Chocolate Truffles

Truffles?  What are Truffles?  A flutter of love?  A trick to your heart. 

I’ve had chocolate truffles a long time ago.  Smooth rich decadent chocolate balls.  A treat that’ll satisfy a chocoholic’s sweet fix.  But then I never had another until I made them a week ago which is about twenty years later.  I found a recipe and made my attempt to work with chocolate once again. 

Chocolate is finicky to work with.  The first time I worked with chocolate, it was for a triple chocolate triple layer cake.  Yes, a triple chocolate… triple layer cake.  It was a monstrous advanced level recipe from scratch that took me about six hours of mistakes to make it right.   All the chocolate laden steps for the cake tested my patience and lack of knowledge.  It was an elegant chocolate cake that did not have an overpowering chocolate taste.  But its richness and decadence came from not just the chocolate but the ingredients that were fresh and crafted together for the chocolate to complement.   The star ingredient of each component – the cake, filling and frosting – was really not the chocolate. 

Sounds strange as chocolate seems always the main attraction on sweets, but I think chocolate works best as an additional component to achieve a climax on the finished product.  The airy cake that was not too sweet, the brandy flavored pudding filling and the light creamy whipped frosting were all complimented by the chocolate that which gave them an extra lightness, creaminess, and an oomph or push to achieve its best attribute onto the taste buds.

 The main thing about that recipe I liked was that everything was made fresh from scratch.  Little did I know how much skill was needed to make this cake.

First the chocolate cake was light airy and not real sweet like most chocolate cakes made today. The batter was a simple cake batter but the chocolate had to be melted correctly…absolutely no water on the chocolate.  The cake batter was not Betty Crocker cake mix.

The brandy flavored chocolate pudding for the filling in the middle layer was made with milk, eggs, and sugar.  On my first try, I had little bits of scrambled eggs in the pudding.  Threw it out and tried again.  The pudding was not Jell-O chocolate pudding.  Let me tell you, after you taste a pudding made from scratch, Jell-O becomes a no name generic brand.

The airy, light, and creamy chocolate whipped cream frosting for the outer covering was whipped heavy cream.  I made the whipped cream frosting three times before I got that right.  The chocolate has to be the “right” temperature.   Not too hot and not too cool or it deflated the whipped cream. The whipped cream frosting was not Cool Whip. 

By the time I was done with the cake six hours later, I was drunk from the brandy that was for the pudding.  Needless to say, Brandy became my favorite alcoholic drink in the years that followed.  But I haven’t attempted to work with chocolate so intensely since.

So, when I made the truffles, some of the things I remembered about chocolate that I can tell you are invaluable tips that I learned the hard way in those six hours.

• Always melt chocolate in a double boiler, never in a pot directly over the heat.

• Make sure the pot you are using for melting the chocolate is completely dry and not damp.

• Never add or sprinkle water into melted chocolate to “thin it out”.  I’m laughing now.  Try it and you will laugh too. Or hit a shot of brandy. 

• You can add a little butter or Crisco to help with the texture and glossiness.

• I guarantee, the first time you make a chocolate whipped cream, you’ll want to take another shot of brandy too.  Whipped cream can deflate or become something you can’t work with when it’s over mixed. Chocolate that is too warm deflates the whipped cream too.

• Last but VERY important - Learn the skill of “tempering” chocolate.    

   

Now after I made the truffles, and bit into one… that was it...I was in love.   I decided to master the art of chocolate.

The next day I went to a bookstore to find a cookbook on chocolate or on candy making.  Out of the two long aisles of endless cookbooks, I only found one candy making book and one book on chocolate.  The rest were on cakes, cookies, stews, etc.  The two books only had recipes.  There were no sections or tips on working with sugar or chocolate. 

I was in disbelief and in despair.  I figured well, I’m on my own with this one.  I’ll have to teach myself how to work with chocolate. 

Now, I need another six hours and a bottle of brandy to start.

Wish me luck!

Published 12/6/2023 Written by Marcella Melson