Chocolate Truffle Christmas Puddings {Chocolate Truffles Masquerading as Christmas Puddings}

Here's an easy recipe for chocolate truffles which can be decorated to look like mini Christmas puddings using some melted white chocolate and cute holly sprinkles (I found some in Asda, they were just £1 for a tub). They make very sweet little edible gifts.

These chocolate truffles could not be easier to make and are a good way to use up leftover or slightly stale cake. Customise them with a splash of your favourite tipple or roll them in chopped nuts instead of the Christmas pudding decoration.

I freeze the bits of cake that are left after I level up cakes and use them for making these truffles. I defrost them and then blitz them in a food processor to make fine crumbs blend in really well to the creamy chocolate mixture.

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Chocolate Truffle Christmas Puddings {Chocolate Truffles Masquerading as Christmas Puddings}

• Makes: 25

• Time: 30 mins + chilling time

• Calories: 92 per truffle

Ingredients:

For the chocolate truffles:

• 150ml double cream

• 150g dark chocolate, broken into squares

• 200g cake crumbs (e.g. plain chocolate sponge or maderia cake)

• 1 tablespoon amaretto or similar (optional)

• Cocoa powder or icing sugar for rolling

To decorate:

• 40g white chocolate

• Ready made holly sprinkles (or make your own from fondant)

Method:

1. Put the cream and dark chocolate into a saucepan and hand whisk over a medium heat until the chocolate melts and the mixture becomes smooth and glossy.

2. Remove from the heat and add the cake crumbs and amaretto (if using). Whisk together until the mixture is thick and smooth. A hand blender works well if the mixture is a bit lumpy.

3. Leave the mixture to cool completely and then chill in the fridge until it is just firm enough to manipulate. Roll it into around 25 walnut sized balls.

4. Roll each ball in a little cocoa powder or icing sugar to stop them sticking. Pop them on a plate and chill for a few hours until firm.

To decorate like Christmas puddings:

1. Put the white chocolate into a food bag and place the food bag into a mug of recently boiled water to melt the chocolate. The food bag will act as a piping bag.

2. When the chocolate has completely melted, carefully snip off a tiny corner of the food bag and squeeze a little white chocolate onto the top of each cold truffle.

3. Decorate with the holly sprinkles while the white chocolate is still wet. As it cools the sprinkles will set into the chocolate.