If you’re making a cake, then you’ll need a good chocolate frosting recipe. Cake is tasty all on its own, but a good homemade chocolate frosting will make it go from good to out-of-this-world!

Depending on what type of cake you made, you’ll want to use one frosting recipe or another, but one kind of frosting that goes great with lots of cakes is chocolate buttercream frosting.

My personal favorite cake is a chocolate cake made from my best chocolate cake recipe, with this easy chocolate frosting recipe. Try it out! You won’t be disappointed.

Here it is!

Tips

• The milk is there to help you get the right texture. You can add a bit when you’re adding the sugar to make it easier to beat, and then at the end to get it to just the right texture.
  • A softer frosting works best for covering the surface of the cake.
  • A stiffer frosting is better for piping on decorations.
• Start with 3 cups of confectioners’ sugar, and add more if you feel the frosting isn’t sweet enough for you.
• The sugar also helps stiffen the frosting, in case you add too much milk.
• Taste as you go. If you need more chocolate, add more. Not sweet enough? Add more sugar. It’s the best way to get a chocolate buttercream frosting that’s just right for you.
• This recipe uses a raw egg yolk. Raw eggs can sometimes contain bacteria that can make you sick, but if you use pasteurized eggs you can reduce the risk of that happening.

This peppermint bark recipe is a little bit different from the usual peppermint bark you see. Instead of having two layers of chocolate, it has the two chocolates blended together in pretty swirly patterns.

The nice thing about this marbled peppermint bark is that it looks pretty fancy and like it took a lot of time to make, but it’s even easier and a lot quicker to make than the layered kind!

And it’s really, really yummy. You just can’t go wrong with mint and chocolate!

Now, depending on what chocolate you use for this peppermint bark recipe, it might turn out to be a little bit melty at room temperature. If you want something sure to be hard, you can use tempered chocolate or candy coating chocolate. I’d stay away from the candy coating though because it’s just not as good.

Tips

• To crush the candy canes, you can use a food processor. Or you just place them in a plastic zip bag and crush them with a rolling pin.
  • You’ll have more luck with a thick freezer bag because the sharp candy cane pieces might shred a thinner bag.
  • Freezing the candy canes for a little while can make them easier to crush, too.
• There are a few ways to melt chocolate.
  • You can use a double boiler to melt the chocolate. Just keep it on low heat, stir often, and don’t let the top saucepan touch the water — you just want the steam to melt the chocolate.
  • If you prefer, you can microwave the chocolate on medium power for 3 or 4 minutes. Since microwave powers vary, check it every minute and stir a bit.
  • You can also melt the chocolate in a saucepan directly on the heat, but you have to be super careful not to scorch the chocolate. Use the lowest heat possible, and stir constantly.
• No matter which method you choose to melt your chocolate, always be sure to keep any water or moisture away from the melting chocolate. Even a few drops can make the chocolate seize up and get lumpy.
• Different chocolates have different compositions. Depending on the chocolate you use, your peppermint bark might get a bit soft and melty at room temperature, and you might have to store it in the fridge.
  • To avoid this, you can temper the chocolate — a process that lets chocolate cool to a hard, shiny finish that won’t melt at room temperature. It takes a little more time though.
  • You can experiment with different chocolates to see which ones harden better if you don’t have the time to temper the chocolate.
• Use the chocolate as soon as it’s melted, especially if you’re using white chocolate — it can harden really quickly, and then your peppermint bark will end up lumpy instead of nice and smooth.
• If you store the pieces in an airtight container, they’ll stay good for a week or two. So you can make this chocolate peppermint bark recipe ahead of time!

Gourmet chocolate truffles seem like they should be super hard to make, but making chocolate truffles is actually surprisingly easy — and a whole lot of fun, too! It’s just one of those foods that’s so delicious and fancy-looking that you expect it to be really hard, but it’s not at all.

You just need a few basic ingredients to make gourmet chocolate truffles, and the method to make them couldn’t be easier. The only complicated thing about making chocolate truffles is the time it takes to make them — but even that doesn’t have to be so bad.

So why make your own chocolate truffles? Well, for one thing, it’s a lot cheaper than buying a box of gourmet chocolate truffles. But it’s also very fun and satisfying to make such an elegant dessert, and they make amazing chocolate gifts!

