Bite-sized Delight: Here's How You Combine Fruits and Dark Chocolate

You can now indulge in the robust flavors of dark chocolate and succulent fruits with these easy-to-make dessert recipes. Perfect for whatever occasion, they pack the best of both worlds in one delicious treat.

Raspberry Dark Chocolate Tartlets

This sweet dish comprises a flaky pastry shell filled with rich dark chocolate ganache, and topped with a plump raspberry.

Ingredients:

• 300 gm puff pastry
• 160 gm Cadbury Bournville dark chocolate
• 253 gm raspberries
• 14 tsp raspberry jam
• 2 eggs

Method:

1. Start by preheating the oven to 190°C. 
2. Then, roll out the puff pastry to a thickness of an inch, and cut out 12 equal-sized circles from it.
3. Spoon 1 tsp raspberry jam onto one half of each of the circles.
4. Then, you need to press the pastry into the mini tart moulds that have been greased with unsalted butter. 
5. Brush the tartlet shells with a beaten egg wash. You can optionally stir in a few flakes of sea salt into the egg wash to give the shells a slightly saltier taste that offsets the sweetness of the raspberries. 
6. Now, insert them into the oven with rice grains. The rice grains will act as the weight and prevent the shells from expanding. Bake the tartlets for 20-25 minutes.
7. In the meantime, melt the Bournville dark chocolate in a double boiler.
8. Once the tartlets are out of the oven, you can spoon melted chocolate into the pastry shells.
9. Before serving, top them with fresh raspberries and a dusting of powdered sugar and cocoa powder to intensify the pure dark chocolate flavor. 

Strawberry Dark Chocolate Mousse Cups

This dish consists of an airy dark chocolate mousse topped with slices of fresh strawberries.

Ingredients: 

• 240 gm fresh trawberries (sliced)
• 195 gm Bournville dark chocolate
• 300 ml cream
• 124 gm confectioners’ sugar

Method: 

1. You have to first puree strawberries in a blender.
2. Then, smash your bar of Bournville dark chocolate inside a ziplock bag, then melt the pieces in a double boiler.
3. After that, beat heavy cream with a kitchen mixer, until stiff peaks are formed.
4. Next, you are going to fold the whipped cream into the melted chocolate.
5. Add the pureed strawberries to the mixture of chocolate and whipped cream.
6. Once the mixture has come together, stash it in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, but preferably more. 
7. To serve, dip your ice cream scooper into lukewarm water and proceed to scoop out the ice cream into individual serving cups and top them with a generous helping of sliced strawberries.

Orange Dark Chocolate Truffles

Tangy and sweet, these orange-flavored dark chocolate truffles are big and fluffy, and covered in cocoa powder - perfect for kids as well as adults.

Ingredients: 

• 230 gm Cadbury Bournville dark chocolate
• 3 tbsp orange zest
• 2 tbsp orange juice
• 110 gm butter
• 95 gm cocoa powder

Method: 

1. Start by breaking apart the bar of Bournville dark chocolate so that it’s easy to melt them in a double boiler.
2. Once the chocolate has completely melted and become slightly cooler, stir in orange zest and orange juice.
3. Next, you need to take a separate bowl, and in it, whip unsalted butter until it turns creamy.
4. You have to let the mixture of butter and orange infused chocolate refrigerate for 3 hours. 
5. Once out of the refrigerator, you can roll it into round balls of moderate size. 
6. In a baking tray filled with cocoa powder, roll the balls around until they are coated on all sides. 
7. Once again, you need to let them chill for 45 minutes.
8. While serving, you can add a side of whipped cream as a garnish. 

If you are feeling even fancier, you can roll the truffle balls with an additional layer of toasted coconut shavings or chocolate sprinkles. 

With the evolution of dining cultures over time, bite sized servings in meals have become as widespread as large, full-sized meals. At times, hosts prefer to go for small, bite-sized portions that would be easy to prepare and serve, and also facilitate easy consumption for the guests. In that regard, these desserts are a perfect example of dainty sweetmeats that are both aesthetically pleasing and also super delicious. What's best is that they are mess-free for children, and are elegant enough for the elders.