Now, I’d never suggest that the amazingly talented and experienced bakers who visit this site ever put a foot wrong. But when I was baking cakes every day, there were times when things didn’t turn out quite right. Perhaps it was a new assistant in the kitchen, or a recipe that needed several attempts to perfect. But whatever the cause, when I found myself left with something I couldn’t proudly put on sale, I was also faced with the glum feeling that all those good ingredients were going to waste. Until one day, my ever-resourceful mother asked me why I wasn’t making rum truffles. Not those dainty little confections of chocolate ganache, dusted with cocoa powder or in an almost non-existent crisp chocolate coat, but the big, stick-to-your-ribs balls of cake crumbs, glued together with jam, cocoa and dark rum, and rolled in chocolate vermicelli. The sort of thing your English grandma might have tucked into, when the Vicar came to afternoon tea.
So if you’re faced with a cake that sank in the middle, take my mother’s advice, and turn it into something else.
800-825g chocolate, vanilla or ‘plain’ cake
170g caster sugar
70g cocoa
270g smooth apricot jam
125ml dark rum (or more to taste)
150-180g dark chocolate vermicelli
Chop the cake into pieces and run them through a food processor, until you have a fairly fine crumb – this way, even a slightly overbaked cake can be recycled and you don’t need to waste anything. If you don’t have a food processor, crumble the cake finely between your fingers and discard any recalcitrant lumps.
Combine the cake crumbs, sugar and cocoa in a large mixing bowl. Add the jam (sieved if necessary to remove any large pieces of fruit) and rum, then mix everything together, to a uniform but still slightly sticky paste. Divide into 75g portions, and roll them between your hands into balls. While still warm and soft from your touch, roll each ball in chocolate vermicelli, in a small bowl. Place into paper cases and chill until required. If possible, leave out of the fridge for 20 minutes to warm up slightly before serving.
