My favorite South African diner, The Meat Co, held a ‘Pink Truffle Making Class‘ last night at their Souk Al Bahar branch.

Hosted by the very lovely Chef Melanie Smith who holds the designation of Global Pastry Chef for the Food Fund International group of restaurants, the event was predominated by click-happy chocaholic bloggers who couldn’t wait to get their hands dirty and morph into truffle-making geniuses!

When we arrived at the table, our seating was predesignated with customized aprons.

I was so stoked to get an apron with my name on it, that too an apron from The Meat Co!

The table was laid out with pretty truffle-making ingredients. We got three bowls of pre-made ganaches, and an assortment of sprinkles.

The white mixture is a white-chocolate and orange ganache. The pink is a white-chocolate and peppermint ganache. The brown is salted caramel.

We got heart-shaped sprinkles, pink-colored sugar and a crumble of chocolate cookies.

With disposable gloves on, we had a great time rolling out the ganache into little truffle balls and letting our imagination loose with the sprinkle decor.

Here’s my messy work bench:

When boxed up in The Meat Co’s boxes, even my creations look pretty professional!

You too can create drool-worthy truffles at home. Chef Mel shared some great truffle-making pearls of wisdom:

• You can make ganache in the microwave! Just heat the liquid portion, and add the chocolate once its out of the microwave. Let it all melt in and stir.
• If its too liquid, put it in the fridge to harden.
• Rule of thumb: 3 parts liquid to 1 part chocolate (for white and milk chocolate). For dark chocolate, its 2 to 1.
• Let your imagination loose! Use liquors, melted peppermint lollies, crumbs of Christmas cake.
• When using salt with chocolate, always opt for pink salt.
• Get the whole family involved! Kids love creating.
• A box of home-made truffles makes for a lovely, personalized gift.
• Bonus Beauty Tip: rolling truffles with your bare hands is great for the skin! Chef Mel vouches that all that hydrating cocoa butter can make your paws look 25 years younger 🙂

Why pink? For Breast Cancer Awareness ofcourse.

For the month of October, The Meat Co has come up with some lovely pink-themed desserts, and 80% of each sale goes to breast cancer research. So far the restaurant has managed to donate a whopping AED 30,000. Go treat yourself to something pink and sweet at The Meat Co. As Chef Mel puts it, calories don’t count for anything pink!