Challenge No. 23 – Chocolate Truffles

Posted on June 4, 2015 by MyGastroAdventure

This recipe was suggested by my friend Katie. On Saturday another friend of ours had a garden party for her hen do and I decided to attempt this challenge at the weekend so I could take the truffles to be enjoyed by all the girls. I was staying with Katie and she got very excited when I said I was making them to take with us. Considering I was taking the truffles to a hen do, I thought I would make them a little bit special by adding some alcohol 🙂 So this is my attempt at Prosecco truffles and Disaronno truffles.

I did a little bit of internet searching and found a lovely looking Prosecco truffle recipe by Miss Messy (aka Holly). I think these truffles are adorable with the addition of the little gold hearts. I even bought some edible glitter so I could do the same but I sadly ran out of time – I’ll have to try this next time.

I adapted Miss Messy’s recipe to make my Disaronno truffles. The method is exactly the same but it’s just the ingredients which differ slightly.

For Prosecco truffles I used the following:-
- 280g good-quality dark chocolate
- 280ml double cream
- 50g unsalted butter
- 20ml Prosecco
- cocoa powder
For the Disaronno truffles I used the following:-
- 280g good-quality dark chocolate
- 280ml double cream
- 50g unsalted butter
- 2 tbsp Disaronno
- cocoa powder

Note: I accidently left out the cocoa powder in this photo so it its own below 🙂

I started by making the Prosecco truffles and broke the chocolate into small pieces to put into a large bowl.

I put the butter into my saucepan, poured over the cream and put it on a medium heat. I kept a close eye on this and kept stirring until the butter had melted and the cream was nice and hot. It was just about starting to bubble when I decided it was hot enough.

Practical tip: to help the butter melt quickly so that your cream doesn’t burn, let it sit at room temperature before starting and chop it into small pieces.

Once the cream was ready, I poured it over the chocolate and let it sit for a minute before I gave it a good stir. At first, the mix was a bit milky looking but after a bit of patience and continued stirring, it turned a beautifully rich chocolate colour.

I mixed in the Prosecco and poured the ganache into a clean dish to cool. I covered the dish with cling film and put it in the fridge.

I then got started on the Disaronno truffles and I repeated all of the above steps. In hindsight, I could have simply made all the ganache together and separated it into two bowls before adding the alcohol…but I didn’t do this and I’m not sure why! I’m going to put it down to having a bit of a blonde moment.

With both my ganache mixtures chilling in the fridge, I realised it was already 11pm! The recipe says to leave the ganache for at least 4 hours and considering the time, I decided to just leave it overnight.

The next morning, I took the dishes out of the fridge to check them and the mixture was really hard! I panicked a little and decided to let them sit at room temperature for about half hour before I started shaping the truffles. It turns out I didn’t need to do this and it actually just made rolling the truffles a bit more difficult as the ganache was melting. So I popped the dishes back in the fridge to firm up again.

With the ganache re-chilled, I got a shallow bowl and poured in some cocoa powder.

I took one of the dishes out of the fridge and started forming my truffle balls. I coated my hands in the cocoa powder and used a measuring spoon to scoop out a small portion of ganache. I rolled the ganache in my hands to achieve a rough ball shape (as much as tried, they weren’t very neat!) and then rolled the ball in the cocoa powder before popping it to one side and getting on with the rest.

Things got a little messy here so I couldn’t get any photos of the rolling process but here is the aftermath…

Once all the truffles were rolled and coated, I put them in the fridge to keep chilled until I left for the garden party.

So these truffles were really nice, however, none of us could taste the alcohol and I couldn’t even tell the difference between the Prosecco ones and the Disaronno ones! Next time, I’ll just make sure to add some more alcohol 🙂

Whilst all the girls enjoyed these little chocolate treats, some of them weren’t a massive fan of the cocoa coating. Another recipe I found used a mixture of icing sugar and cocoa powder and I think this would perhaps be a bit lighter. I’m going to give this a try next time and I’ll let you know how I get on.

Coming up next week, Challenge No. 24 – scotch eggs.

Challenge No. 21 – Carrot Cake

Posted on May 21, 2015 by MyGastroAdventure

This recipe was suggested by another of my close University friends. I lived with Kate in my first year and throughout the year, we shared the job of resident baker. It was therefore so nice that Kate challenged me to make a cake 🙂 But this isn’t just any old cake, its one I’ve never made and have always been a bit apprehensive about making it. Why was I apprehensive – it’s a cake which has carrots and cream cheese in it! There is just something about that which never quite sat right with me. As I’ve said before, this is the whole point of Challenge 52, to take me out my comfort zone!

When I started searching for recipes, I was still trying my best to avoid the cream cheese but every which way I turned, there it was. Finally, I found a recipe that didn’t use a cream cheese topping but by then I had come to realise that the cream cheese is an almost iconic part of the carrot cake and I felt guilty about leaving it out! So instead I kept looking and found this recipe by the Hairy Bikers for a carrot and sultana cake with creamy orange frosting.

