SHF#16 - Recipe for Love

This is the first time I’m joining in on Sugar High Friday and I’ve been excited about it all week! The first thing I thought when I read that love and aphrodisiacs were to be the theme was chocolate truffles. Real truffles (the mushroom-kind) are said to be an aphrodisiac but since its Sugar High Friday I decided to go with the chocolate kind (I could have been really experimental and have combined the two). I made three kinds of truffles, each containing a different ingredient known for its aphrodisiatic (is this a word?) qualities.

White chocolate & cardamom truffles ~ cardamom is used in Indian herbal medicine to combat ‘male performance difficulties’.
Milk chocolate & honey truffles ~ in the old days newly weds used to drink mead (honey wine).
Bittersweet chocolate & marzipan truffles ~ nuts in general are considered a symbol of fertility for centuries.
(info from: http://www.aboutaphrodisiacs.org/)



This was actually the first time that I made something other than bittersweet chocolate truffles. Both the white chocolate and the milk chocolate truffle turned out quite sweet (ok, I admit that’s not very surprising). I’m a big fan of white chocolate and cardamom so I could not help but really like the white chocolate truffle (the boyfriend however didn't like it at all!). But I thought the milk chocolate truffle with honey was the best of the three...sweet but with a nice subtle taste of honey. I had to triple the amount of honey stated in the recipe before I actually tasted the honey. It reminded me a bit of Toblerone. The dark chocolate truffle I have made on different occasions before (with different flavourings). I used leftover marzipan from the wedding cake I made last week.

Besides the truffles I also made black pepper cakes with passion fruit syrup. The original recipe was for lemon cakes but I needed something else in place of the lemon to spice them up. Black pepper is mentioned as an aphrodisiac in an ancient Arabic love manual called The Perfumed Garden.
Passion fruit isn’t a known aphrodisiac but the name alone was good enough for me ;) I must say that the pepper in the cake wasn’t a bad idea...tastes pretty good!



White chocolate & cardamom truffle (adapted from Cafe Gourmet by Susie Theodorou)

Makes about 15

200 ml (6 ½ fluid oz) whipping cream
12 cardamom pods, crushed with a rolling pin
200 g (7 oz) + 125 g (4 ½ oz) white chocolate, chopped
30 g (1 oz) butter, diced
icing sugar, sifted

Bring the whipping cream with the cardamom pods to a boil and allow to steep for 30 minutes.
Melt 200 g of the white chocolate and butter au bain marie or in the microwave. Put a sieve over the chocolate and add the cream. Stir until the mixture is smooth. Beat the mixture with an electric hand whisk until it thickens (the whisk should leave a trail in the mixture when lifted). Chill for 1-2 hours.
Take heaped teaspoons of the mixture and roll into balls as quickly as possible (will be quite sticky). Make about 15. Place in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
Melt the remaining chocolate. Take the truffle balls and, using two forks, gently roll each truffle in the chocolate to coat completely. Rest them on a cooling rack for the chocolate to set. As soon as it is set, roll the truffles through the icing sugar.
Store in the fridge.

Note ~ it is quite tricky to roll the balls in the chocolate and to take them from the cooling rack without damaging them. However, because they are still quite soft, you don’t actually really see that after you’ve rolled them through the icing sugar. Rolling them makes them smooth again.

1 truffle – 170 kcal
100 g – 470 kcal

carbohydrate 35 g – protein 5 g – fat 35 g (saturated fat 21 g) – fibre 0 g


Milk chocolate & honey truffle (adapted from Chocolate, a book with recipes from the Israeli Al HaShulchan magazine)

Makes about 15

80 ml (scant 3 fluid oz) whipping cream
40 g (1 ½ oz) butter
200 g (7 oz) milk chocolate, chopped
50 g (scant 2 oz) + 125 g (4 ½ oz) bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 tbs liquid honey
cocoa powder, sifted

Bring the whipping cream and the butter to a boil.
Melt the milk chocolate and 50 g of the bittersweet chocolate au bain marie or in the microwave (no need to completely melt the chocolate, the hot cream will melt any remaining pieces). Add the cream/butter mixture and the honey to the chocolate and stir until smooth. Allow to cool and set. Chill for 1-2 hours.
Take heaped teaspoons of the mixture and roll into balls as quickly as possible (will be quite sticky). Make about 15. Place in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
Melt the remaining chocolate.
Take the truffle balls and, using two forks, gently roll each truffle in the chocolate to coat completely. Rest them on a cooling rack for the chocolate to set. As soon as it is set, roll the truffles through the cocoa powder.
Store in the fridge.

Note ~ it is quite tricky to roll the balls in the chocolate and to take them from the cooling rack without damaging them. However, because they are still quite soft, you don’t actually really see that after you’ve rolled them through the cocoa powder. Rolling them makes them smooth again.

1 truffle – 170 kcal
100 g – 500 kcal

carbohydrate 40 g – protein 5 g – fat 35 g (saturated fat 21 g) – fibre 0 g


Bittersweet chocolate & marzipan truffles

Makes about 15

100 ml (3 ½ fluid oz) whipping cream
200 g (7 oz) bittersweet chocolate (I used chocolate with 70% cocoa contents), chopped
45 g (1 ½ oz)marzipan (coloured if desired)
75 g (2 ½ oz) almonds, chopped

Bring the whipping cream to a boil.
Melt the chocolate (no need to completely melt the chocolate, the hot cream will melt any remaining pieces). Add the cream and stir until smooth. Allow to cool and set.
Divide the marzipan into 15 and roll into small balls.
Roast the almonds in a baking pan until lightly coloured.
Take heaped teaspoons of the mixture, put it in the palm of your hand and press in the middle. Place the marzipan in the middle and ‘fold’ the mixture around it. Roll into balls. Roll the balls through the chopped almonds.
Store in the fridge.

1 truffle – 130 kcal
100 g – 470 kcal

carbohydrate 33 g – protein 7 g – fat 36 g (saturated fat 15 g) – fibre 4 g


Black pepper cakes with passion fruit syrup (adapted from Modern classics book 2 by Donna Hay)

Makes 12

for the syrup:
225 g (1 cup) caster sugar
250 ml (1 cup) water
160 ml (⅔ cup) passion fruit pulp

175 g (6 oz) butter, softened
170 g (¾ cup) caster sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp crushed black pepper
200 g (1 ½ cup) flour
2 tsp baking powder

Place sugar, water and passion fruit pulp in a saucepan over low heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Increase the heat and allow the mixture to boil for about 10 minutes or until syrupy. Allow to cool
Preheat the oven to 160ºC (325ºF). Grease a muffin tin.
Cream the butter with the sugar. Add 1 egg at a time and mix well in between. Add the pepper. Sift the flour and the baking powder over the mixture and fold through.
Spoon the mixture into the muffin tin and bake for 25 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Allow to cool.
Spoon the syrup over the cakes.

1 cake with syrup – 320 kcal
100 g – 290 kcal

carbohydrate 41 g – protein 3 g – fat 12 g (saturated fat 7 g) – fibre 1 g