambake oven. I was given the oven for free to review and I cannot wait to show you what this oven can do, I will be providing an open and honest review in the next few weeks.
Now back to these truffles, I originally made two fillings that I intended to use, they were a Valrhona caraibe 66% chocolate ganache and a mango curd. Something about the curd just didn’t taste right, if I’m honest it was a bit metallic tasting. If anyone has a good recipe for mango curd please tell me. So I ended up with only a dark chocolate ganache filling for these chocolates.
To make these truffles I used polycarbonate moulds, while hand-rolled truffles are fine I like the professional look you get using these moulds. You will need to temper the chocolate you use to coat these truffles, the reason you temper chocolate is to keep it shiny and glossy, to ensure it has that snap or bite when you eat it and in this case to make the chocolate come out of the moulds.
Tempering chocolate isn’t difficult, you just need to be organised and patient. To make the tempering easier I find it helps to use a good quality couverture chocolate, this means you can temper using the seeded method. You will need a digital thermometer, a bain marie, a spatula or spoon, clean moulds and your chocolate, having everything you need to hand will really help as you need to work quite quickly with your tempered chocolate as it sets quite quickly.
There are various videos and articles which explain how to temper chocolate, but the process simply involves melting chocolate (in this case Valrhona Caraibe 66%) to 45ºC and then adding more unmelted chocolate to bring the temperature down to 32ºC. This is the working temperature of the chocolate. To make these truffles I used 500g of chocolate, you will have some left over, but you can leave the leftover tempered chocolate to set and temper it again and again or bake with it.
To use the moulds make sure they’re clean and dry, I had moisture bloom on some of my chocolates as the mould was still a bit damp! Use cotton wool or a lint free cloth to really dry your moulds. There is a really good video which shows how to fill your moulds. The only things I would add is that you should scrape off your chocolate mould when you’ve add the final layer of chocolate that encases the filling and tap out the chocolates onto a tea-towel. As sometimes when they land on the side they can get marked.
#ConfectionCollection: Chocolate Truffles
Ingredients
- ***Chocolate Ganache***
- 200 g Valrhona Caraibe 66% Chocolate Feves
- 250 ml Double Cream
- 30 g Unsalted Butter cubed and room temperature
- ***For Coating***
- 500 g Valrhona Caraibe 66% Chocolate tempered
- Crystallised Violets optional
Instructions
- Place the chocolate in a bowl and if you're using something different than Valrhona break it into pieces.
- Take the cream and put it in a pan, bring the cream to the boil and pour it over the chocolate, stirring to melt the chocolate.
- When the chocolate is melted, add the butter and mix it into the ganache. Leave to cool while you temper your chocolate.
- Take the tempered chocolate and pour it into your prepared moulds, tap them upside down and place any excess chocolate back in the bowl.
- Using a scraper, scrape up and down the mould to ensure all excess chocolate is removed from the edges.
- Place the mould in the fridge for 10 minutes to harden.
- Put the ganache into a piping bag and fill the moulds two thirds full, so that you still have room to add chocolate on top.
- Take more tempered chocolate and spread it over the top of the moulds, sealing up the truffles. Use the scraper and remove any excess chocolate so that the chocolates will come out of the moulds easily.
- Place the chocolates back into the fridge for 10 minutes until hardened.
- Put a towel on the worktop and tap out the chocolates onto the towel, if you bang the sides and the base of the moulds they should just fall out.
- Take some of the ganache and pipe it onto the tops of the chocolates and place a crystallised violet on top for decoration.
Notes
For help with the moulds look here
I hope you find the tempering chocolate information useful and do try these moulds as they’re really great. I also cannot recommend the Valrhona chocolate enough. I got mine on eBay as I found it to be the most affordable place. Give it a go yourself, it’s tasty and so easy to work with.
Thanks for your patience while I’ve taken a small absence, I hope to be back with the weekly posting now.
Angela x
Yasmin
These look absolutely phenomenal! Definitely will be making these soon!
PatisserieMakesPerfect
Thank you Yasmin. They taste great – definitely give them a try!
Yasmin
These look absolutely phenomenal!
PatisserieMakesPerfect
Thanks so much Louise! There were some dodgy truffles, but they were the chef’s share!
Janet @ healthoop
Chocolate! I like it. Your recipe is clear. Thanks! http://healthoop.com/beauty/
PatisserieMakesPerfect
Thanks very much Janet – I’m glad you like them!
