Ingredients
Chocolate Cake
- 125 grams butter
- 75 grams dark chocolate
- 1 cup caster sugar
- ½ cup hot water
- 1 tablespoon instant coffee powder
- 120 grams flour
- 20 grams self-raising flour
- 20 grams cocoa powder
- 1 egg
Christmas Truffles Filling
- 400 grams chocolate cake, crumbled
- 1 tablespoon rum
- ½ cup sultanas
- 1 tablespoon instant coffee powder
- 1 tablespoon almond meal
- 1 tablespooon hot water
- 1 tablespoon strawberry jam
- 30 grams butter, melted
To Finish
- 250 grams dark chocolate melts, melted
- 100 grams white chocolate melts, melted
- red and green decorations (such as glace cherries, jelly beans or smarties)
Instructions
Chocolate Cake
- Preheat the oven to 160 °C. Grease a 20 cm cake pan, line base with baking paper.
- Combine the butter, chocolate, sugar, water and coffee powder in a medium saucepan. Stir over low heat until the chocolate and butter are melted.
- Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and cool. Stir in the sifted flour and cocoa, then the eggs.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Bake in the oven for 35 minutes. Turn onto a wire rack to cool.
Christmas Truffle Filling
- Take 400 grams of the chocolate cake and crumble it into a large bowl. The rest can be saved for later to eat.
- Dissolve the coffee powder in the hot water. Add the coffee mixture, rum, sultanas, almond meal, jam and butter to the crumbled cake, mix well to combine.
- Roll heaped teaspoons of mixtures into balls and place onto a lined tray. Refrigerate until firm.
Finishing the Truffles
- Use two forks to dip each of the truffles into the melted dark chocolate. Ensure each truffle is covered in chocolate and then drain off excess chocolate. Place back onto the lined tray.
- Drizzle the truffles with white chocolate and decorate with glace cherries/jelly beans to resemble holly. Allow to firm and set before serving.
With Christmas just around the corner, now is the perfect time to make these cute little Christmas puddings. They make a great little dessert, or can be a stand out dish if you need to bring a plate of finger foods.
Cake Filling
The cake batter makes a delicious texture for the truffle fillings. Omit the rum if you are wanting to make a kid-friendly version.
For a quick substitute to the filling, you can use a store bought fruitcake instead of the chocolate cake. If you are choose to do this, you will not need to add in the sultanas when making the truffle filling.
Finishing the truffles
You can use either two forks or spike the truffles onto a skewer to coat them in chocolate. Once coated in chocolate, drain off the excess before placing them back onto the tray. You may find it beneficial to melt the chocolate in batches, instead of doing it all in one go. You may also need to reheat the chocolate throughout the coating process, as it starts to cool. I find a double boiler – a bowl over a pan of boiling water on the stove to be an effective way to melt the chocolate.
For decorations – use glace cherries or candies to decorate in the shapes of holly. Alternatively, you can use Christmas colored sprinkles as a different way to decorate.
