MyChocolate: a lesson in truffles

Growing up, I always loved chocolate. From those little treat sized bars my mum used to pick me up from school with, the classic Terry's chocolate oranges at Christmas, right up to my nine-a-day Creme Egg habit in Sixth Form (yes, seriously, that many). As a slightly more mature adult, I've discovered a love for the deep dark chocolate that's so rich and bitter you can only manage a couple of squares at a go, rather than the entire bar, especially when it's spiked with salt or ginger or something equally as tasty.

So when I was invited to attend a MyChocolate workshop, I jumped at the chance. MyChocolate's the brainchild of Hannah Saxton, a chocolatier who combined her love of chocolate (my kind of girl) with the last of her student loan and began hosting chocolate making parties in her little London flat. Eight years later, she employs a team of 20 and has three kitchens in Farringdon that play host to corporate events, hen parties, and birthday workshops.

Our night was to be spent truffle-making. With a glass of prosecco each, aprons firmly tied and a whole table of ingredients to try and not be distracted with, it was time to begin. Our first task was a taste-test. We had to try two seemingly similar pieces of dark chocolate and work out which was the high quality stuff and which was the less so. We all correctly identified which was which, and our chocolatier Sophie explained why.

Good quality chocolate depends on the amount/percentage of cocoa solid and/or cocoa butter it contains. And good dark chocolate should melt in the mouth (at body temperature) with a rich, bitter taste. Waxy, flavourless chocolate? Blame Hershey's. During the second World War, the US Army needed chocolate that would last in their GIs ration packs and that wouldn't melt too soon (particularly in the tropics), so Hershey's substituted the expensive cocoa solid for cheaper vegetable/palm oil and a terrible habit was born.

It was easy to identify the good from the bad, and as we tried the rest on the table, Sophie asked us if we could identify any of the flavours and origins of the chocolate. The caramel/butterscotch flavours originated from Ghana, while the aniseed tastes come from Tanzania. The closer to the coast, the creamier the cocoa will be and in Jamaica, the cocoa has a slightly pineapple-y taste. (I came away with a goody bag and was very pleased to find samples of all these inside to eat greedily later.)

Then, we got to truffle-making. Sophie talked us through making a quick chocolate ganache (heat double cream to scorching point, then just before boiling take it off the heat and add chopped chocolate, stirring quickly). You're then left with silky, creamy chocolate that's practically impossible to resist. (You can add flavoured oils and alcohol in at this point if you choose for that extra bite).

Sophie then showed us how to get things done. Mix two parts chocolate to one part cream and stir vigorously to get a thick chocolatey paste. Spoon it into a piping bag, warm up the mixture with your hands, cut a nozzle the size of a 5p piece (you don't have to worry about finding a proper piping nozzle) and you're ready to go. It doesn't really matter on the shape of what you pipe as you'll be rolling the truffles by hand soon anyway, but try to make them a uniform size.

Then comes to messy (but fun) part. Roll your truffles with a little cocoa powder before simply dropping them into your gorgeous vat of chocolate. Coat them a little and then, using your dipping fork, scoop out, knock off any excess chocolate and leave them to set on your paper before decorating however you like. Chopped hazelnuts? Of course! Freeze dried raspberries? Hell yes. Milk chocolate expertly drizzled using the other end of the dipping fork? Why not? Go mad. If a little manic.

As you can see, I'm not about to make a grand chocolatier just yet but it was great fun trying. And the proof of the pudding is in the eating, of course, which I eagerly did as soon as I got home. Deeply rich and slightly bitter dark chocolate with a milk chocolate casing, these truffles were divine and making them really is simple. Having previously made no bake cheesecake truffles, I'm pretty pleased that these slightly trickier truffles turned out so well.

I'd thoroughly recommend MyChocolate whether for a corporate event or even a hen-do, their friendly hands-on workshops are a great way of getting stuck in - and having something to eat at the end of it. They've recently branched out into cocktails and cupcakes, and can now bring the chocolate to you wherever you are in the UK. Excellent.

Time Travellers Ball

A couple of weeks ago, J emailed me telling me that Yelp were putting on a free food and drink event at the Marriott Hotel in Grosvenor Square. He told me to RSVP sharpish, put it in my calendar and keep myself busy until the night came around.

Thursday came and after a very productive day at work (winning three jobs that day) we headed out for some half price cocktails at Barrio Central. A few 'Papa Don't Preach'es, some nachos and calamari later, J and I left my work pals and headed over to the venue.