What could be better than something so good, lovingly homemade?

In this article, we’ll go over what you need to know about making chocolate truffles: the basic ingredients, the flavorings, the coatings, and the method for making your own gourmet chocolate truffles.

Basic Ingredients

Gourmet chocolate truffles are actually very simple things. They don’t need a lot of complicated, expensive, hard-to-find ingredients. You just need chocolate, cream and a bit of butter if you want. You can also use some flavorings and coatings, but we’ll go over those in the next two sections.

Chocolate

If you’re making chocolate truffles, it’s no surprise that you’ll need chocolate. But what kind of chocolate should you choose? Here are a few guidelines to help you pick.

• The quality of the chocolate you pick makes a huge difference: chocolate is the main ingredient. If you choose low-quality chocolate, you’ll end up with low-quality truffles.
  • Higher-end chocolate generally has a better taste and also melts a lot smoother than lower-end chocolate.
  • A good rule of thumb is to let a piece of the chocolate you want to use melt in your mouth. If it tastes good on its own, melts smoothly, and isn’t grainy, you’ve got a good candidate.
• You can pick dark, milk, or even white chocolate when making chocolate truffles. As long as it’s good quality chocolate, you can pick any sweetness of chocolate you like. If you don’t like bittersweet chocolate, don’t use it!
  • I like to vary what kind of chocolate I use depending on the flavorings I pick. For vanilla truffles, I like sweeter chocolate, but I prefer semi-sweet to bittersweet chocolate for orange truffles.
• The chocolate needs to be chopped up into little bits to make the truffles. So if you can find something that comes in chip form (like Ghirardelli chocolate chips), it’ll make your job even easier.
• How much chocolate will you need? That depends on how many truffles you want to make. But 12 oz of chocolate (or 2 cups of chocolate chips), makes about 24 to 30 truffles.

Cream

It takes more than just chocolate to make an outstanding gourmet chocolate truffle. To get that velvety smoothness and wonderfully creamy texture, you need a bit of cream, too.

The amount you need depends on the kind of truffle you want. The more cream you use, the creamier a truffle you’ll get, but it’ll also be softer at room temperature. If you’re coating it in a chocolate shell, that’s fine, bit otherwise too much cream will mean too soft a truffle.

For 12oz of chocolate, you can use anywhere from 1/4 cup to 1 cup of cream.

Butter

Chocolate and cream are all you need when making chocolate truffles, but you can also add some butter for a bit of extra flavor. Just add a few tablespoons per 12 oz of chocolate, and you’re all set. You can add a bit at a time and taste it, adding more until it’s just right for you.

With some chocolate, cream, and a bit of butter, you have everything you need to make the most important part of a truffle: the ganache, which is the center, the filling.

Chocolate Truffle Flavorings

You can make a wonderful gourmet chocolate truffle with just chocolate and cream, and maybe some butter, but when you’re making chocolate truffles, it’s fun to add a little variety, especially if you’re giving out chocolate gifts. And that’s where flavorings come in.

You can make orange truffles, hazelnut truffles, truffles with vanilla, liqueur or fruit flavoring. Just think about gourmet chocolate truffles you like to buy: you just might be able to make them at home. Here are a few flavorings you can add.

Extracts

One of the easiest ways to add some flavor to your truffles is to add a bit of extract. You can find vanilla extract at any grocery store, but orange, almond, peppermint, or lots of other extracts make awesome gourmet chocolate truffles.

The amount you’ll need depends on the extract and how strong a flavor you want. The best way to get the right flavor is to add a teaspoon at a time in your melted chocolate/cream mixture, stir well, and taste. Then add a bit more if you feel it needs it.

Liqueurs

If you like gourmet chocolate truffles with a bit of a bite, you can add some liqueur to your chocolate ganache after you take it off the heat. Just whisk in a teaspoon or two at a time, taste, and add more if you want.

Grand Marnier, Kahlua, or Amaretto all make awesome chocolate truffles, but you can try out lots of different liqueurs.

