Coffee Truffles
These Coffee Truffles have a classic truffle center made with chocolate and cream plus espresso powder and coffee liqueur for a decadent chocolate and coffee truffle. Their creamy mouthfeel is perfect whether you’re making holiday truffles or for your bae on Valentine’s Day.
So read on for all the tips and tricks to making coffee liqueur truffle centers and how to coat your coffee chocolate truffles with coffee or cocoa powder. Or just grab your coffee liqueur, hit that Jump to Recipe button, and let’s make this coffee truffle recipe!
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Ingredients
Chocolate truffles are made with a chocolate ganache filling that’s a 2 to 1 ratio of melted chocolate and heavy cream. Knowing how to make chocolate ganache is super useful because, if you increase the amount of cream, your chocolate ganache can make a thick chocolate ganache icing or increase it even more for chocolate sauce. You can also make a Nutella ganache using everyone’s favorite chocolate hazelnut spread.
These coffee chocolate truffles are all about the chocolate, so use the best chocolate and cocoa you can afford. I always recommend Ghirardelli or Scharffen Berger.
Coffee flavor in these coffee truffles comes from instant espresso powder and coffee liqueur. I use instant espresso all the time in making a tiramisu cake or Biscoff tiramisu, a coffee and walnut loaf cake, my coffee cookies, or even my sweet brown bread, which has coffee or cocoa to give it color. Coffee and chocolate are great together, because coffee increases the chocolate intensity in these coffee truffles like it does in my caramel espresso brownies and my triple layer chocolate fudge cake.
For the coffee liqueur, Kahlua is the classic example, but I’d recommend you try Mr. Black coffee liqueur. It’s the best coffee liqueur for an espresso martini!
Corn syrup in these chocolate and coffee truffles prevents sugar crystal formation, giving you the creamiest and smoothest ganache center. But it isn’t essential if you’d prefer to skip it.
Please see the recipe card below for complete information on ingredients and quantities.
Variations and substitutions
- Sub vanilla for the coffee liqueur
Recipe tips and tricks
How to make coffee ganache
To make the ganache centers for these coffee truffles, chop your chocolate so it melts relatively evenly. Put it in a double boiler or heat-proof bowl.
Add the cream and heat the bowl over a small pot filled with an inch of water on low heat until the chocolate starts to melt (Panel #1). Remove the bowl of chocolate and cream and stir them together (Panel #2).
Add the corn syrup, butter cubes, coffee liqueur, cocoa, espresso powder, and pinch of salt (Panel #3). Stir until smooth (Panel #4).
At this point, you can either chill the ganache in the bowl for a couple of hours to scoop and form balls with your hands. This will give the classic appearance of your chocolate coffee truffles.
Or you can pour it into silicone molds like the one below. I find that so much easier. And much much cleaner.
Let cool at room temperature or in the fridge.
How to coat coffee truffles in cocoa
Once you’ve cooled and shaped, you’ll coat the coffee ganache centers. After sampling one or two, of course.
Covering them with cocoa is classic and easy. Gently drop the ganache centers into a bowl with cocoa or a mixture of cocoa and sugar, toss them, and shake off any excess.
Coating with candy melts
Ghirardelli makes chocolate melting wafers that are an alternative when you want chocolate coated truffles without the hassle of tempered chocolate. I’ve used chocolate wafers to cover both these coffee truffles and my chocolate peppermint spritz cookies when I wasn’t feeling like being fussy.
Note that the first ingredient of those chocolate wafers is sugar, not chocolate. So they won’t add a rich dark chocolate flavor, but they’re definitely easier.
Coating in chocolate
If you have the patience, dip the coffee ganache centers into tempered chocolate. Using tempered chocolate takes practice and time, but then you can store your coffee truffles at room temperature.
I’m no expert at tempering. If you’re interested in learning how, read this resource from King Arthur Baking or this one from Epicurious.
Recipe FAQs
Chocolate truffles were named because of their resemblance to the other truffle, which is a fungus found among the roots of certain trees.
Truffles have chocolate ganache centers, often rolled in cocoa or dipped in nuts. Bonbons like my chocolate peanut butter bonbons are chocolate-encased and can include any sort of center. So I think truffles are a subset in the Venn diagram of bonbons!
If you’ve coated your truffles in tempered chocolate, they can be kept at room temperature. Otherwise, chocolate truffles should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to a few weeks. I doubt they’ll last that long!
Related recipes
Check out other Ugly Duckling Bakery candy and sweet treats like:
Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-heart 💜💜💜💜💜 rating in the recipe card below. Let me know how much you loved it, or any problems you had, in the comments section further down.
Recipe
Easy Coffee Truffles
Equipment
- silicone candy molds optional
Ingredients
Coffee ganache centers
- 8 ounces (227 grams) bittersweet chocolate chopped
- ½ cup (120 milliliters) heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
- 1 tablespoon (14 grams) unsalted butter softened and cut into a few cubes
- 1 tablespoon Kahlua or other coffee liqueur
- ¼ cup (20 grams) unsweetened cocoa
- 1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
- pinch salt
Cocoa coating
- ¼ cup cocoa
- ¼ cup confectioners' sugar
Instructions
Coffee ganache centers
- Add the chopped chocolate and cream to a double bowl insert or metal bowl set over a pot with about an inch of water. The water should not touch the bottom of the bowl. Heat the water on low and stir intermittently until the chocolate has melted completely.8 ounces (227 grams) bittersweet chocolate, ½ cup (120 milliliters) heavy cream
- Remove the insert or bowl from the pot and set it on a dry kitchen towel. Add the corn syrup, cubed butter, and coffee liqueur and stir gently to mix.2 tablespoons light corn syrup, 1 tablespoon (14 grams) unsalted butter, 1 tablespoon Kahlua or other coffee liqueur
- Add the cocoa, espresso powder, and salt and stir.¼ cup (20 grams) unsweetened cocoa, 1 tablespoon instant espresso powder, pinch salt
- If using molds, pour or spoon the ganache into the molds. Otherwise put the bowl directly into the refrigerator or chill at room temperature for at least two hours.
Cocoa coating
- Combine the cocoa and confectioners' sugar into a small bowl.¼ cup cocoa, ¼ cup confectioners' sugar
- If using molds, release the ganache centers from the molds into the bowl containing the cocoa mixture.
- If forming truffles by hand, use a small cookie scoop (#70) to scoop one tablespoon of ganache. Then roll it in your hands to form a rough ball and drop it into the cocoa mixture.
- Use a fork or candy dipping scoop to remove the truffles from the cocoa, shake off the excess cocoa, and transfer to a storage container.
- Cocoa-coated truffles should be stored in the refrigerator.
Notes
Nutrition
These coffee truffles were first created for Week 45 (Fairy Tale, Novel, or TV Show) of the 2021 reddit 52 weeks of baking challenge. I’m betting the secret ingredient in Miracle Max’s Miracle Pill from the Princess Bride was coffee. What else could wake up someone who is mostly dead?
Bored with the recipes you’ve been cooking and baking lately? Get inspiration here:
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