I'd only heard of a few of the places that had set up shop inside The Time Travellers Ball (no relation to Doctor Who or Audrey Niffenegger) so we made a great effort (read: several circuits of the room sampling everything we could) to get to know what was on offer. I came away laden with business cards and promises of more treats but have summarised my favourites below.

Harry Brompton's Alcoholic Iced Tea

My favourite first, this brand has well and truly won me over. I'm not an iced tea fan at all but couldn't resist giving this alcoholic (4%) version a go. Sweet but nowhere near the saccharine sugariness of Lipton, it combines Kenyan tea, with citrus and grain spirit to produce this refreshing and very moreish little drink. Served in sturdy glass bottles and versatile enough to be used in some great sounding cocktails, this is definitely a firm favourite that I'll keeping my eye out for. Founder Ian's a great guy too.

Rococo

With some of the finest packaging around, Rococo is one of London's favourite chocolatiers. Ethically sourced, their chocolate is utterly melt in the mouth and full of flavour - the only downside? Their three London stores are all achingly the other side of London but at least they're stocked all over. On offer at the Ball were nibs of their rose and violet chocolate (their creams are the best), 'potato pralines' - nutty chocolate encased in a hard sugar shell - and quails eggs, and even bits of their bars. I practically had to drag myself away from this stall because after all, chocolate is a girl's one true love.

Bea's of Bloomsbury

The ever-popular cupcake trend looks to be sticking around for a while if these badboys from Bea's in Bloomsbury are anything to go by. Quaint little cakes topped with the naughtiest of niceties, I had to resist stuffing one of every flavour in my bag. With flavours like Key Lime, Chocolate Peanut Butter and Rum Truffle Bea's caters to adult tastes as well as your childish craving for chocolate fudge. Apparently they also have cafes, can make cakes to order and rustle up a great afternoon tea. These guys will definitely be giving Hummingbird and Lola's a run for their money.

Roti Chai
Formerly a street kitchen and now a dining room, Roti Chai was brimming with activity. They were serving up two of their 'rail and road' dishes - pulusu chicken with steamed rice, and shahi veg pulao which were going down an absolute storm. But what really got me going was their alcoholic mango chai drink that was spiced with cardamom for this really aromatic little refresher. Serving up roadside realness, these guys and their flavours really impressed me.

Brewdog

And last but not least, one of the most well-known craft beers in London's bars. Set up in 2007, these guys have been paving the way for small breweries. Their free bottles of delicious Californian Pale Ale went in a blink but not before we'd managed to come away with a couple of glasses of the delicious nectar. The guys and girls working the stall were really friendly and knowledgeable, happy to chat and wax lyrical about their boozy beers. As I left they thrust the Brewdog Beer School in my hand. The opening pages? 'This is no boring manual. Welcome to our punk rock guide to brewing hardcore craft beers. The beer scene is sick, and we are the f**king Doctor'. Quite.

The room was full of new and known brands - we definitely paid a few visits to the Jameson stall, for example - so it was a great way of discovering some new places in town. Halfway through the night I realised that my friend Tim was the PR hosting the event so we ended up all heading next door to The Barley Mow next door, and dancing the night away at a club unknown until the early hours. Now that's what I call discovery.

Cadbury Creme Egg Brownies

Now this is something that's been doing the rounds all morning, and both my housemate and my Dad separately posted links to this on my Facebook. I'm on a real healthy kick at the moment, but given that it's Easter weekend in less than 10 days, and I've been very good (and only eaten 48 Creme Eggs so far this year. Yes, I've counted.), I'm very tempted to make these incredible looking brownies.

You'll need

• 185g unsalted butter 
• 185g dark chocolate (get as best quality as you can!)
• 85g plain flour 
• 40g cocoa powder 
• 3 large eggs 
• 275g golden caster sugar
• 6 Cadbury’s creme eggs cut in half

How to

• Preheat the oven to 160C and grease a 20cm square baking tin. 
• Melt the butter and dark chocolate together either in the microwave or in a glass bowl over boiling water. Once melted, take off the heat to let it cool.
• Break 3 large eggs into a large bowl and tip in the sugar. Whisk the eggs and sugar together until they look thick and creamy, like a milkshake - if you've got one, use an electric mixer. The mixture will become really pale and about double its original volume.
• Pour the cooled chocolate mixture over the egg and sugar mixture, and then gently fold together.
• Sift the cocoa powder and flour into the egg, sugar and chocolate and gently fold in to the mixture.
• Pour it into the baking tin and cook for 15 minutes. Then take the tin out of the oven and gently press the creme egg halves into the mix, spacing them apart evenly. Put back in the oven for another 5-10 minutes.
• Leave to cool before removing the brownies from the tin and cutting into squares.