Fruits and Herbs

When you’re making chocolate truffles, you have a lot of delicious choices for fruit flavorings. Raspberry, orange, and banana are just a few fruits that are awesome in chocolate truffles. And herbs like mint are great, too.

Sometimes you can just add a bit of extract and get a really authentic taste, but other times you just need the real thing. So how do you add real fruit and herb flavors to your own gourmet chocolate truffles?

For fruit, you can use fruit jam, or just mash your own fruit. For herbs, you can use whole leaves or sprigs. Just add the flavoring to the cream. Heat the cream and let it simmer until it absorbs the flavor. You can strain the milk afterward to remove any lumps or leave it as it is for a bit of texture – keeping in mind that not everyone likes truffles that aren’t perfectly smooth.

Nuts

Nuts and chocolate are always delicious together. I’m not a huge fan of nut extracts though, so here’s what I like to do.

• Chop up some nuts like almonds or hazelnuts, and toast them. Then grind the roasted nuts to a powder, and add it to the chocolate ganache until it tastes nice and nutty.
• You can also cook equal parts sugar and butter to make a light caramel, add the nuts, and then let it harden. After, grind it to a powder and add it to the truffle mixture. It’ll give you a sweet praline flavor.
• You can also roast whole nuts and roll your truffles around them. That way you get a nice gourmet chocolate truffle with a nut in the center.

Others

When you’re making chocolate truffles, there’s really no end to what you can add for flavoring. A hint of a spice like cinnamon, or a bit of strong coffee, or anything else you can think of.

The key is to make sure that it blends well into the mix. You want to keep that nice smooth texture without making it too liquidy. So add it straight to the chocolate if you can, or saute it in the butter before adding it in, or boil it in the milk. And you’ll have delicious gourmet chocolate truffles to give out as tasty chocolate gifts.

Different Coatings

The last thing you need when making chocolate truffles is a coating. Once your truffle filling is shaped into a ball (we’ll go over that in the next section), you can roll them in a bunch of different toppings. Here are some ideas.

• The traditional truffle coating is cocoa powder. The idea is that the hand-rolled truffles covered in cocoa powder look like real truffle mushrooms straight out of the ground. After all, that’s what this delicious dessert gets its name from.
• Instead of cocoa powder, you can also roll the truffles in confectioners’ sugar, shredded coconut, candy sprinkles or anything else that will taste nice and stick to the truffle filling.
• My favorite way to coat chocolate truffles is to dip them in chocolate. To do it right, though, you need to know how to temper chocolate so that it hardens to a nice, shiny, non-melty finish. For more information, check out this article on tempering chocolate.

Making Chocolate Truffles

Alright… now that you know what you need to make your own gourmet chocolate truffles, let’s go over the method for making chocolate truffles.

1. Chop up your chocolate so that it’s in very fine pieces. If you’re using chocolate chips, there’s no need to chop them up.
2. In a double boiler of medium-low heat, melt the chocolate and cream together. Stir often, and keep heating until the mixture is smooth.
   • Alternatively, you can just heat the cream, bringing it just to a bowl, then pour it over the chocolate. Let it stand for a minute or two, and then stir it until the chocolate is all melted and the mixture is smooth.
   • If you do it this way, you can simmer in some flavorings into the cream at this point.
3. Swirl in the butter and whisk until it’s melted and incorporated into the ganache.
4. Whisk in your flavorings.
5. Pour the ganache into a bowl, and refrigerate it until it’s firm but not hard. It’ll take about an hour or two.
   • You want to be able to scoop out some chocolate and shape it into balls, so it needs to be somewhat soft… but not so soft that it’s very melty and sticky.
6. Shape the chocolate ganache into small balls, each using about a teaspoon or two of the chocolate.
7. Place your coating in a shallow bowl or plate, and roll your truffles in the coating so that they’re completely covered.
8. Store the truffles in an airtight container. They’ll stay good for a few weeks.

