Chocolate Truffle Making

I first started making chocolate truffles in my own kitchen for relaxation and for personalised Christmas gifts. I was studying recipes and wanted to ensure that all of my chocolates were made with fresh and real ingredients. Being based here in Yorkshire I was inspired by how many amazing fruits and flavours came from the region. Little has changed in our chocolate making process, except we now make a lot more truffles than I used to when every counter was covered in truffles. 

To make chocolate truffles we are going to use a ganache based recipe. A chocolate truffle should be round and ball like and resemble the delicacy found in Italy. Today we use ganache based recipes for our filled chocolate products using chocolate moulds, while these add a beautiful glossy finish these hand rolled and dipped creations can create the most indulgent chocolate experience. 

Below I've shared the basic chocolate truffle recipe which you can adapt for your own creative flavour preferences. 

A Ganache based recipe is a balance of fat and water or chocolate and cream. We add various products to our ganache to create a whole range of different flavours and textures. 

 

What is ganache?

Ganache is a silky smooth emulsion of chocolate and cream which is typically made up of a ratio of 4:3 or  2:1 chocolate to cream. The larger the ratio of chocolate or percentage of cocoa solids, the firmer the ganache will be. The two components create a ‘water in fat’ emulsion, and obtaining the correct balance of ingredients and understanding the properties of the ingredients is important for achieving the desired consistency for the finished ganache.

Chocolate Truffle Making

Difficulty Level: ⚙︎ ⚙︎ ⚙︎

Recipe Makes: Approximately 40 Truffles

Preparation Time: 2 Hours

INGREDIENTS:
  • 200g milk chocolate, chopped finely
  • 125ml double cream
  • 25g butter
  • 1 teaspoon of glucose to extend the shelf life
  • Decorations such as sprinkles, nuts or cocoa powder
  • 250g of tempered chocolate for coating
EQUIPMENT:
  • Plastic Bowl
  • Wooden Spoon
  • Small saucepan
  • Measuring jug
  • Piping Bag
  • Baking Tray
  • Parchment or Baking Paper
  • Pair of Scissors
  • Fork
  • Gift Box or Gift Bag for wrapping
  • Ribbon or Raffia for wrapping
  • Gift tag for presentation
METHOD:

STEP 1

Place the chopped chocolate into a mixing bowl and set aside.

STEP 2

Pour the cream into a saucepan and set on a gentle heat to simmer to bring to a rolling boil. Additional flavours can be added to the recipe at this stage by adding dried ingredients like spices to the cream or by replacing some of the cream with liquid ingredients like Amaretto, Coffee or Baileys.

To extend the shelf life add a teaspoon of liquid glucose to the cream ahead of boiling.

STEP 3

Bring the cream to a rolling boil for 20 seconds before pouring swiftly over the chopped chocolate. Place the butter on top and poke it gently under the hot cream.

STEP 4

Allow the chocolate and cream mixture to sit without stirring so that the hot cream can transfer its heat to the chocolate.

DO NOT stir the chocolate too soon, otherwise you will drag cold air into the warm cream, cooling down the whole mixture, usually leading to lumps in the final mix.

STEP 5

Place your hands around the sides of the bowl, when it no longer feels warm to the touch you can give the chocolate a good and thorough stir until fully mixed. You may need to squash the butter against the side of the bowl to fully incorporate without lumps.

STEP 6

Pour your ganache mixture into a piping bag, twist the end of the piping bag to contain the mixture and place in the fridge to firm up a little. 10 minutes should usually be sufficient for the cocoa butter to have cooled. When the mixture holds its shape in the piping bag when squeezed it is ready to pipe.

STEP 7

When I first started making truffles they were all hand-piped and rolled into shape, today at York Cocoa Works our team pipe the ganache into a chocolate shell before finishing for decoration. Hand piped truffles are fantastic for making beautiful creations with simple equipment.

Snip the end of your piping bag and pipe evenly sized splodges of ganache onto a baking tray lined with parchment. Try not to move the piping bag when piping otherwise pockets of air can get trapped leading to a shorter shelf life and mould growth.

Place the tray in the fridge for about 10 minutes to firm up.

STEP 8

Gently push each truffle piece with your fingertips into a ball like shape, try not to use the palm of your hands as they will be quite warm and lead to melting ganache. Try to keep your hands clean and dry when working with ganache, if you have trouble with too warm hands using cocoa powder to dry them a little.

STEP 9

Prepare a bowl of at least 250g of tempered chocolate for decorating

STEP 10

Dip the chocolate truffles in the tempered chocolate by dropping them in and then using a fork to pull the truffle out, try not to stick the fork into the truffle. Tap excess chocolate back into the bowl before depositing the coated truffle onto clean parchment paper, adding a little decoration such as sprinkles, nuts or crumbed biscuits for texture and decoration is a great finishing touch.

Design your own truffles with your own choice of chocolate, flavours, coating chocolate and decorations for contrasting textures and fresh and indulgent flavours.

Customise your Chocolate Truffle Recipe to your own choice of chocolate by adjusting cream to chocolate ratios as follows:

200g of Dark Chocolate : 150ml of Double Cream + 25g Butter

200g of Milk Chocolate : 125ml of Double Cream + 25g Butter

200g of White Chocolate : 100ml of Double Cream - no added butter

Break your pieces of chocolate into small pieces
Pipe your ganache into approximately 40 evenly sized spolodges
Once firmed up in the fridge take each truffle piece and gently push with your fingertips to form a ball.
Coat each ganache piece in chocolate, depositing onto clean parchment or drop into sprinkles, cocoa powder or vermicelli for a complete covering of decorations.
Find gift boxes to beautifully present your truffles for that special personalised chocolate gift.
One of our earliest recipes using a dark chocolate ale enriched ganache and decorated with dark chocolate sprinkles.

Learn More

Join us at York Cocoa Works for our Introduction to Chocolate Making Workshop to learn how to make your own truffles. Our Masterclass takes place every Thursday and Sunday morning.

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