Online Chocolate Recipes

TEMPERING CHOCOLATE…

If you want to make your own chocolates, using a good quality chocolate, you will need to “temper” the chocolate to get a good shiny finish and a crisp snap to it.  Here’s how you do it….

For 1kg of good quality chocolate:  Put 700g of chocolate in a bowl and melt over a pan of gently simmering water, stirring occasionally, so that it reaches a temperature of 40C to 45C. It will be completely melted and quite runny. Don’t let the chocolate get too hot or it will go lumpy. Remove from the heat and mix in the remaining 300g of unmelted chocolate buttons. Once the added chocolate buttons have all melted into the warm chocolate, you should find that the chocolate has been tempered. (The temperature should be roughly 34C). You won’t have very long to work with the chocolate because tempered chocolate sets quite quickly. However, if the chocolate sets you can always re-melt it and start tempering again – as long as you keep the ratio of melted chocolate to chocolate buttons at about 70:30.

DIPPING CHOCOLATES

You can dip lots of tasty things in chocolate – toffee, fudge, Turkish delight, dates, fruit, marshmallows – the list is almost endless! Drop a piece in the melted tempered chocolate and fork over until completely coated. Now lift the chocolate coated item out and place on a sheet of greaseproof paper to set. It's also quite easy to make some chocolate florentines by quickly placing some fruit and nuts in a circle of melted chocolate.

MAKING CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES

Place 600g of dark (or milk or white) chocolate drops/buttons in a bowl. Boil 150g of double cream in a saucepan. Pour the boiling cream into the bowl of dark chocolate and mix well. Add 75g of brandy, rum or whisky and mix well in. Leave overnight in a refrigerator. Take a teaspoon and spoon out enough on the spoon to roll into a small ball – about the diameter of a £1 coin. Then dip the ball into some tempered chocolate. If you want to, the truffle can be tossed into some chopped nuts, cocoa powder or icing sugar, depending on the finish you want.

Here are some really good chocolate cake recipes, we hope you will try them...150g Ground Almonds, 50g Tea Cake Crumbed, 165g Unsalted Butter, 300g Dark Chocolate, 150g Caster Sugar, 4 Eggs, 1 tsp Vanilla Essence, 150g Mascarpone or Cream Cheese Turn teacake into crumbs in a food processor. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, then mix in rest of ingredients. Line several (makes about 12) 7cm baking rings/pastry cutters with baking paper, placed on a baking tray also lined with baking paper. Put about 100g of mixture in each. Bake at 170C for about 25-30 mins, until the tops begin to crack. Serve with whipped cream/ice cream. Dust with icing sugar.

LIGHT CHOCOLATE CAKE

50g Corn flour, 110g Self Raising Flour, ½ tsp Bicarbonate of Soda, 200g Unsalted Butter, 200g  Dark Chocolate (Melted), 200g Caster Sugar, 2 Large Eggs, 1 tsp Vanilla Essence, 150g Tub Crème Fraiche

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, then mix in rest of ingredients. Line several (makes about 12) 7cm baking rings/pastry cutters with baking paper, placed on a baking tray also lined with baking paper. Put about 100g of mixture in each. Bake at 180C for about 25-30 mins, until the tops begin to crack. Serve with whipped cream/ice cream. Dust with icing sugar.

CHOCOLATE LAVA CAKE

40g Corn flour (sifted), 170g Butter, 170g Dark Chocolate Drops, 160g Caster Sugar, 3 Eggs, 1 tsp Vanilla Essence, inch of salt

Put the chocolate and butter in a bowl and melt until smooth in either the microwave or over s saucepan of gently boiling water. Sir frequently to ensure there are no lumps. Once melted, put aside. In a large bowl, fold together the eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Add the sifted corn flour to the egg mixture, stirring until well mixed. Slowly pour the chocolate/butter mix into the egg mix, stirring until completely mixed. Cover the batter and leave in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours (or overnight). Scoop the chilled mixture into six 7cm baking rings or pastry cutters lined with greaseproof paper 5cm deep. Put in pre-heated oven at 175C and turn after 15 mins to ensure even baking. Leave to bake for another 10-15 mins. Remove from oven and leave to cool. To serve warm, so the centre is gooey, place cakes in a pre-heated oven at 175C for 4-5 mins. Dust with icing sugar or cocoa powder and serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

You can buy the chocolate to use in these recipes from our online shop click here