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Happy birthday to this truffle!
When it comes to creating a new truffle, weeks of thought and multiple rounds of experimentation (and yummy tastings) go into the process. We have to consider everything from the chocolate type, to visuals and painting techniques, to the filling and whether or not it works as a flavour and is compatible with the chocolate’s taste.
It can be a lot to keep track of, and usually, trial and error, and a little bit of luck, get us over the finish line. I’m going to take you through the creation process, from initial conception to the (potential) finished truffle, with all the missteps included.
We start at the very beginning, with the conception of the idea. The chocolatiers at The Chocolatarium meet frequently to discuss new products and truffles we’d like to give a stab at creating. To not reveal too many of our secrets, these ideas have run the gamut from porridge truffles to mascarpone and orange truffles.
We’re always looking for ideas that meet a few criteria;
When we came up with birthday cake, It was under the assumption that it was a unique flavour pairing not normally seen in chocolate truffles, plus, people would enjoy gifting it to loved ones as part of a birthday present. Though at this stage the flavour profile was still undecided, we knew we wanted it to be white chocolate to bring more diversity to our truffle selection.
We considered traditional birthday cake flavours, but could not agree on a central birthday flavour. Some of us were suggesting vanilla with a strawberry and white chocolate filling, like Victoria sponge cake. Others suggested it had to be decadent dark chocolate, like a Colin the Caterpillar. Many options were considered, but the main thing we wanted to achieve was a cake-like interior, which could be created through a fruit and chocolate ganache, creating a fudgy texture. Birthday cake is nostalgic and we wanted to evoke a warm and joyous flavour whichever path we decided to take.
Once the initial conception was complete, we moved on to the trialling stage.
This is where the fun really begins. We get to create a whole range of truffles and taste test them. For this one in particular, we knew the visuals should be most important, regardless of the flavour we settled on.
The main visual concept was sprinkles and confetti. With the intention of replicating this via multi-colour use, using a white chocolate truffle shell would make the colours pop even more, and hint at a vanilla buttercream-like frosting colour.
So, we created two splatter designs with different colours of cocoa butter. One used deep primary colours, yellow, red and blue, while the other was more pastel and lighter, including blue, pink, yellow and orange. With the primary colours, we used a dramatic splatter technique, a la the Jackson Pollock style. With the pastels, we created a much more gentle splatter style.
We filled them with tempered white chocolate and moved on to the filling stag
With white chocolate being very sweet, we wanted to balance the truffle, so it wasn’t just an overload of sugar. We decided on a dark chocolate and fruit ganache to mimic the layers of a cake, with a jam layer, but also to create a distinct fudgy, cake-style filling inside.
The two options we ran with were a dark chocolate and strawberry ganache and a dark chocolate and raspberry ganache. With the high fruit content, the chocolate would be cake-like, but the dark chocolate would tone the sweetness down.
Filling the shells with both, and after eating more than our fair share in tasters, we decided upon the raspberry ganache, as it was tart and flavourful, but not overly saccharine. From there, we capped them off, and with the piece de resistance in mind from the beginning, sprinkled the base with colourful sprinkles. These sprinkles mimicked the cocoa butter sprinkles on top, but also brought a textural experience and crunch to the smooth chocolate.
In the end, we ended up with a fun and delicious truffle that stands out amongst the rest of our selection, while also being unique and memorable. While We agreed the primary colours truffle design was lovely, and gave a real sophisticated vibe, the pastels were much more fun and felt like a party. The only thing we are missing are candles.
We can’t wait to start offering these as a choice for the visitors to The Chocolatarium, and had a fantastic time making them!
