First things first. I did say I was getting off sweets for a few weeks, but ahem…what can I say, I’m a weak-willed individual and yes, I did make another dessert…Glad we got that out of the way:)

One of the best things about living in sunny Greece are the amazing oranges. They tend to be smaller and less perfect than the supermarket ones but the taste is unbeatable. They are sweet and juicy hence every cafe on the island sells freshly squeezed orange juice by the bucket loads.

At least once a week, a local farmer with a big truck brimming with oranges pulls up in the main town and sells them dirt cheap. I always buy so many that I wonder if it’s possible to have a vitamin C overdose. They are to die for. If we ever move away from this paradise island, amazing oranges are something I will definitely miss. For now though, I take full advantage of living in amongst orange groves.

This dessert may be small but it packs a punch. It’s a perfect marriage of dark (70% cocoa) chocolate and juicy Greek oranges. If you are an experienced ganache maker, you may be alarmed once I tell you to mix melted chocolate and orange juice as you would not expect that to work, wouldn’t you?

Well, I’ve done a lot of research into ganache making and it appears that ‘water based ganaches’ (orange juice has a high water content too) are all the rage. The trend has been brought about by the increasing numbers of vegans and people who are lactose-intolerant and now several renowned chocolatiers prefer using water based ganaches for their purer, more intense flavour (traditional additions such as cream tend to dull the flavours to an extent).

Since I was after an orange tasting ganache, I went for strained orange juice and a bit of orange of syrup. Despite my initial fears, the ganache turned out to be perfectly smooth and glossy. The key is to take care and do things slowy as chocolate is a delicate beast and it’s easily offended by too much heating up, too little heating up, too much stirring, too vigorous stirring – it’s basically like a cat. It took me many trials and errors to balance the flavour (in fact I ate so much chocolate orange over the past week that I won’t be able to have it for months now, I think).

These vegan chocolate orange pots are rich, creamy, very chocolaty, have a prominent orange flavour and are not too sweet. They used to make me smile (until I ate too many) and I hope they will make those you make them for smile too.