Can I Use An Alternative To Rum In The Chocolate Meringue Truffle Cake?

Our answer

Nigella's Chocolate Meringue Truffle Cake (from FEAST) has a meringue base that is topped with a ganache-like chocolate truffle mixture. From the description it sounds as if the chocolate seized when it was initially melted with the syrup and alcohol. Switching the rum for amaretto should not be a problem, though we would avoid using an amaretto cream liqueur. The golden syrup and alcohol should be added to the chopped chocolate before it is melted, rather than after the chocolate has melted. Put the bowl of chocolate, syrup and amaretto over a pan of hot (not boiling) water and make sure that the bowl fits snugly over the pan and that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Stir from time to time until the chocolate has melted and mixed in smoothly with the other ingredients. If the chocolate is seizing at this stage then it usually means that the chocolate has become too hot. It may help to remove the bowl from the heat while there are still some small pieces of unmelted chocolate still in the bowl. They will melt in the residual heat and you will reduce the risk of the chocolate mixture overheating.

If there is a problem when the cream is added and you get a truffle mixture with lots of hard bits of chcocolate in, then this is more likely to be due to the temperature difference between the cream and the chocolate. The chocolate should be cooled to room temperature so that the cream doesn't melt. But also you don't want the cream to be fridge cold as this will mean that the chocolate and cream don't mix evenly. The cold cream can cause some of the chocolate to solidify into small pieces. Let the cream stand out the fridge for about 30 minutes before you use it and it may help to add a couple of spoonfuls of whipped cream to the chocolate mixture first, to help "temper" it or even out the temperature difference between the two, then fold in the remaining whipped cream.