Chocolate truffles with rum and raisins

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Today I want to share an idea for using up less-than-perfect sponge cakes, or those that have been made a few days ago and are perhaps getting a bit dry. This time we will prepare chocolate truffles with rum and raisins. It's sweet recycling straight out of 1980s Poland!



Pleasantly moist interior brings together the flavours of chocolate and rum, while it's almost creamy texture is balanced by crunchy nuts and soft fruit. We also have chocolate glaze and coconut that pleasantly wrap around each truffle. The impression you'll get is of eating luxurious treat - while it's made with ingredients that would've been wasted otherwise!

You'll find the list of ingredients, method and approximate nutritional value below.

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List of ingredients

  • 100 g sultanas
  • 50 g dry cranberries
  • 500 g dry cake (sponge cake off-cuts, biscuits, etc)
  • 60 ml milk
  • 50 g butter
  • 30 g dark cocoa
  • 200 g sour jam (I'm using plum)
  • 100 g nuts (eg. walnuts, hazelnuts, pecan, or, alternatively, almonds)
  • 50 ml rum
  • 200 g dark chocolate
  • 200 g whipping cream
  • 100 - 150 g desiccated coconut

Method

  1. Prep work starts with soaking dried fruit. Transfer 100 g sultanas and 50 g dry cranberries into a small bowl. Cover them with freshly boiled water and stir shortly to separate any lumps. Set the fruits aside, covered, for around 30 minutes. After this time, transfer fruits onto a fine sieve and set aside for another 15 minutes for water to drain off.
  2. Meanwhile, work on the remaining ingredients. Crush 500 g dry cake to crumbles. What kind of cake should you use? Anything you have at hand. Badly risen sponge cakes, cakes that are a few days old, but also any dry biscuits will work well. It is only important they don't have any filling in them. Your choice will have an impact on the texture of chocolate truffles: you will get a different outcome from biscuits compared to sponge cake off-cuts.
  3. Pour 60 ml milk into a medium pot. Add 50 g butter, 50 g white sugar and 30 g dark cocoa. Heat up the contents of the pot for a few minutes, stirring constantly, until a smooth, uniform liquid forms. If you are using very sweet cake, you can omit the sugar. Equally, if you've chosen a chocolate sponge cake, you can skip cocoa.
  4. Once you've got the right texture take pot off heat and transfer its contents onto cake crumbles. Add 200 g lightly sour jam, 100 g roughly chopped nuts, drained sultanas and cranberries and 50 g dark rum. If you want to serve the truffles to children, you can replace rum with rum extract. Stir through the contents of the bowl with a wooden spoon, until everything is evenly distributed in the batter and its consistency allows you to form the truffles. If the batter is too runny, you can add more crushed biscuits.
  5. Start shaping the chocolate truffles. I'm scooping equal portions with an ice cream scoop and shaping them into balls with my hands. Ice cream scoop makes it easy to get even balls, but you can also use a regular spoon or divide the batter using a kitchen scale. Arrange ready balls onto a wide, flat plate and put them into a fridge for 30 minutes to start setting.
  6. Prepare chocolate glaze. Transfer 200 g dark chocolate (72%) and 200 g whipping cream (36%) into a medium bowl. Put the bowl into a microwave oven for 60-80 seconds in total. Every 20 seconds take the bowl out of the microwave, stir through its contents thoroughly and return into the microwave for the next 20 seconds. Repeat these steps until smooth, fluid chocolate glaze forms. You can also prepare the chocolate glaze in a water bath or skip in entirely.
  7. Decorate the chocolate truffles. Cover each ball in the chocolate glaze and remove the excess. Transfer the ball into a wide dish with desiccated coconut and cover the whole surface. I'm using forks to make it easier. The chocolate glaze is very soft at this stage, so it's not possible to hold it in hand, so it's better to use a little help. Arrange ready chocolate truffles in a single layer in a wide dish and put them into a fridge for around an hour, for the chocolate glaze to set completely.
  8. Enjoy!       

Approximate nutritional value

100 g

  • 543 kcal
  • Carbs: 50 g
  • Fat: 33 g
  • Protein: 7 g
  • Fibre: 4 g

1 truffle (assuming 25 truffles)

  • 326 kcal
  • Carbs: 30 g
  • Fat: 20 g
  • Protein: 4 g
  • Fibre: 1 g

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