Orange and Brandy

Richard first made this in 2004. Everyone knows orange goes well with chocolate. Brandy goes well with both, “but I was looking for a way of incorporating those flavours together without it being too sweet or too sour.” Another flavour balancing act, his favourite challenge. 

He went about making an orange flavoured ganache first then adding the brandy until the two flavours became one, not two separate flavours. You first get a chocolate flavour on the palate then you get the orange and brandy come through at the same time, not separately. This one has proved very popular and widely liked. Comments have been that it is different, original and unique. 

This one has been through many changes though. In one of its previous incarnations Richard was using an orange flavoured brandy. The truffle is made using milk chocolate but is dipped in dark to balance the sweetness out, using a mix of both ensures neither overpowers and creates a blank canvas for the orange and brandy flavour profiles to lie upon.

As for the decoration, this one has always had stripes. Richard likes the simplicity of lines. “Sometimes a simple decoration speaks louder than lots of colours. The chocolate speaks for itself. All it needs is an identifiable marking, so you know what you’re about to eat.” During his time in London, he noticed the chocolatiers he admired the most all had one thing in common. They all veered towards the simply made, the traditional and the simple. Not style over substance. 

“I always knew I wanted to be one of those types, rather than these ultra-modern ones you see about these days.” There’s a real beauty to tradition. We both share a love for traditional aspects of design, even in our daily lives we tend towards traditional Scandinavian looking Christmas decorations for example, over the bright pinks and blues you see a lot these days.

This story was first published on our Facebook page in 2018 as part of our ‘The 12 Days of Chocolate’ flavour story series. But I think the story of flavour creation is interesting to read all year round – so they are finding a second home on our new blog and website!