Chocolate & Roses Truffle Cakes/Like (Rose) Water for Chocolate
If you love a great story as much as great food, and you haven’t yet read Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate — get yourself a copy here! It’s written in the genre of Magical Realism-which puts into question reality while presenting magic and fantasy as normal. The main character,Tita, has strong emotions for the man she is in love with, but circumstances prevent them from being together. Cooking becomes the only way she can express her feelings, and her emotions become infused into her cooking, unintentionally affecting the people around her when they eat her food. This doesn’t seem so strange to me, as I truly am a believer that food tastes better when it is made with love–and I’ve seen poor results in my cooking when no love has been added.
This flavor combination might seem strange, but the rose combined with the bitterness of the chocolate is a great match. I use orange blossom water or rose water in many things: a splash in my water combined with lemons or berries, in ice creams, jams, and cannoli. I love that it gives my desserts a little hint of exoticism. One bite of rose-flavored Turkish Delight sends me straight into a souq or bazaar. Edmund Pevensie sells out his three siblings to the witch in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe for Turkish Delight which happens to be his favorite sweet and greatest weakness. I remember reading that book as a child and desperately wanting to try it. Once I got the opportunity to bite into one, I began a life-long love of anything with rose or orange blossom.
The addition of a little sprinkle of pink peppercorn turns the heat up just a smidge. Pink peppercorns are not actually a peppercorn at all but rather the dried berry of the Brazilian pepper plant. They look like a peppercorn and have a little bit of spice but also have a bit of fruity sweetness–almost like a fruit roll-up. Peppercorn also pairs very well with chocolate, but isn’t required for this recipe if you don’t have it. If you happen to have a tree nut allergy, I would probably skip that it as well since pink peppercorn is part of the cashew family. If you choose to leave them out, perhaps you could use candied rose petals or edible flowers to give them color and/or drizzle with melted chocolate. And don’t forget to make this with lots of love. Hopefully it will be felt by those who eat it.
Chocolate and Roses Truffle Cakes
Ingredients
- 5 tbs unsalted butter, plus more for muffin tin
- 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 14 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 tsp rose water
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp pink peppercorns, crushed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Generously butter a standard 6-cup muffin tin. Dust with flour, tapping out excess, set aside.
- Put chocolate, butter, and 1 tbsp sugar in a medium heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water; whisk occasionally until smooth. Remove from heat, and let stand until cool and thickened 3 to 5 minutes. Process eggs and remaining tablespoon sugar in a food processor until pale and doubled in volume, about 2 minutes. Sift flour and salt into egg mixture; pulse to combine. Add chocolate mixture 1/4 cup at a time; pulse each addition until combined, about 10 times. (batter will be thick). Add rose water and pulse again until incorporated.
- Spoon mixture into the prepared muffin tin, filling cups three-quarters full; swirl tops with back of spoon to smooth. Bake until tops are spring to the touch 18-20 minutes. Immediately turn out onto wire racks, re-invert, and let cool. Grind peppercorns, if using, with a mortar and pestle or with the back of a spoon. Sprinkle peppercorns on cakes. Serve at room temperature–they will get pleasingly chewy when they cool and the rose flavor will come through.