I'm no expert when it comes to making chocolate, but one thing I have not regretted giving a go at, is this Rum & Raisin Chocolate. Inspired by the Cadbury Rum and Raisin, this is also recommendable-
(Apologies for the photo quality. Using my phone, and there's not great natural lighting today)
Few things you need-
Moulds: Personally, I prefer silicone ones. I bought these "Silikomart Rose Chocolate Mold" from Everten online, and have found they work beautifully. I usually use the two molds at a time which uses 200g of chocolate.
http://www.everten.com.au/silikomart-rose-chocolate-molds.html
The rum! I don't know much on the difference between rums apart from their flavor ranges in strength? Anyhow, this is the one I decided on and it does the job:
You'll also need raisins. Although, I used sultanas. If you have a favorite brand, go with that. Otherwise it doesn't really matter as long as it's a nice fruit. I used Coles brand in this. For the chocolate though, I go with Cadbury Dark Chocolate melts. I've tried using Nestle before, and found the chocolate not as nice and more difficult to work with. Also, you don't have to but I usually add about a tsp of coconut oil when I melt the chocolate. In my experience, it makes the chocolate runnier, absorbs the rum flavor quickly, and softens the chocolate a touch:
So, what do you need to do? Soak the sultanas, or the raisins, in your rum. I soaked mine in a clean jam jar; filled the jar half with sultanas, and poured the rum near to the top. Naturally, the sultanas are going to grow so they need room and plenty of rum to soak up. The longer you leave the sultanas to soak, the better flavor I've found you'll get. The lot I used had probably been soaking for a month. Friend of mine had hers soaking for a year. I actually used the last of the sultanas I had, so this pic is of me putting more sultanas into the jar. I later added more rum.
You've got your chocolate, your molds, your soaked sultanas/rum. Pretty straight forward really. Melt your chocolate:
I find it easier to work with melting the chocolate on a saucepan. Yeah, the microwave is quicker, but so is the chocolate drying time. Having melted the chocolate this way, you can keep your bowl on the saucepan for heat and it won't have hardened by the time you've finished. If you haven't done this before, you'll need a heat proof bowl. The one i'm using here is from Tupperware, but I've used metal bowls previous times. Make sure the water in your saucepan doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl. From my understanding, you're melting it through the heat of the steam, not actually the boiling water.
If you're using coconut oil, you can add it now. You can take the saucepan off the heat once the chocolate is mostly melted, as it will continue to melt from the heat trapped below.
I usually just use a teaspoon, drop a small amount of chocolate into your mold cavities. Stir it around as seen below, so the chocolate covers the whole inner mold:
Refrigerate for a few minutes until set, and place a few sultanas/raisins in the middle:
Top with chocolate, and gently tap on the bench to remove air bubbles and to smooth the chocolate:
Refrigerate again until set. Gently push the chocolate out of the molds, and Enjoy! I find the chocolate are much nicer from after the next day, but they're great either way.
Thanks for looking!
