Gin, Whisky, Rum, Sherry and Coffee Boozy Chocolate Truffles!

These gorgeous boozy truffles come with a warning: they are highly addictive. Although I have a good resistance to chocolate (chips and popcorn are another matter), I couldn't stop sneaking these chocolate truffles all day long. There's five types here: gin and rose, whisky, Pedro Ximinez and quince, rum & raisin and coffee liqueur so there's a chocolate truffle to suit everyone!

Sometimes cakes are disasters. They don't work and this was one of them. It wasn't a disaster per se but when I wanted to make an 18 layer cake, the bottom layer was so fresh and moist that it sort of buckled. I removed the layer and decided to do my next favourite thing with cake cut offs...cake truffles.

Did you know that chocolate truffles are named after the mushroom truffle because of their resemblance to the dirt covered truffle as it comes out of the ground?

And I found these as irresistible. My favourites were the gin and rose and the whisky ones but honestly every one of them was delicious. These are also vegan too (not that I am vegan).

Speaking of cakes that do and don't work, every year Nina and I make cakes for each other's birthdays and this year I asked Nina to make a cake that looked like my dog Mochi. Nina isn't a keen cook or baker-in fact she dislikes both but I knew that she'd have a great crack at a Mochi cake.

She sent me photos of the cake in progress and I noticed that there was green in the cake. Nina doesn't really make super unhealthy cakes-spinach and parsley were previous flavours and the icing would be low in sugar no doubt. And then that evening came a panicked message, "Omg! All my decorations have melted into the cake!!! It doesn’t even look like a wet dog, it looks like it has old cobwebs stuck to its face."

I didn't know what that meant-how do decorations melt into a cake? It turns out that she had used pashmak to simulate Mochi's white fur and pashmak collapses quickly in humidity. I told her that pashmak needed to be applied just before serving it and she relaxed. I couldn't wait to see the cake.

She brought it over the next day and I was surprised at how well she had done! She had even managed to get Mochi's freckled pink nose. The cake was surprisingly good-it was yogurt, spinach and coconut with a lemon cream cheese icing. So sometimes cakes that you think will be disasters aren't disasters at all!

So tell me Dear Reader, which truffle would you like the best? And what do you think of the Mochi cake?

Boozy Chocolate Truffles 4 ways

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 30 minutes plus overnight hanging time

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Makes around 50 truffles

• 2 cups cake flour
• 1.5 cups brown sugar
• 8 tablespoons cocoa, sifted
• 2 teaspoons bicarb
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups water
• 3/4 cup oil
• 4 tablespoons vinegar
• 4 teaspoons vanilla
• 100g/3.5ozs. dark chocolate, finely chopped

Chocolate Ganache

• 200g/7ozs. dark chocolate
• 1/2 cup coconut cream

Step 1 - Grease and line the base and sides of a 20cm/8inch springform tin. Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Whisk the cake flour, brown sugar, cocoa, bicarb and salt together. In a jug whisk the water, oil, vinegar and vanilla and add to the flour mix, mixing until just combined. Add in the chocolate and pour into the tin and bake for 30-40 minutes or until the centre is done. You can make this cake a day or two ahead of time and freeze it or wrap it well.

Step 2 - Crumble the cake. Make the ganache by heating the coconut cream and pour it over the dark chocolate and stir to melt and then mix with the cake crumbles to form a pliable dough. Portion the cake dough into four.

For Gin & Rose Truffles

Take 1/5 of the total cake mixture and knead with 2-3 tablespoons gin (start with 2 tablespoons and then add another tablespoon if it needs it). Refrigerate for 1 hour and then roll into balls. Freeze the balls until firm. Then melt 200g/7ozs. chocolate with 1 teaspoon coconut oil and dip the balls in this (using two forks). Top with rose petals while still setting (they'll set quite quickly as the balls are frozen).

For Whisky Truffles

Take 1/5 of the total cake mixture and knead with 2-3 tablespoons whisky (start with 2 tablespoons and then add another tablespoon if it needs it). Refrigerate for 1 hour. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of cocoa on a large plate. Take a small handful of the mixture and roll into a small log. Cut into 2cm pieces and roll in cocoa powder.

For Rum & Raisin Truffles

Soak 1/5 cup of raisins in 3 tablespoons of rum for 30 minutes. Take 1/4 of the total cake mixture and knead with rum and raisins. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of chocolate hail onto a plate. Cut the truffle mix into squares and roll in the chocolate hail.

For Pedro Ximinez and Quince Truffles

Soak 1/5 cup of dried, chopped up quince or figs in 3 tablespoons of Pedro Ximinez for 30 minutes. Take 1/4 of the total cake mixture and knead with PX and fruit. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Cut into triangles. Melt 1/4 cup of chocolate and drizzle on top of the triangles and place a little square of dried fruit on the chocolate.

For Coffee Liqueur Truffles

Take 1/5 of the total cake mixture and knead with 2-3 tablespoons coffee liqueur eg Mr Black (start with 2 tablespoons and then add another tablespoon if it needs it). Refrigerate for 1 hour. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of cocoa on a large plate. Take a teaspoon of the mixture and roll into balls and roll in cocoa powder.