CHOCOLATE RUM BALLS

Author: Rekha Gupta

I think some of the best recipes come out of some ‘not so good,’ almost failed bakes 😄😎 For eg. brownies may have been born’ed when someone missed adding baking powder in their cake😁😝 . Rum balls, although , I don’t know the origin I strongly suspect has a similar history. Traditionally people used crushed cookies or wafers to make these, but more recently crushed cakes have been in vogue 😝 But jokes apart baking is a deep infinite world and with so many ingredients, one can go crazy experimenting or building up on recipes, whether out of some failed recipes or out of an ingenious mind ,we will never know and who cares,.just go ahead and enjoy the treat. C@Rg

USP: Healthy and tasty so no shortcuts here, we will go for crushed Cake–

Ingredients : Servings : 20-24 medium sized balls

1 – 9′ inch chocolate sponge cake

1/2 cup buttercream

4 tsp old monk rum

Melted chocolate : 250gms to 400gms

Ingredients & Steps for Chocolate Cake

1.25 Cups of APF (maida) Seived 3 times –

1/2 Cup Cocoa Powder

2tsp Baking powder

1 Cup Castor sugar

3 eggs

1/2 cup oil or butter or better still PURE Ghee 😁

1 Cup hot water

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp coffee powder

Mix Cocoa powder in the hot water and keep aside to cool

Whisk the oil with sugar very well till creamy. Now add Eggs and vanilla and whisk for long till fluffy. Now add the cooled down coca water mix along with the dry ingredients . Pour in your greased round/square baking tin. Bake in a preheated oven for 30minutes at 160. Please use the skewer test to make sure the cake is cooked. Take out of the oven and allow it to cool for 2 hours. C@rg

Ingredients and Steps for Buttercream

1 Cup butter and 2 tbsp shortening.

4tbsp custard powder

1.5 cups icing sugar

1tsp vanilla extract.

Mix all and whisk for 10-15 minutes till you get a creamy, actually light like texture. Refrigerate overnight. This will make appx. 3 cups of Buttercream. You will need only 1/2 cup for Rum balls. (Enjoy the rest as frosting on cake, the next time you bake something. It can be stored in a steel airtight box for upto 3 months in fridge)

Assembly of RUM BALLS

Its going to break your heart, but In a bowl, please break that cakes into pieces and crumble it with your hands to remove any cake like texture. Once softened, depending on the moisture add the buttercream and make a paste like dough. Add the Rum . Now make 1.5 inch appx sized balls. You could use a TBSP to measure, as it is always good to have equal sized balls rather than different sizes. Keep them in the fridge for about half hour.C@Rg

Meanwhile you could melt your chocolate over a double boiler.( Milk or dark, its your choice, I prefer a 50-50 mix of both).

Using a spoon dip each rum ball in the melted chocolate and keep on a tray. (I have mentioned 400gms as you need more liquid for a proper coverage, but the entire thing will not be used. You could use the left over chocolate to make garnishes/swirls, anything!! or store in the fridge)

Remember, as you finish dipping about 10 balls, you may wanna shift these dipped balls onto a new plate , so that they don’t get those “feet”. ( Sometimes you still get those 😛, but then you will have to live with it. If you see the pic below, I managed to get the centre one without feet. 😆 ). and now continue dipping the remaining balls. Once all done. Keep in the fridge. c@rg

After about 15 minutes you could drizzle with more chocolate and a different colour or garnish with some sprinkles or nuts.

For people who do not want alcohol, well you can omit the rum, zimple, and maybe add a few tsp’s of orange juice instead!!

I know this has a tad too many steps but it certainly will be the show stopper on your dessert table.😋

Like always I’ll offer bhog to bhagwanji 🙏,(but the ones without rum 😄)

Author: Rekha Gupta