Notes

• Chocolate scorches really easily when it’s melting. That’s why the mild, indirect heat of a double-boiler is so handy. But if you don’t have one, you can always use an aluminum bowl over a pot of boiling water, or a pot directly over very, very low heat.
• When you use the double boiler, be sure that there isn’t any steam escaping. Any moisture in the chocolate might make it seize up and clump instead of being velvety smooth.
  • If that happens, you’ll have to add more liquid (like cream) until it’s smooth again. But it’ll likely be too liquidy for making chocolate truffles – although perfect for a fondue!
• When you’re rolling the truffles, if your ganache warms up too much, you can always re-refrigerate it for a bit until it’s the right consistency again.
• If you want to dip your truffles in chocolate, I recommend having a few sheets of wax paper to hold the truffles while the chocolate coating sets.
• You can dress up your chocolate-dipped truffles by drizzling them with different colored chocolate. A zig-zag of white chocolate on a milk chocolate truffle looks very elegant and pretty.

Well, there you have it. You’ll be making chocolate truffles in no time. And then, you’ll be able to give all your friends wonderful chocolate gifts… if you can manage to save a few from your hungry family!

Enjoy!

With this chocolate truffle recipe, you won’t have to go buy gourmet chocolate truffles to enjoy a decadent treat! You can just make them at home for a fraction of the price. And even better, you can make the flavors you like best.

I make these every year for Christmas, and they’re always a huge hit. Everyone is surprised that they’re homemade and usually follows up the stunning look by asking for the recipe.

Now, this recipe is just a basic recipe for chocolate truffles. But it’s super flexible. Using orange extract instead of vanilla makes amazing orange truffles with a completely different flavor. You can use milk or dark chocolate, whichever you prefer. You can turn this into the perfect chocolate truffle recipe for you! See the tips section for more ideas or this article on making chocolate truffles.

One little note though — this chocolate truffle recipe can’t magically transform regular chocolate into gourmet chocolate. If you use plain old chocolate chips from the grocery store, that’s what the truffles will taste like. So it’s worth putting in a few extra dollars for better chocolate. You’ll still get very thrifty chocolate truffles.

Tips

• Chocolate chips are ideal for melting because they’re small and uniformly sized. But you can also use chocolate squares and chop them up into chip-sized bits. If you do, you’ll need 12oz of chocolate.
• Wondering whether to use milk, semi-sweet or dark chocolate? Use whichever you like. The only thing that matters is what you prefer. For example, I like sweet chocolate for my vanilla truffles, but I prefer darker chocolate with orange truffles.
• You can add more or less cream depending on what kind of texture you like. More cream gives you a softer, creamier texture — which is nice if you’re planning on dipping the truffles in chocolate.
• Instead of vanilla, there are lots of different flavorings you can add. Try orange extract with a bit of orange zest, peppermint extract, or almond extract with some praline powder. You can even add different liqueurs.
• You can add more or less vanilla, to suit your taste. The flavors will intensify a bit as the chocolate cools, so keep that in mind if you’re tasting while the chocolate is still warm.
• You can also add extra flavoring to the truffles. After adding the flavoring, taste the chocolate. If it’s not flavorful enough, add a bit more vanilla or liqueur or whatever you’re using, until it tastes just right.
• Technically, this chocolate truffle recipe just makes the truffle filling (called a ganache). To coat the truffles, you have a few options.
  • The traditional way to do it is just to roll them in cocoa. That way they look like real truffles out of the ground.
  • You can also roll the chocolate truffles in some confectioners’ sugar, chopped nuts, grated coconut, or candy sprinkles.
  • I like to coat my truffles with melted chocolate that hardens to a shiny finish. If you do coat the truffles though, it’ll add a bit to the preparation time, so be ready! For more information on how to do it, check out this article on tempering chocolate.

These sinfully rich chocolate pots make a wonderfully simple but elegant dessert for company or “just because.”

Trivia: Europeans have always had a great appreciation for fine quality chocolate but in America, the love affair is more recent. As North American preferences have changed, more and better quality chocolate is becoming available.

Any chocolate recipe is greatly improved by using top-quality chocolate. This particular recipe screams for it. If not available locally, I recommend the excellent offerings found at Chocolate.com – The World’s Largest Chocolate Marketplace.

Chocolate Pots Recipe

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups 35% cream
8 ounces semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate
3 egg yolks
1 tbsp brewed dark roast coffee
2 tbsp unsalted butter

Tip: A chocolate chipper, like the Lee Pro Products Chocolate Chipper is a handy tool to have. This sturdy tool converts hard, thick baking-chocolate bars into chunks for cookies, candy, etc

Method for Preparing Chocolate Pots

Chop the chocolate coarsely, Use a chocolate chipper if you have one.