For the recipe you will need the following:-

For the cake
- 200g/7oz self-raising flour
- 75g/3oz sultanas
- 75g/3oz pecans, broken into rough pieces
- ½ large orange, zest only
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ whole nutmeg, finely grated
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- pinch fine sea salt
- 3 free-range eggs
- 175ml/6fl oz sunflower oil, plus extra for greasing
- 175g/6oz soft light brown sugar
- 200g/7oz carrots, grated
For the cream cheese icing
- 100g/3½oz icing sugar
- 100g/3½oz unsalted butter, softened
- 1 tsp fresh orange juice
- 200g/7oz full-fat cream cheese
- ½ orange, zest only
- 25g/1oz pecan nuts, roughly broken

If you look at the ingredients photo carefully, you may note an extra ingredient which has snuck in there. I accidentally included the vanilla essence which I had purchased to stock up my store cupboard but it isn’t needed for this recipe!

I started off by sorting through my pecans to remove all the nice whole ones to put to one side for the topping. I then weighed the remaining bits to make sure I had 75g, adding a few of the whole ones back in to bring it up to the right weight. I then chopped them up nice and small.

I put the nuts in a bowl with the flour, sultanas, ground cinnamon, grated nutmeg, baking power, bicarbonate of soda and the salt. I then grated in the orange zest from one half of my orange.

I broke the eggs into a jug and whisked with a fork until they were smooth. I then added the oil and brown sugar, giving it a good whisk until well combined. I created a well in my dry ingredients and poured in some of the egg/sugar/oil mix.

I stirred it all together with a wooden spoon, gradually adding more of the oil mix until it was all combined. I added the grated carrot and gave it a final mix.

The recipe puts the cake mix into a 20cm square cake tin but I wanted to do something a little different. I’ve found these adorable cases in the supermarket and thought it would be nice to make individual carrot cakes rather than one big one. So i split the mixture between 14 cases, 13 of them weighing 79g with the mix in, and the 14th having a little less.

I put the filled cases on a tray and into the oven on 180 celsius. Given that I used individual cases rather than a big tin, I knew I needed to adjust the cooking time. I originally set the timer for 20 minutes and then checked them. I felt the tops of the cakes and decided they needed a little longer so I returned them to the oven for around 2-3 minutes. I then tested the cakes and decided they were done.

Practical tip: I’ve given this tip a few times but it is one of the key points to perfecting your cake making skills – knowing when the cake is done. To test whether the cakes are cooked, gently press the top of one of the cakes with your finger; if it is done it will be springy to touch and bounce back into place. You can also take a tooth pick (or cake tester if you have one) and slide it into the centre of one of the cakes; if the cake is done the tester will come out clean. If you think it’s not quite done return the cakes to the oven but keep an eye on them – 1 minute may be all they need but that 1 minute can make all the difference!

I put the cakes on a cooling rack and left them to cool completely whilst I got started on the icing.

I put the softened butter in my bowl, beat it with a fork until smooth and added the orange juice.

Practical tip: this is another one I’ve given before but in case you missed Challenge No. 5 I’ve included it again. To soften the butter, cut it into cubes and put it in a sandwich bag in a bowl of lukewarm water for between 5 to 10 minutes until soft. This can be a lot quicker than leaving the butter at room temperature, especially in the winter when your kitchen may not be so warm!

I then gradually sifted in the icing sugar a bit at a time, giving it a good stir between each addition. Once it was all added, I used a wooden spoon to beat until light and creamy.

I stirred through the cream cheese and remaining orange zest before popping it in the fridge for 30 minutes.

When the icing was firm, I used a teaspoon to smooth a bit on each cake. Finally, it was time to add the decoration. The recipe uses the whole pecans (which I set aside at the beginning) but I wanted to do something a little bit cuter. So I made mini icing carrots with some coloured fondant icing and added one to each cake.

These cakes took a little trip with me to Sheffield to celebrate my friends birthday and new home. Kate was part of the celebrations so she got to try her suggestion, along with all my University girls. Everyone said it was delicious! 🙂

I even managed to persuade Dave to try this one (he had an issue with the whole carrot in a cake thing!) and he said “actually, its quite nice”. I feel this is a great review, all things considering.

Personally, I really enjoyed this challenge, both eating and making the cakes. They weren’t too heavy and were just perfect with a cup of tea.

Coming up next week, Challenge No. 22 – homemade burgers.