Pang
So I guess we both disappeared for a while, huh? 🙂 I am glad you are back, too, and these are FANTASTIC. So beautiful & so perfect I wish I have your skills. LOVE LOVE LOVE
PatisserieMakesPerfect
Thank you Pang. I did take a break as well as you – I feel refreshed and ready to bake now though!
Thanks for such lovely compliments about these chocolates, they are really pleasing to make, and the moulds do most of the hard work, you just need to temper your chocolate correctly. xx
nicole (thespicetrain.com)
GORGEOUS truffles, they look incredibly beautiful! I love that shine, I can actually hear the snappy sound they make when bitten into just by looking at the photographs. Perfection!
PatisserieMakesPerfect
Thank you Nicole – I love it when someone as talented as you says nice things about my photos 🙂
These did have the perfect ‘bite’ and the moulds are just fantastic, you’d love them.
Mon Petit Four
These are so gorgeous, Angela! I just want to reach into my screen and take a handful of these beautiful truffles. Even though the mango curd didn’t work out as you liked, I have no problem with a chocolate filling! 😉 Bring on the chocolate, baby! I’m always amazed at your pastry and confectionary talent <3 Hope the home renovations don't drive you crazy; I'm glad you at least had a nice trip with your pup earlier in the month! XO
PatisserieMakesPerfect
Hi Beeta – thank you for such lovely comments. I was so disappointed with my mango curd! I need to have another go at it, or maybe a mango sorbet.
Our new boiler is in, just the carpenter, plasterer and the wood floor to be fitted…then I have to get out the paint brush and do some work!
Our trip away was great, but I really want to get back into blogging now. x
Valerie ILoveCakes
Great trip and home renovations, you’re a lucky girl ! I love chocolate bonbons as we call them in France, yours are lovely. I don’t know what happened with your mango curd, did you make it in the microwave ?
PatisserieMakesPerfect
The holiday was lovely, but I hate having the renovations done in some ways. I’ll love it when it’s finished, but the inbetween stage is hard!
I think there was a problem with the quantity of puree I used in the curd, I didn’t use the microwave. It just tasted a bit off. I’m not having a great time of it though, I put a batch of cheese straws in the bin last night as they ended up tasting revolting! 🙁
Valerie ILoveCakes
You’re right, having a work-in-progress home can be a bummer ! Just wait for the renovations to end and then tadaaaa enjoy your kitchen again 😉
PatisserieMakesPerfect
you’re right and my induction hob is in. 🙂
Jodie Dodd
These photos are gorgeous! The truffles too. 🙂 Are you becoming a Photoshop expert too? You really make the truffles themselves stand out. I used to make chocolate candy with my mother every Easter, so this really takes me back. She loved working with chocolate but never made truffles – wish we had. And yay for you, a new oven to test!! How exciting! I’m so jealous, your vacation looks fantastic – such a beautiful countryside! Dylan looks right at home on that mountain top, lucky pup! xx
PatisserieMakesPerfect
Thank you Jodie! I am by no means a photoshop expert. I was using it last night and when I tried to close it down I had about 50 million pop-ups, it makes my head spin! I need to do a course. I try to stick with lightroom, as I find it suits my basic needs 🙂
That sounds like so much fun with your Mum, I used to bake with mine a lot and it was lovely time spent together and so relaxing. It’s not always as fun now I bake alone.
Dylan loved our holiday and I need another one already! We have no carpet down now and no radiators, just our wood fire for heat. Thank goodness the weather is brightening up!
Hannah Hossack-Lodge
Lucky you! I love the Lake District and I bet Dylan had a great time 🙂 These look perfect, seriously professional quality and you got your chocolate so shiny! x
PatisserieMakesPerfect
It was so relaxing Hannah and you’re right Dylan loved it so much. The moulds really help to make the chocolate shiny, they’re really great. x
Lucy Parissi
These look so beautiful I bet people would pay top dollar to buy them Angela! I am not surprised you have been blogging more sporadically – since the arrival of Brutus the hurricane I hardly have time to sit down!
PatisserieMakesPerfect
Thank you Lucy! They are really fun to make as well. I’m trying to get back into my blogging groove, but the gaps between baking and photographing are really very testing! I have to plan everything very strategically!
Puppies are tiring, but I wouldn’t change it for the world!