How to make chocolate truffles

• 4 February 2022, 6:00am
• From Spectator Life

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Alexander Larman

What happened to the Rishi Sunak I knew at school?

The classic coating for truffles is cocoa powder, which brings a welcome bitterness (very good with dark chocolate), but I also like finely chopped nuts, toasted coconut, or chocolate strands or sprinkles. You can go as glitzy or as kitsch as you like: gold hundreds and thousands are extremely tempting, or you could drizzle white chocolate and add hearts.

While this is intended for you to flavour and finish as you see fit, a note on quantities: if you’re using peanut butter or nut paste as a flavouring, use 100g, and omit the butter. If you’re using a spirit to flavour the ganache, use two tablespoons, and add it to the cream before heating. If you’d like to flavour the truffles with whole spices, citrus or vanilla, add these to the cream, bring to a simmer, then remove from the heat and then let stand for half an hour, before sieving out the flavourings and continuing with the recipe as normal.

Chocolate truffles

Makes: 40 truffles

Takes: 30 minutes, plus chilling time

Bakes: No time at all

300g chocolate (dark, milk, or white, as you wish), chopped

300g double cream

50g butter (see note above if using peanut butter or nut paste)

50g cocoa powder, finely chopped nuts, toasted coconut, or sprinkles

1. Heat the double cream in a small pan until you begin to see bubbles around the edge.
2. Place the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl, then pour the hot cream over the chocolate. Leave it to stand for a couple of minutes, then gently whisk the mixture, starting from the centre of the bowl, until the whole mixture is combined and glossy.
3. Leave to chill for three hours, then use a teaspoon to spoon small blobs out onto a tray, and then return to the fridge until firm.
4. Prepare your coating: toast the desiccated coconut in a shallow pan over a medium heat and leave to cool, or finely chop any nuts you are using. Roll each blob of chilled ganache between your two hands, until round and smooth, then immediately roll in the filling. I find it easiest to toss the filling over the ganache to ensure an even and complete coating. Refrigerate until ready to eat or gift.