Oranges in a Flower

I'm a little late posting this on my own blog.... *shame* BUT I did get it posted to the Iron Craft page in time. :) I blame more physical therapy abuse on my procrastination.

I finished challenge #2! Yay, cheering *ahhhhhh*. I went ahead with a truffle, as I've really enjoyed candy making lately. For the challenge itself I went with a very fresh orange ganache filling that used orange zest and fresh orange juice, and the result was a REALLY vibrant orange taste. It was not like the Walgreen's orange chocolate I'd had in the past because it was a creamy ganache in a chocolate shell and the flavor of the orange was just so fresh. Being that my family is not big fans of orange chocolate, I tested them out on my friend Magpie and will test them out again on my other friend Christine as soon as I get the chance to get them to her. :) Magpie seemed to enjoy them, so I'm glad I'm not the only one immediately around that liked them. Anyway, back to the challenge.... the theme was hearts and flowers for the upcoming holiday, Valentine's Day, so I went with a rose mold and hand-piped hearts in white chocolate for decoration, which is something I first tried doing for my mom's birthday in December last year. They turned out pretty cute and dainty!

Have a quick look at the other Iron Craft crafter's projects, as well.

 I also made some honey ganache truffles with the square mold and a peanut butter banana chocolate in the reese's shaped mold. The honey truffle is interesting... it's got the sweet honey taste but also the dark chocolate undertones. It's not very sweet but it's not very bitter like dark chocolate can be either. It also isn't like semi-sweet, which is typically what you'd think of as that in-between balance. It's kinda slightly sweet and robust at the same time haha. Very tasty though, as strange as that little thing is. The PBB chocolate is just amazing. It has a thicker consistency as it's mashed banana and peanut butter mixed together(not a ganache, and therefore not a truffle). I came up with this because my mom was talking about her favorite ice cream flavor, peanut butter and chocolate ice cream with banana ice cream, and since I don't have my ice cream maker for my AMAZING kitchenaid mixer yet... next best thing. :D