dulcis in fundo

A month ago, my friend Natalia started having a coffee stall at a relatively new London art market, Stour Space, in Hackney Wick. The market promotes unknown and upcoming designers' work and is a really great initiative for young artists who are just starting out and can display their work in the exhibition areas. It takes place on the last Saturday of every month, and it’s well worth a look if you happen to be around East London.

This Saturday, 24th April, Natalia will be again selling her coffee, and when she asked me to make her some truffles so she could trial them out at the stall, I jumped at the opportunity! The coffee is a delicious single origin from Bolivian farm Colonia San Juan, and the beans are sourced from the independent East End roasters Square Mile, who trade directly with the growers, resulting in excellent-quality coffee (the owner, James Hoffman, won the World Barista Championship in 2007).

Some of my favourite chocolates in Britain are made by Paul A. Young, and his book Adventures with Chocolate is one of the very few cookbooks that I own and treasure (and actually regularly cook from, which I guess is the most important function of a cookbook!). Since Natalia explained that the coffee she had bought had caramel and toffee undertones, I decided to make some simple but delicious Muscovado truffles from Paul A. Young's book (you can also find the recipe and a helpful video online).

First, break the chocolate into small, even-sized pieces and place in a medium-size mixing bowl. Place the cream and sugar in a small saucepan.

Bring to the boil and simmer for 1 minute. This will fully dissolve the sugar and kill any bacteria that may be present in the cream.

Turn off the heat and allow the cream to cool for 1 minute. (Pouring the cream on to the chocolate while boiling will scorch it and cause the cocoa butter in the chocolate to separate, resulting in a split ganache.) Now pour your rested cream on to the chocolate pieces and mix well with a spatula or whisk until smooth and very glossy.

Allow the ganache to cool to room temperature, then place it, covered, in the fridge for at least 2 hours or until fully set.

Rolling the truffles

Remove the set ganache from the fridge. Using a teaspoon, scoop even-sized pieces of the chocolate and place on to a sheet of parchment paper.

Powder your hands with cocoa powder, and then, using your fingers, begin to roll the ganache into evenly shaped spheres. Take care not to take too long over this as the ganache will begin to melt and become impossible to roll.

Place the rolled truffles back on to the parchment paper. (If you are not eating the dusted truffles, place them in the fridge until needed.)