Challenge No. 19 – Rum Raisin Ice Cream

Posted on May 7, 2015 by MyGastroAdventure

Have you ever made home-made ice cream without an ice cream maker? Better still, have you ever tried to find a recipe online for making ice cream without an ice cream maker? It is not easy – finding a recipe that is! My mum suggested this challenge and I thought it was a great idea. I set out trying to find a recipe and a few times thought I had got one only to get to the last instruction and the recipe would say to “put it in your ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer’s instructions”. It was very frustrating! And then I remembered, my many (and I mean many!) recipe books in the flat. I had a quick rummage and found Jamie Oliver has kindly provided a recipe which works with or without an ice cream machine. Yay 🙂

Although I had found a recipe for vanilla ice cream, I kept having a sneaky look online and do you know what I found? One of my new blogging friends has blogged about the same recipe. You can see read about Laura’s experience at Feast Wisely.

Jamie’s book (Jamie’s Comfort Food) not only gives you a lovely recipe for vanilla ice cream, it also gives 4 delicious flavour variations. One of my mum’s favourites is rum and raisin ice cream – she say’s its her ‘holiday ice cream’ but I think she would have it all the time if she could 😉 I know I would!

So for the rum raisin ice cream you will need the following ingredients:-

100g raisins
150ml dark spiced rum
2 vanilla pods
500ml whole milk
250ml double cream
7 large eggs
150g golden caster sugar

These quantities make 1 litre of ice cream and Jamie helpfully tells me that 1 scoop is 106 calories. I however like to believe that anything which is homemade is guilt free, so we don’t need to worry about the calorie content 🙂

Anyway, on with the recipe. I started off by putting the raisins in a bowl and covering them with the spiced rum. I covered the bowl with cling film and left it on the side for around a couple of hours.

Once I had about half hour left, I got on with making the vanilla ice cream. I halved the vanilla pods lengthways and scraped out the seeds. I’ve seen chef’s do this on TV and it looks really simple…it wasn’t! I got in a bit of a mess but I managed to scrape most of the seeds out and get them in the pan. I added the pods to the seeds and poured over the milk and cream.

I put the pan on a low heat to gently warm for 15 minutes and then took it off the heat.

Whilst the vanilla cream mixture was cooling slightly, I separated my eggs and put the yolks in a bowl.

Practical tip: Jamie advises to freeze the egg whites in a sandwich bag to make meringues for another day. I therefore dutifully put the whites in a plastic container and put in the fridge so I could later make room for it in the freezer – I then promptly forgot to do this and ended up throwing away the whites! Silly me!

I whisked the yolks and caster sugar with a balloon whisk until pale.

Before combining the vanilla milk with the egg/sugar mix, I sorted out the soaked raisins. I took out around half and put them to one side. I then used a hand blender to blitz the remaining raisins and rum together until it was a smooth purée.

I then took the vanilla cream mixture and poured it through a sieve into my egg/sugar mix. I added a bit at a time and whisked thoroughly between each addition. At the end, I made sure to push through as many vanilla seeds as possible – I mean come on, the more true vanilla flavour you can get the better!

I added the combined mixture back into my pan and put it over a very low heat. I stirred constantly, patiently waiting for the mixture to thicken. Jamie’s says this should take about 15 minutes but it took me longer. I had my pan on a very low heat and perhaps I could have turned it up slightly but I didn’t want to burn it. When it was finally thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, I was happy it was done.

I poured the mixture in to a clean bowl and left it to cool – this took about a couple of hours.

Time to add the rum/raisin to my vanilla ice cream. I poured in the purée and whole raisins into the cooled ice cream base and gave it a good stir. I then poured it all into my ice cream contained (a simple klick lock storage box).

I put the container into my freezer and set the time for 30 minutes. According to the recipe you need to whisk the ice cream every 30 minutes for about 3 to 4 hours to help break up the ice crystals. The aim is to do this until the ice cream is nicely set.

When I read Laura’s blog, she mentioned that she stopped stirring too soon and ended up with some ice crystals. I therefore tried to preserver and when I had reached 4 hours and it still was set, I just kept going with my 30 minutes schedule.

I got to 5 and a half hours and it still wasn’t set! It was also time for bed so I just left it for the night and hoped it would be okay in the morning.

So here it is…

It looked okay – except that the whole raisins had definitely all sunk to the bottom of the container! It’s a nice treat for when you get to the bottom 🙂

Now, I don’t know about you but if I am going to have ice cream, it clearly has to be served with either hot chocolate fudge cake, a cone or perhaps best of all, cookies! So I also made some chocolate chip cookies to sandwich together with the ice cream.

Be sure to come back after the end of Challenge 52 when I will be sharing my foolproof recipe for these delicious cookies.

This was absolutely delicious! Dave tried a TINY bit and said “whoaa, you can taste the rum in that!”. Well that’s what we want – rum, raisin and vanilla galore. I’ve now got to be controlled and make sure I don’t eat the whole lot before my mum next comes to visit!

Coming up next week, Challenge No. 20 – maple syrup glazed ham! Hope to see you then.

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