I had quite the honour to be invited to speak at yet another VegFest event last weekend. This time in Brighton, where it originated.

It’s a pretty good sign that your message needs to be heard when there are people sitting on window sills, standing up at the back and staying till the very end of the lecture even when the room is boiling. Needless to say I was humbled by the experience and grateful for all the connections afterwards too.

But that wasn’t even my favourite part! What was my fave is checking out all the stalls, learning about incredible conscious companies doing incredible conscious things and errr… eating!

So many delicious things to taste and buy, but the highlight for me was the most decadent, creamy, soft and buttery raw chocolate truffles from Cashew Catering.

I couldn’t possibly leave without quizzing the lovely CC people on what went into their tastiest truffles and amazingly, they shared their secrets with me! First thing I did once I got home was get cracking with my own version of the dreamy aftertaste and my GAWD!! Well you’ll just have to try this for yourself…

[Oh and if you’d rather buy these online, Cashew Catering can package them up and send them your way. Do it!]

THE IMPERFECTLY PERFECT RAW CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES

For the soft filling
1 + 1/2 Cup Coconut oil, gently melted
3/4 Cup Coconut palm sugar, powdered
3/4 Cup Cacao powder
15 Drops Butterscotch or Hazelnut medicine flower extract
Pinch Himalayan salt

For the chocolate coating
Basic raw chocolate recipe
Tea leaves or rose petals to garnish

1. Gently melt the coconut oil in a double boiler.
2. Add the palm sugar and the rest of the ingredients, stirring well.
3. Line a tupperware box (I used a 14 x 14 cm container) with cling film and pour in the truffle sauce.
4. Transfer to the fridge and let it set for 3 hours. If in a hurry- freeze for 30 minutes.
5. Peel off the film and chop up the hardened chocolate block into uneven chunks. Transfer back to the fridge/freezer while preparing the chocolate coating.
6. When your chocolate coating is melted and well stirred, place a truffle chunk onto a fork and while holding it over the bowl containing the liquid coating sauce, spoon some of it and pour over the chunk, making sure to cover all sides. Sprinkle rose petals while still wet.
7. Place each ready truffle on tin foil, so it is easy to peel off afterwards and transfer to the fridge to set for 15 minutes.
8. You can eat straight out of the fridge, but to get the full soft/ decadent/ creamy truffle experience- take them out of the fridge to soften for one hour, keeping at room temperature and out of lit areas.

If you wanted to do even more with your truffles, spoon some Coconut Manna onto each chunk, add a frozen raspberry, then coat with chocolate! Or better yet, come to our Raw in Chelsea SupperClub on April 10th to sample these for yourself...