As soon as you bite into one of these chocolate and orange truffles, a thin layer of chocolate will split open between your teeth, revealing a soft chocolate ganache with a deep lingering taste and oozing, sharp orange curd.
A box of these chocolate and orange truffles would make a nice gift for your loved ones. If you don’t munch them all in one day as I do.
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I came up with this recipe for chocolate and orange truffles a couple of months ago because:
- citrus season had just started
- the year-end celebration might have been behind us but I still felt like indulging a tiny bit more (and what is more indulgent than chocolate and orange truffles)
- my twin sister loves Cadbury Terry’s Chocolate Orange Ball but living in France she can only get her hands on some when she goes to the UK once a year to see a West End play with her friends or to see Julie Andrews talk about her life for a couple of hours, and wouldn’t it be nice for her to get her favorite chocolate combination all year long?

🌡️ Chilling
Don’t be put off by how long the chocolate and orange truffles take to make, the actual preparation takes 1h15, not 5 hours. But you have to put the chocolate and orange truffles in the freezer for 1 hour between each layering stage so the layers will get hard enough to add another layer on top without mixing and you won’t end up with a goopy mess. And during this time you can do whatever you want. This chocolate and orange truffles recipe is pretty forgiving and you could forget the truffles overnight in the freezer and finish the last coating stage the day after.
📋 Filling
Chocolate and orange truffles are pretty easy to do as they are just pieces of cold ganache covered in a layer of melted chocolate. To make the ganache you just need to pour hot cream on chocolate pieces and stir. Then pour the ganache into a mold and pop it in the freezer. Once the ganache has hardened, spread curd on the ganache. Place in the freezer for another hour and then cover the curd with another layer of ganache. Freeze for 2h or overnight.
Afterward, cut the chocolate and orange truffles into rectangles and dip them into melted chocolate. As the chocolate cools down and hardens, a thin layer of chocolate will cover your truffles. And when you bite into your truffle the chocolate layer will break into a dozen pieces in your mouth while the curd oozes out and blends with the chocolate ganache. You don’t need any special skill for this chocolate and orange truffles recipe, just patience, a freezer and an understanding of bain-marie (double-boiler) for the orange curd.

🍊 Orange curd
I used Cupcake Jemma’s lemon curd recipe as a basis for my orange curd, tweaking it a bit to make it orange-y. I would advise you to go check her video if you have never made curd before and you need a confidence boost. It’s crucial that you cook your curd bain-marie style, meaning in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Be careful as the water should not touch the bottom of your bowl. This is to make sure that the eggs in the curd will cook through on a very low heat and your curd won’t curdle. If the heat is too high your curd will definitely curdle and you will end up with orange scrambled eggs.
Don’t worry it IS really easy, you just need to dedicate 15 minutes of your life to whisking over a stove. You could also forget about making your own curd and use a store-bought one if curds are actually a thing in your country and are available. This curd recipe makes more than what is needed to make these chocolate and orange truffles. You could drizzle the leftover curd on some fluffy pancakes with fresh berries or spread it on scones and toasts as the British do. You could also freeze the leftover curd for up to 1 year (thaw overnight in the refrigerator before using).


Chocolate and orange truffles
- Prep Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- freezing: 4 hours
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 5 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 20 truffles 1x
- Category: Confections
- Method: Stove
- Cuisine: French
Description
These chocolate and orange truffles are unforgettable! A thin chocolate layer covers a soft chocolate ganache and oozing orange curd.
Ingredients
For the orange curd:
- 5 egg yolks
- 2 whole eggs
- 110g granulated sugar (½ cup)
- zest of 1 orange
- 100ml orange juice (about 2 oranges) (7 tbsp)
- 2 tbsp orange blossom water (optional)
- 60g cold unsalted butter, chopped (½ stick)
For the chocolate truffles:
- 125g heavy cream (½ cup)
- 2 tbsp of water
- 20g granulated sugar (2 leveled tbsp)
- 350g baking chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used 70% cocoa but a lower percentage would also work) (12 oz)
- 20g butter, cubed (1 heaped tbsp)
- 100g unsweetened cocoa powder (1 cup)
Instructions
For the orange curd:
- Set up the bain marie. Set a saucepan filled with 5 cm (2 in) of water over low heat and let it simmer. In a large heatproof bowl combine the eggs and egg yolks, sugar, zest, orange juice, and orange blossom (if using). Put the heatproof bowl on top of the saucepan and make sure that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water.
- Cook the curd. Keep it on a low simmer and whisk until the curd thickens, about 15 min. Do not let it boil! If the temperature is too high you will end up with orangey scrambled eggs, so be patient. If the texture of your curd did not change after 10 minutes of stirring, you could crank up the heat a bit for the last 5 minutes. To make sure it’s ready, coat the back of a wooden spoon with the curd and trace a line across the back of the spoon with your fingertip. If the line remains visible, the curd is thick enough.
- Add in the butter. Remove the bowl from the stove, dry the bottom of the bowl with paper towels and add in the cold butter. Stir until all the butter pieces are melted. If your curd is lumpy, pass it through a fine-mesh sieve into another bowl first. If not, directly pour it into a jar and store it in the fridge while you continue with the truffles.
For the chocolate truffles:
- Prepare the pan. Line an 18*13cm pan (7*5 inch) with 2 overlapping strips of plastic wrap that are wide and long enough to cover the bottom and sides of the pan with 10cm of overhang on each side.
- Make the ganache. In a small saucepan combine the cream, water and sugar and bring to a boil. Put 150g (5 oz) of the chopped chocolate into a medium-sized bowl. Pour the hot liquid over the chocolate then stir until everything is melted. Add the butter and stir again.
- Layer up. Pour half of this melted chocolate preparation into the prepared pan, cover it with the overhanging plastic wrap and place it in the freezer for 1 hour. After 1 hour touch the chocolate layer and if your finger didn’t sink in a pool of melted chocolate, evenly spread 8 tbsp of chilled orange curd on it. Pop it in the freezer for another hour. Check again if the preparation is hard enough and pour over the second half of the melted chocolate. If the melted chocolate hardened and is not spreadable anymore, rewarm it gently by putting the bowl on top of a saucepan filled with 5cm of simmering water. Make sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Pull the overhanging plastic wrap on top of the truffles to cover them and put the pan in the freezer for 2 hours or overnight.
- Cut the truffles. Take the truffles out of the pan and cut them into small rectangles. Don’t worry too much about cutting them into identical shapes because they will all end up looking a little different after having been covered in melted chocolate. The curd will ooze out a bit and if the three layers don’t stick together, don’t worry about it.
- Cover them in melted chocolate and then cocoa powder. Melt the remaining 200g (7 oz) of chopped chocolate in a heat-proof bowl placed on top of a simmering pan of water. Pour the melted chocolate into a narrow bowl. Put the cocoa powder on a plate. Drop a truffle into the melted chocolate bowl and move it around to fully coat it. I use a tablespoon. Then drop the truffle off onto the plate with the cocoa powder and move it around until it is fully coated. It will be messy and your hands will soon be covered in chocolate so wear an apron! Repeat with the other truffles and place the truffles on a serving platter or into an airtight container. Put in the fridge until serving time.
Notes
Store in a plastic container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 170
Keywords: christmas baking recipes, orange curd recipe, chocolate gifts christmas
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