Chocolate truffles: three ingredients and one minute of not stirring
Truffles are ganache — an emulsion of chocolate and cream — rolled into balls and dusted with cocoa. Three basic ingredients — chocolate, cream and cocoa — nothing baked, and one thing that can genuinely go wrong: the emulsion. Start stirring hard before the chocolate has melted and you get lumps, and long working of a half-melted mass encourages the fat to separate into a greasy, grainy ganache. Just wait a minute without touching it, then stir from the centre outwards. That is all there is to it.
Your own work in that: 40 min.
- Ganache 20 min
- Chilling 240 min
- Rolling 20 min
- Final chill 20 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneChop the chocolate finely
Chop the chocolate really finely, to pieces the size of a grain of rice. The finer it is, the faster and more evenly it melts into the cream — large pieces need longer stirring, and every extra stir increases the risk of splitting.
Ingredients: 300 g dark chocolate, 70 % · 200 ml whipping cream (30%) · 40 g butter · 1 tbsp honey · 1 pinch salt
TipDon't use chocolate-flavoured coating or compound chocolate. They contain vegetable fats instead of cocoa butter and will not form a proper ganache.
Pieces the size of a grain of riceBoil the cream and pour it over
Bring the cream with the honey and salt to the boil and pour it straight over the chopped chocolate so it is completely covered. Do not stir. Leave 60 seconds — the hot cream must melt the chocolate before you do anything at all.
Ingredients: 300 g dark chocolate, 70 % · 200 ml whipping cream (30%) · 40 g butter · 1 tbsp honey · 1 pinch salt
TipThat minute matters most of all. Stirring unmelted chocolate means lumps and long working, which is the quickest route to a greasy, grainy ganache.
Pour over and leave it alone for a minuteStir from the centre outwards
Put the spatula in the middle of the bowl and stir in small circles from the centre, gradually widening them. A smooth, dark, glossy mass appears in the middle — the sign the emulsion has taken. Only then stir in the soft butter, if using.
TipGanache split? Add <b>a tablespoon of warm milk</b> and stir vigorously from the centre. In most cases the emulsion comes back within seconds.
Small circles from the centre until it shinesChill four hours
Pour the ganache into a shallow dish (a 2 cm layer) and press cling film onto the surface. Refrigerate at least 4 hours. A shallow dish cools it evenly; in a deep bowl the edges set hard while the centre stays soft for a long time.
A 2 cm layer, film on the surface, four hoursRoll the balls quickly
Scoop the ganache with a teaspoon and roll balls the size of a small walnut (about 18 g) between your palms, fast. The warmth of your hands melts cocoa butter, so work in batches and cool your hands under cold water every few truffles. Set the finished balls on a cold plate.
TipIf the ganache softens too much in your hands, put it back in the fridge for 15 minutes. Rolling warm ganache never gives even balls.
Fast, in batches, with cooled handsCoat and chill again
Roll the balls in sifted cocoa (with icing sugar if you prefer them less bitter) or in chopped almonds. Refrigerate 20 minutes. Take them out 15 minutes before serving — a truffle straight from the fridge is hard and gives off no aroma.
Ingredients: 60 g cocoa · 60 g almonds · 2 tbsp icing sugar
Sifted cocoa, then twenty minutes chilling
Before you start
The ratio to remember
For truffles: 3 parts chocolate to 2 parts cream. The same mixture at 1:1 gives a ganache for coating a cake, and at 1:2 a chocolate sauce. One technique, three different things.
With alcohol
Two tablespoons of rum, brandy or whisky stirred in at the end, with the butter. More than that thins the ganache enough that the balls will not hold their shape at room temperature.
Other coatings
Chopped pistachios, desiccated coconut, crushed biscuits, ground coffee mixed with cocoa. Cocoa is the classic because its bitterness balances the richness — use sweet coatings sparingly.
How long they keep
Up to two weeks in the fridge in a sealed container — the cream is what limits their life. Uncoated balls can also be frozen for 2–3 months; thaw them in the fridge and coat just before serving.
