I was once in love with a young man who was recommended to me because he cried at the end of Amadeus. When you are surrounded by smelly, oafish teenage boys, the notion that someone would be sensitive enough to weep for the snuffed-out candle of musical genius is rather attractive. The fact that the young man in question was extremely easy on the eyes didn't hurt either.
Anyway, I grew older but my affection for Amadeus did not waver, even if the sensitive young man went his own way and married someone else, damn him. Part of the allure of the movie was the utterly outstanding performances of everyone in it, especially the Puckish-devil, Tom Hulce. Part of it was the lushness of the costume, the sets, the music. However, one scene sums up the gorgeousness, the delicious, dizzying rush of love, lust, heaving bosoms squashed up in corsets and doing things you really shouldn't...
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| Me, on a good day, honest. |
Spank me on the bottom and call me Constanza! I giggle and swoon when it comes to the scene with the capezzoli di venere. Salieri, the arch nemesis of Mozart and second-best composer in town, is a devout man torn in his adoration of his art and his bitter rivalry with a man with whom he can't compete. He has few pleasures in his life, but one is these chocolate truffles. They are a heady blend of chestnuts, sugar, butter and chocolate, laced with brandy. They are messy to make, delicious to eat and are so good that Constanza's frock falls off when she eats one (much to Salieri's horror).
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| Go on, try one, you'll love it... |
I am currently immersing myself in all the pleasures of the eighteenth century as I prepare to write my first novel set in the period and so I made some of these to eat while flashing my stocking tops and fanning myself. Here is my recipe so you can do likewise (or if you are a gentleman, you can ply susceptible ladies with them).
Capezzoli di Venere (or Nipples of Venus)
12oz (300g) dark-ish chocolate (this depends on your taste, so I used 200g dark and 100g milk, but suit yourself, because these are your seductive Nipples)
16oz (400g) chestnut puree
6 tablespoons of butter
1/2 cup of caster sugar (I used vanilla sugar, which I make myself by putting vanilla pods in a jar of sugar and leaving for a week or so)
1/4 cup of brandy
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
12oz (300g) white chocolate
Some little chocolate chips for decoration on your Nipples. There's a phrase you don't hear everyday.
You will need to line baking tins with non-stick paper and make sure they fit in the fridge/freezer because that's where they are heading.
1. Melt your dark chocolate mixture in the manner you feel comfortable with. I blast mine in the microwave, but a bowl over boiling water is good too.
3. Add the chestnuts, brandy and vanilla and whip some more. Pour in the chocolate and fold until smoothly blended.
4. Now you have a choice: if your mixture is stiff enough (steady!) make little balls out of teaspoons of mixture and place on the baking sheet. Pop that sheet of balls into your fridge or freezer to stiffen up more. In this, as in so much more, the stiffer, the better. If your mixture isn't ball-able, pop it in the fridge for an hour before attempting the balling.
5. Once your balls are stiffening, start melting your white chocolate either by microwave or boiling water. Retrieve your balls from the freezer or fridge and now the really messy bit starts.
6. Have your balls on a plate or something as you are going to put them on the non-stick paper after dunking them in white chocolate. I use two teaspoons because using forks tends to damage the balls and make them crumble into the white chocolate. One at a time, dunk them in the chocolate and make sure as much excess as possible is off before popping them onto the sheet.
7. Pop a saucy little chocolate chip on top, pointy side down, like in the picture. Pop back into the fridge to firm up again and then scoff or use as seduction bait.
These are fairly potent so it doesn't take many to render you unconscious, so enjoy!
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