Dark Chocolate Truffles

I used my recent batch of Dark Chocolate Truffles to garnish a cake.

Dark Chocolate Truffles are the answer if you are searching for a homemade treat that is as impressive as it is easy to make.

Truffles are rich, creamy and elegant yet can be made in no time with minimal ingredients and effort. They're just chocolate ganache, cooled, scooped, shaped into balls and rolled in a coating.

The only trick really is to use good quality dark chocolate. My preference is Callebaut Belgian Dark Chocolate. I use the callets which are chocolate bits similar to chocolate chips but without the peak on top. I like to use the callets because it eliminates having to chop the chocolate.

My chocolate choice.

I also like that you can make an assortment of different kinds of truffles by splitting a single batch and just adding different flavorings or liquors to the ganache and rolling them in different coatings like cocoa powder, sprinkles, nuts or coconut.

For a recent batch that I used to decorate a tiered Anniversary Cake, I make the most basic kind — just dark chocolate ganache coated with dark cocoa powder — Simple but soooo goooood!

Here's how I made them:

Place one pound of dark chocolate pieces in a mixing bowl.

Measure out one cup of heavy cream. Heat the cream in the microwave in 30-second intervals until it is simmering, stirring between intervals. Watch the cream closely so that it doesn't boil over. In my microwave the cream was simmering in just 90 seconds.

Pour the simmering cream over the chocolate and whisk until smooth. This is the time if you choose to add flavorings to the ganache, just make sure the flavoring is alcohol based. Water and chocolate do not mix! Liqueurs like Grand Marnier and Ameretto and extracts like peppermint and raspberry are a few of my favorites. Set the mixture aside to cool for 1 hour.

After one hour, scoop portions of the ganache onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. I used a 1-inch ball scoop for the task. Place the scoops of ganache in the refrigerator to chill for 20 to 30 minutes to firm them enough so that using your hands you can roll them into balls.

After rolling the truffles into balls, roll them in the coating of your choice. I chose dark cocoa powder.

Here are the finished truffles that I used to decorate the cake.

A closeup of the finished cake. To keep the truffles secure, I piped buttercream around them.

Jack's Cake

I baked the cake for Jack's 90th birthday celebration yesterday and today I decorated it. Jack served in WWII as a navigator on a B-29 so his wife Mary asked me to decorate a cake with his plane "Goin' Jessie."

I knew I wanted to decorate the cake completely with vanilla buttercream since nothing beats it for taste. Using another medium like fondant, sugar paste or modeling chocolate would have been easier but in my opinion not so tasty and a 90th birthday celebration deserves a great tasting cake.

Mary loaned me a book with a photo of "Goin' Jessie," and I found lots of helpful information on the Internet as well.

When it came time to draw the plane design for the cake, I admit I cheated a bit by recruiting the help of my husband Joe who is great at drawing. So with my husband's help, this is how I decorated Jack's cake.

I researched Jack's plane. In the photo, he's in the top row, second from right.

My artistic husband helped me by drawing this plane made to fit on my 12 x 18 - inch sheet cake.

I baked three recipes of "The Greatest and Easiest Chocolate Cake" and spread dark chocolate ganache between the layers.

I iced the cake with two batches of vanilla buttercream and made an additional batch for decoration. My sweet niece Maya was a wonderful support. Look how big that cake is!

I got all my icing colors mixed and ready to go. My kind sister loaned me her kitchen for the big baking project since mine is still undergoing a remodel.

I cut out the B-29 my husband drew.

I set the cutout on top of the cake and used a skewer to draw around it.

Here's what the outline looked like.

Then, I just followed the lines.

And, I filled in the lines. I piped icing on the inside and used an offset spatula to spread it to the edges.

Then, I started adding details.

And, more details.

Finally, I added "Happy Birthday Jack" and used my favorite trick of using a skewer to draw the letters onto the cake before adding the icing. If you make a mistake, just smooth out the icing and start again until you get it right. I hope Jack likes it.

Baked, Filled And Frosted

The 10-inch tier chilling.

I began baking the cakes for my friend Jeff's wedding at 10 a.m. this morning and by 8 p.m. this evening, all of the tiers were filled, frosted and being chilled.

It was a long day but also fun for me since I haven't baked a cake for months due to my kitchen remodeling project. My sister who lives close by,  loaned me her kitchen for the day and even cleared out her whole refrigerator so that I wouldn't have to move the cakes until the day of the wedding.

My nephew Sam and my niece Maya were so helpful to me,  showing me where things were in the kitchen and even helping me clean up.

Now that the majority of the work is done, it's nice to be able to relax a bit until Saturday when I need to transport and stack the tiers at the venue. Oh, I'll also need to add the fresh flowers for decoration.

After baking the pumpkin flavored cakes, I leveled them and placed them on foam core rounds that I cut to the size of my cake pans. I use foam core because after the tiers are stacked I like to put a dowel down through the center of the entire wedding cake for stability. A dowel sharpened in a pencil sharpener easily goes through the foam core.

The bottom layer of the tiers got a coating of dark chocolate ganache.

After adding the second layer to the tiers, I let the cakes chill well before frosting.

I made a simple cream cheese frosting and used the back of a teaspoon to add swirls for texture. I like the natural look of this frosting technique and think it will look soft and elegant with the addition of fresh flowers for decoration.