Simple raspberry chocolates

I love making use of left-overs and these chocolates hit the spot perfectly!

raspberry filled chocolates

Quick to make, this batch used the remains of some raspberry buttercream and some chocolate from a recent cake I had made (below).

raspberry & dark chocolate cake

Filling and my favourite buttercream recipe

I would normally make a ganache for filling chocolates (or use fruit curd, salted caramel sauce etc….), but here the buttercream is packed with raspberry, giving a lovely sweet-sharp filling that melts as you bite into each chocolate.

While I adore meringue-based buttercreams, I often favour the simplicity and speed of just beating soft butter and icing sugar.

The buttercream I often use is:

• 1 part soft unsalted butter to 1 part icing sugar

equal parts of butter and icing sugar gives a much creamier buttercream than the customary 1 part butter to 2 parts icing sugar

• • I then beat in add a little cooled melted white chocolate and enough raspberry purée to give a sharp raspberry tang. I tend to go for about half as much as the butter for both purée and chocolate, so if I used 100g butter I use around 50g chocolate and 50g purée. However, this is merely a guide.

• I whisk the buttercream for about 10 minutes in a mixer so that the icing sugar has the chance to dissolve fully, giving a luscious, almost mousse-like texture.

smoked sea-salted caramel chocolates

Top tips for flavouring buttercreams and avoiding them splitting

To get a real fruity punch into buttercreams, add fruit purée, freshly squeezed fruit juice or alcohol of choice, beating them in a little at a time until you get the level of flavour you want. It is best to add a bit at a time until you get the level of flavour you like. As a loose guide, go up to about half the weight of butter used.

If the buttercream starts to split (and this can happen if too much liquid is added too quickly) don’t worry: simply beat in cooled melted chocolate, and it will come back together perfectly. I tend to use white chocolate in fruit buttercreams, but any will work. About 50g chocolate per 100g butter used will do the trick.

Chocolate & moulds

You can use normal melted chocolate for ease rather than tempered chocolate: it doesn’t quite have the crisp finish that tempered chocolate has, but it tastes good. My tips on tempering chocolate are in my main cake making & decorating post here.

Silicone chocolate moulds are ideal here: simply spoon a little of the chocolate into each mould, rotate to coat the interior, perhaps rotating a few times so there is enough thickness. Leave to set at room temperature and then pipe or spoon the filling into each. You then pour over more melted chocolate, run a palette knife over the top and leave to set fully at cool room temperature ideally.

Storage

You can pop the chocolates into a fridge to set and to store. If you do, put them in a container covered with baking parchment and a clean, dry tea towel to stop any chance of condensation: the moisture can cause the chocolate to bloom (white streaks over the surface), but blooming does not affect the flavour.

The chocolates remove easily from the moulds. You can eat them as they are or drizzle over more chocolate!

raspberry filled chocolates

Author: Philip

Finalist on Britain’s Best Home Cook (BBC Television 2018). Published recipe writer with a love of growing fruit & veg, cooking, teaching and eating good food. View all posts by Philip