Mmm... chocolate! Who doesn't love its melt-in-the-mouth loveliness? Here are two of Kate Shirazi's tasty recipes for you to try.

Mmm... chocolate! Who doesn’t love its melt-in-the-mouth loveliness? Here are two of Kate Shirazi’s tasty recipes for you to try.

Formerly a health visitor and nurse, Kate Shirazi moved to Devon looking for a slower pace of life and founded her Cakeadoodledo mail-order cupcake business in 2006 from her farmhouse kitchen. Her flock of battery rescue hens in her garden are stars in their own right, and Chocolate Magic is her latest publication, full of recipes to feed the chocolate lover in you. From truffles to tarts, breads to biscuits, puddings to milkshakes, this book has no-nonsense recipes for any occasion.

The Aztecs considered chocolate an aphrodisiac and banned women from eating it, for fear of unleashing all sorts of frightful female fancifulness. Can you imagine banning women from chocolate these days!

Midas truffles

These aren’t what you might call ‘value’ truffles. I would go so far as to say that these are full-on, luxury truffles. And I don’t joke when I call them Midas truffles – they are covered in edible gold leaf! Real gold, getting really scoffed. Brilliant! So, for goodness sake, don’t go and spoil it all by using nasty chocolate with a really low cocoa content. Go for broke... you are going to be anyway. Incidentally, silver leaf works just as well.

Makes about 12

50ml (2 fl oz/� cup) double (heavy) cream

50g (1�oz/1� squares) best quality plain (bittersweet) chocolate, chopped

4 sheets of edible gold leaf

1 First prepare the ganache. Heat the cream to just below boiling point and then take it off the heat. Add the chocolate and stir gently until it has all melted, then leave the ganache to set.

2 Take small teaspoons of the mixture and form into balls. Place on a plate and then pop the plate of naked truffles in the fridge for 20 minutes, or until firm.

3 Shut all the windows and doors. Exclude any draughts and threaten with pain of death anyone who tries to create even the faintest movement of air around you. Open up the gold leaf and carefully tear a little piece off and place it on the truffle. Then carefully brush it into place. (You will need a very soft brush, preferably flat-edged.) The gold will cling to the truffle and stay there. Carry on until the whole truffle is covered. I like to have tiny gaps between the chocolate and gold as I think they look better this way. They will keep well in the fridge for at least 3 days.

4 For an economy version, make the truffles as above, but instead of letting them set in the fridge, put them onto a plate liberally sprinkled with edible golden glitter. Give the plate a shake to roll the truffle all the way through the glitter, and you’re done.

No-mucking-around chocolate macaroons

I am not known for my willingness to hold back on culinary extras. Plain and simple is anathema to me. When I started experimenting with a recipe for chocolate macaroons, I anticipated that I would sandwich them together with a rich ganache for a gloriously over-the-top treat. Well, I made the macaroons about 20 times before I was happy and then the strangest thing happened. They were just so lovely as they were that, for once, I decided to leave well alone. Feel free, though, to sandwich the little lovelies together with something glorious – I will understand.

Makes 24

2 large egg whites

1 tbsp caster (superfine) sugar

75g (2�oz/generous 2-3 cups) ground almonds

2 tbsp cocoa powder (unsweetened cocoa)

125g (4�oz/1� cups) icing (confectioner’s) sugar, sifted

� tsp almond extract

24 almonds

1 Line two baking sheets with silicone liners (the macaroons will stick to anything else). The only other alternative is edible rice paper. Preheat the oven to 180�C/350�F/Gas Mark 4.

2 In a large, clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Then add the caster (superfine) sugar and whisk again until the mixture is really stiff and shiny. Fold in the ground almonds, cocoa, icing (confectioner’s) sugar and the almond extract.

3 Put the mixture into a piping (pastry) bag fitted with a plain nozzle (tip). Pipe small circles onto the baking sheets with lots of space between each blob, and pop an almond on top of each. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until set and golden.

4 Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Crispy the first day and then deliciously chewy after that.

These recipes were taken from Chocolate Magic: A Collection of Devilishly Decadent Recipes by Kate Shirazi, published by Pavilion, �7.99. (For every copy sold a donation will be made to the Battery Hen Welfare Trust.)

PHOTOS: LARA HOLMES