“Traditional sweets, with all due respect, have all been there and done that,” says Chef Vidushi Sharma, when asked about possible alternates for traditional sweets for Diwali gifting, “Whereas truffles, with their plethora of flavours, velvety mouthfeel, and minimal appearance, are a perfect gift for the well-travelled consumer with an exposed palate.”
Armed with a prestigious diploma de patisserie from Le Cordon Bleu London, Chef Sharma found her calling towards all things fine and sweet, leading her to become the co-founder of Truffle & Co. which specialises in hand-rolled truffles that experiment with flavours and combinations.
According to the chef, her connection with truffles was meant to be! “I loved the concept of playing with a myriad of flavours in one concept and hand-rolled truffles were such an untapped market! Minimal, decadent and deceiving to the eye.”
Sharma was tasked with converting the traditionally French dessert to something that would be palatable to the Indian taste buds and uniquely her own. “Considering they’re entirely hand-made and encompass the best ingredients around the world, it wasn’t entirely difficult to adapt them to the Indian market, from infusing premium Indian ingredients like Saffron, and Indian Honey to playing with quirky concepts like infusing white chocolate with betel leaves, truffles are a blank canvas and are perfect to create fusion flavours!”
Since setting up an outlet to translate her love and passion for truffles into a business, Sharma has been having the time of her life coming up with decadent ingredient combinations for her truffles, like milk chocolate ones that are laced with champagne, or recreating beloved desserts, like Tiramisu, into truffles.
The chef claims that she gets inspired by a variety of things, including cities and cocktails, while coming up with unique truffle flavours, although not all experiments work in her favour, “I once tried an Aperol-infused truffle that disappointed me. The sweetness of the chocolate with the sweetness of the liqueur just made it awfully sweet and not very well-balanced!”
We asked Chef Sharma to share some of her favourite truffle recipes that we can try and make this Diwali for gifting to our loved ones (and gorging on ourselves!). Here are three decadent truffles you can make and gift this Diwali in place of traditional sweets…