Matcha Chocolate Bombs – Recipe

The last time I made a chocolate bomb was in 2016 with my sticky toffee chocolate bomb. I decided it's high time I made a matcha chocolate bomb.

With the sticky toffee version, I popped squares of homemade sticky toffee cake inside my homemade chocolate spheres and drizzled over hot sticky chocolate sauce. This time, I stuff the spheres with matcha sponge cake and strawberries, and drizzle with hot vanilla cream sauce.

This recipe makes two matcha chocolate bombs, with a little leftover cake for snacking and an extra chocolate 'dome' for insurance in case you accidentally break one along the way. You're going to need to temper chocolate for this, but I temper chocolate without a thermometer or any fancy equipment so I'll walk you through how I do that.

Need visuals? Check out my 'making of' tutorial video on YouTube:

Ready? Let's go.

Ingredients for Matcha Chocolate 'Bombshells':

100g white chocolate (buttons, chips or chopped)
2 tsp matcha, sifted

Ingredients for Matcha Sponge Cake:

55g unsalted butter, softened
55g caster sugar
1 egg
55g self-raising flour
2 tsp matcha
Pinch of salt
1 tbsp milk

Ingredients for Vanilla Cream Sauce:

300ml double cream
1 vanilla bean
1 tbsp caster sugar
1 tsp cornflour dissolved in 1 tbsp water

To Serve:

Fresh strawberries and blueberries

Method:

1. First, make the matcha chocolate 'bombshells'. Add about 2/3 your white chocolate and the matcha to a heatproof bowl sitting over a pan of just-simmering water (make sure the bottom of the bowl isn't touching the water). Stir gently, and take off the heat when about halfway melted. Continue to stir until the rest of the chocolate has melted, scraping down the sides of the bowl as you go, and gradually add the rest of the chocolate bit by bit, each time stirring until completely melted.

2. When the chocolate begins to become stiff and won't melt any more, return the bowl to the heat for just 5–10 seconds to loosen it up for working with (not any longer or you'll bring it back out of temper). Using the back of a tablespoon, spread the chocolate evenly over the insides of a large silicone sphere mould, spreading as evenly as you can. Pop in the fridge to set.

3. When set, very gently pop the shells out of the mould (you can use silicone gloves to help prevent getting fingerprints on your beautiful shiny chocolate at this point). Create openings in two of the hemispheres by dipping a round metal pastry cutter in hot water, drying it, and gently pressing it into the top of a hemisphere until it melts/cuts a round hole. You might need to repeat this a few times: don't press down too hard.

4. Once you have two holey hemispheres, set a small baking tray upside-down on top of a bowl of boiling water to heat the tray up. Take a holey hemisphere and a full one, place them dome-side-up on the tray to melt the edges a little, and carefully stick them together to make a whole sphere. Place on a plate hole-side-down and pop back in the fridge while you make the other components.

5. Next, make the cake. Preheat the oven to 180°C and lightly grease and line a small baking tray with baking paper or foil (I made a divider out of foil to use only one side of my brownie pan).

6. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, and whisk in the egg. Add the flour, sift in the matcha and add the salt, and whisk until just combined. Finally whisk in the milk, scoop into your prepared baking tray, smooth flat with the back of a spatula, and bake for about 20 minutes until lightly golden on top and springy when you poke it. Leave to cool completely.

7. Before you make the hot sauce, assemble your matcha chocolate bombs: using the same cutter that you used to cut holes in the chocolate shells, cut out a disc of matcha cake. Place it on a plate, arrange some strawberry slices on top, and carefully fit a matcha chocolate 'bombshell' on top so that the cake and strawberries are hidden inside. Surround with more berries, repeat with the other shell, and set aside.

8. When you're ready to serve, make the sauce: split the vanilla bean down the centre lengthways with a sharp knife, scrape out the seeds inside, and add them along with the whole bean to a small saucepan with the cream and sugar. Heat until steaming but not simmering, and add the cornflour-water mixture. Stir until thickened, and discard the vanilla bean husk.

9. Transfer the hot sauce into a pouring jug and serve immediately by drizzling the hot cream over the matcha chocolate bombs.

Enjoy, and have fun.