Chocolate fondant is one of those desserts that most love ordering in a restaurant because they haven’t tried making it before themselves. This was certainly the case for me.
This dessert can seem quite daunting to make as it is essential to achieve a gooey inside with a crisp outside.
Luckily, I found a highly-rated chocolate fondant recipe on the BBC Food website that had minimal steps and few ingredients.
This recipe comes from Pippa Middlehurst who was a contestant on series one of Britain’s Best Home Cook.
She claimed that this is the “ultimate” recipe to make those oozing fondant puddings and are “quick and easy to make”.
Pippa noted that the chocolate fondant takes less than 30 minutes to prepare and 10 to 30 minutes to cook. I found that it only took me around 25 minutes to prepare and cook the fondants.
Ingredients
One teaspoon good quality cocoa powder, sifted, plus extra to decorate
50g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
50g dark chocolate (minimum 70 percent cocoa solids), broken into pieces
70g caster sugar
One egg
One egg yolk
50g plain flour
Ice cream or cream to serve
Method
I started by grabbing all of the ingredients listed above and weighing out the correct measurements of each.
I then took four 7.5cm/3inch metal mini pudding tins and greased them with some butter I had melted in the microwave for 15 seconds. Any ramekins or Dariole moulds this size will also be fine.
After greasing them with butter, I dusted the inside of each of them with the cocoa powder and then shook out any excess before placing them on a baking tray.
The next step was to melt the butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of gently simmering water. However, instead of doing this, I put the melted butter and chocolate in the microwave for about one minute, making sure to check on it every 20 seconds.
For those also planning to use this quicker option of melting the chocolate and butter in the microwaves, the time needed will depend on their microwave. I then set the smooth mixture aside while I made the cake mixture.
In a separate bowl, I mixed the sugar, egg and egg yolk with an electric hand-held whisk for three minutes. That’s how long it took until the mixture turned pale and thick.
Once that was done, I stirred in the melted chocolate mixture and then folded in the flour until it was all well combined.
Next, I divided the mixture between the four prepared dishes and left them to chill in the fridge on the baking tray while I preheated the oven to 170C Fan/190C/Gas 5.
The recipe calls to bake the puddings for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the puddings have risen and the tops have just formed a crust. I found that 12 minutes was the perfect time.
Lastly, I removed the fondants from the oven and, holding them with oven gloves, turned them out onto plates. I sprinkled them with a little more sifted cocoa powder and served them immediately with a generous dollop of cream. The sponge was perfectly cooked with the centre remaining nice and gooey.
