Chocolate-orange-fondant chocolates

I experimented a bit making chocolates at Christmas but I've been wondering for a while if there is a way to make a creamy chocolatey centre to a chocolate without using cream. My brother and his family are vegan so I was primarily thinking of something they could eat. On the plus side, if the chocolates do not have cream, they will probably keep for a lot longer. Here are the results of my experiment!

Chocolate-orange-fondant chocolates


90g good quality dark chocolate


For the filling:
60g good-quality dark chocolate (this adds up to one 250g bar so you can just go ahead and melt the whole thing, then use about a third of it for the filling)
Zest of half an orange
3 tsp Cointreau or Grand Marnier
1 tsp orange extract

Melt all of the chocolate (I'm a bit naughty and use the microwave instead of a bain-marie, but if you do, just be careful the chocolate doesn't overheat and burn and use a low setting). Pour about one third of the chocolate into a mould and as it sets, stand the mould upright for a few minutes, then on it's side and keep rotating to try and coat the walls of each chocolate cavity. This way, the filling should be encased in chocolate all the way round and is not tempted to escape out of the sides. (I got my mould from Lakeland, but they're probably available online.)

To make the filling, transfer another third of the melted chocolate to a separate bowl and add the filling ingredients. The chocolate "froze" (when it changes texture and sets) when I added the alcohol so make sure you add it gradually. Although, having said that, I quite liked the change in texture. To try to unfreeze it, I just heated it a bit more – gently – then added a teaspoon or two of water and stirred vigorously (although it will never really go back to how it was once this has happened).

Pop a blob of the filling inside each chocolate cavity and then fill with the remaining melted chocolate, taking care that it makes it's way round the sides of each blob of filling. Place in the fridge and turn out when set.

I added gold dust to the top of my chocolates (actually to the bottom of the mould, with a clean paintbrush), which is available in Waitrose. I also bought edible gold leaf to decorate my chocolates, which is made of - you'll never guess - gold! Who would have thought that pure gold is edible? It doesn't taste of anything though...