"i'd have called maisie fantaisie"

As you can imagine, with the amount of wedding cakes that I make, I have a lot of left overs! So I incorporate this delicious cast aside cake in sweet and pudding recipes. The off cuts from my ‘chocolate framboise’ cake recipe became the perfect ingredient for a box of ‘Chocolate Cake Truffles’. Even after a day of baking I can’t resist a nibble of these delicious bite sized morsels. I chose to add a little Grand Marnier liquer to mine, but you could choose another. Perhaps some Kahlua, Rum, or Bailey’s.

Makes approx 20

Truffle recipe
5 oz chocolate cake crumb
1oz butter
1 oz cocoa
2 oz icing sugar
3 tablespoons Grand Marnier
zest of half an orange

Directions
1. Crumble the cake into a bowl to remove any lumps
2. Sift in the cocoa powder and icing sugar
3. Melt the butter and pour over the cake crumb mix

4. Mix lightly then add the liquor and zest of an orange and mix all together

5. Place some greaseproof paper onto a board or tray
6. Roll into balls and place on the greaseproof paper
7. Place in the fridge for 20 minutes. If you want any truffles coated in
vermicelli, this is done before the truffles are placed in the fridge.
8. Roll the balls in a bowl full of vermicelli and then place on the
greaseproof paper with the uncoated truffles
9. When the truffles are in the fridge, melt some dark chocolate in a bowl
and mix some cocoa powder and drinking chocolate together in another bowl.
10. Remove the truffles from the fridge, dip in chocolate and then roll in
the cocoa powder.
11. You can decorate the truffles as you wish, some with vermicelli, some
with chocolate, some with chocolate and cocoa powder. I chose to then add a
little dusting of edible gold lustre to finish off the chocolates.

CHOCOLATE CAKE TRUFFLES

I was having a sneaky lunchtime drink at The Groucho Club the other day and while relaxing my mind wandered to new cake recipes. I needed to make my own raspberry compote for use as a filling in my cakes - but I wanted to add a little something extra special. “Ah ha” I thought, “obviously, a little liqueur will do the trick’. I am always on the look out for fine ingredients and I wanted to use the best raspberry liqueur available. The head barman at the Groucho is ‘Jeff’ and as he is a drinks expert I asked him if he could recommend something. He quickly lined up a row of shot glasses and gave me a taste test of the 3 different raspberry liqueurs that he preferred. My choice was the ‘Edmond Briottet - Creme de Framboise‘, it was perfect! And what better to go with a fresh raspberry and creme de frambois compote than a delicious rich dark chocolate truffle cake with double cream dark chocolate ganache. So….thank you Jeff, this one’s for you! x

‘CHOCOLATE FRAMBOISE‘ (Rich chocolate truffle cake, double cream dark chocolate ganache, fresh raspberry compote with creme de frambois).

Chocolate truffle cake recipe
250g dark chocolate
250g butter
150ml water
325g plain flour
30g cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
550g golden caster sugar
4 large eggs
2 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tsp vanilla
125ml sour cream

Fresh raspberry compote
200g fresh raspberries
1 dsp caster sugar
5 tbsp raspberry liqueur

Dark chocolate ganache
200g dark chocolate
225ml double cream

For decoration
200g fresh raspberries

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius (150 for a fan oven)
2. Line the base and sides of a 9inch round cake tin (I chose a heart shape for this recipe)
3. Place the chocolate, water and butter in a large saucepan over a low heat, stirring the mixture occasionally. When the chocolate and butter have melted, remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature
4. Sift the flour, cocoa and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl. Stir in the sugar
5. In another bowl mix the eggs, oil, vanilla and sour cream
6. Add the egg mix to the flour mix and fold together. Then add the cooled chocolate mixture to the egg and flour mix. Mix until well combined
7. Pour the mixture into the cake tin
8. Bake for approx 1 hr 15 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Once baked, remove from the oven and allow the cake to cool in the tin then turn out onto a metal rack
9. Whilst the cake is cooling make the jam filling and chocolate ganache
10. Place the raspberries in a pan with the sugar and 3 tablespoons of liqueur. Place on a low heat on the hob. Mix and simmer for 10 minutes. When the jam has cooled add the remaining 2 tablespoons of liqueur

11. To make the chocolate ganache, break the chocolate into chunks and put in a heatproof bowl. Place the cream in a pan and bring to the boil. Pour over the chocolate chunks

12.Leave for 2 minutes, then stir until smooth. Set aside until firm enough to spread over the cake

13. When the cake is cool, cut the dome off the top and turn upside down so you have a flat surface

14. Cut the cake in half and fill with half of your raspberry jam, sandwich the cake half’s together

15. Coat the whole cake with a very thin layer of the chocolate ganache and place in the fridge for 5 minutes. This is called the ‘crumb coat’ and will stop any crumbs from mixing into the final ganache covering
16. Remove the cake from the fridge and smooth over the remaining ganache

17. Decorate the cake with fresh raspberries and serve with the remaining raspberry jam and a little creme fresh or cream if desired.

‘CHOCOLATE FRAMBOISE’