This is mostly a Donna Hay recipe from the December 2013 Donna Hay Magazine, but I adapted it
because I didn’t want my truffles to have alcohol in them. If you do want them to have alcohol in them,
simply substitute the cream cheese for ½ a cup of coconut flavoured
liqueur. These truffles were a huge
success and they look beautiful too.
Great for a party, baby shower, afternoon tea, after dinner treat or
just have them handy for when people pop by!
I found that the trickiest part of this recipe was coating the truffles in the chocolate so
hopefully the detailed description I have included will help you with this!
What you need
150g unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup (165g) caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1¼ cups (185g) self-raising flour, sifted
¼ cup cocoa, sifted
½ cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons red food colouring
¼ cup (20g) desiccated coconut
225g cream cheese
300g white chocolate, chopped
3 teaspoons vegetable oil
2 cups shredded coconut
How to make them
Preheat oven to 160°C (325°F). Place the butter, sugar and vanilla in the
bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 8-10 minutes or until pale and
creamy. Scrape down the sides of the
bowl to ensure all the mixture is combined. Add the eggs one at a time, beating
well after each addition.
Spoon the mixture into a lightly greased, lined cake tin. I used a 26cm round tin but, if you have one,
you can use a 20cm x 30cm tin. Smooth
the top of the cake with a palette knife. 
Bake for 40 – 45 minutes if until cooked when tested with a skewer. Remove cake from oven and allow to cool in
tin for 10 minutes before turning it out onto a cooling rack to cool
completely.
Place the balls on a lined baking try and put in
the fridge for at least 30 minutes until they are set.
When the balls are set, prepare your chocolate. Place the chocolate and oil in a heatproof bowl
over a saucepan of simmering water. Make
sure the water is not touching the bottom of the bowl. Stir until smooth.
This is the tricky part… I started coating the truffles by trying to
use two forks to dip and coat the truffles, I then tried spoons… In the end I
decided that sticking a skewer into the truffle and then coating it chocolate was
easier.
Roll the chocolate-coated truffle in the shredded
coconut while it is still on the skewer and then carefully remove the skewer,
placing the truffle on a lined baking tray.
When all the truffles are coated and covered in
coconut, place them in the fridge to set completely (at least for an hour,
overnight is good too).
Serve and enjoy!
Tip: Be
careful when heating the chocolate that you don’t overheat it. If you do, the chocolate will begin to become
lumpy and once this has happened, you really need to start again. For this reason, it is always good to have a
spare quantity of chocolate at hand in case!