Heat the cream over medium-high heat until it just barely begins to bubble. Take it off the heat and add the chocolate. Wait a minute or so and then stir until the mixture is smooth.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks.

Now, this is the tricky part. Very slowly, pour in the hot cream mixture, whisking all the while. You must work very slowly to avoid cooking the eggs.

Place this mixture back in the saucepan, whisking constantly until all is smooth. Stir in the coffee and butter.

Pour your chocolate mixture into 6 ramekins (like the Le Creuset Stoneware 4-Piece Heart Ramekin Set, Dark Chestnut with Assorted Pastel Colors and refrigerate until set. You can refrigerate these chocolate pots overnight is you want.

Enjoy this luscious little dessert.

Chocolate Dessert Recipe: Chocolate Pots De Creme

Chocolate Pots De Creme makes an elegant chocolate dessert recipe.

This site has a pots de creme museum. Don’t you just love these elegant little cups?

Tip: An elegant chocolate dessert recipe like this one warrants good chocolate as you find at ChocolateSource.

Easy Chocolate Dessert Recipe: Chocolate Pots de Creme

If you’re into making this authentic, check out this wonderful Pot de Creme Set – 4 Cups and Tray. Otherwise, use custard cups and hope for the best.

1/2 pound semi-sweet chocolate
1/4 cup hot water
1 cup 18% cream
5 medium-large eggs (yolks and whites separated)
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
3 tbsp chopped candied ginger (optional)
1/3 cup chopped blanched almonds
pouring cream

Tip: Have trouble separating eggs? You can use an Egg Separator, but this is what I do: Tap the side of your egg against the bowl to crack it. Holding the cracked egg in your hand, tilt it so the larger end points downward. Remove the top half of the shell. Hold the bottom part of the shell over the top half, then carefully pour the white into one shell half while keeping the yolk in the other half. Awkward to explain, but it works like a charm.

Method

Using a good double boiler, melt the chocolate and hot water, mixing them together as soon as you can. Slowly add the cream, stirring. Beat the egg yolks until thick, then stir them into the chocolate mixture, cooking and stirring constantly until it thickens. Remove the top of double boiler from the bottom. Beat egg whites until they form soft peaks, then stir them into chocolate mixture. Return to double boiler and cook over boiling water, stirring, until mixture thickens again. Remove from heat and stir in butter, vanilla, and salt. Cool just enough to safely turn into 6 pots de creme pots or stemmed glasses or a cut glass serving bowl. Chill.

At serving time, sprinkle tops with chopped ginger and chopped almonds. Pass pouring cream.

This chocolate dessert recipe is not good for the waistline– but oh what a treat for special occasions!

This chocolate whiskey balls recipe is an unbaked cookie recipe. It’s fast and easy to do. Where I live, it costs about $4.00 to make three dozen, but that price will vary depending on your location.

Trivia: According to Wikipedia, Scotch whisky is divided into five distinct categories: Single malt Scotch whisky, a blended malt (formerly called “vatted malt” or “pure malt”), blended Scotch whisky, blended grain Scotch whisky, and single grain Scotch whisky

Tip #1: To convert these measurements to metric, please refer to this online Cooking Converter

Tip #2: For best results, always use good quality chocolate.

Chocolate Whiskey Balls Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup of pecans
1 cup of chocolate wafer cookie crumbs
1 cup of icing sugar (also known as confectioner’s sugar)
1 1/2 tablespoons of corn syrup
1/4 cup Scotch whiskey
additional icing sugar for rolling the balls

Method

Using your food processor or another grinder, grind the pecans and the chocolate wafers together. This mixture should be coarse.

Place the chocolate-nut mixture into a bowl and add the icing sugar, whiskey, and corn syrup. Mix this well, using your hands if desired.

Make balls the size of walnuts with your mixture. Roll these balls in the additional icing sugar.

Put your chocolate whiskey balls on a tray or other flat dish and refrigerate. Chill at least four hours before serving.