Melting Chocolate Fondants

With all this talk of further COVID restrictions, everyone seemed to need a little pick-me-up today. I asked on my Instagram stories for ideas and the majority of you came back with chocolate themes!
These little melting chocolate fondants are a cinch to whip up and can be prepared to the point before they need to go in the oven, stored in the fridge and popped in for 10 minutes to cook before serving. Great for when we ever get back to doing dinner parties for friends & family again.

I use little aluminium dariole moulds but if you don’t have these you can use ovenproof ramekins or teacups. You can buy the dariole moulds online or in your local kitchen shop.

Don’t be tempted to overcook the puds or else you lose some of the melting centre and they should be served straight from the oven with a little dollop of cream of creme fraiche. If you do over cook them, don’t worry as they are still delicious ;-)

Melting Chocolate Fondants

Ingredients:
110g butter plus a little extra for greasing the moulds
1 tsp cocoa powder & 1 tsp caster sugar for dusting the moulds
110g caster sugar
110g good quality dark chocolate, min 64% cocoa content
2 free range eggs
2 free range egg yolks
110 g plain flour

1. Preheat oven to 180C reg or 170C fan oven. Grease the moulds then dust with the combination of cocoa powder & caster sugar. Tilt and turn the moulds so it’s well covered then tip out excess (see photo below).

2. Place a metal bowl over simmering water, with butter and chocolate to melt. Stir to combine when melted then leave to the side.
3. In a separate bowl add the eggs, yolks and using an electric mixer, beat until they start to thicken. Gradually add the caster sugar and continue to whisk until it becomes creamy looking, thickens and nearly doubles in size.
4. Add the melted chocolate & butter into the egg mix and beat again until combined. Sift in the flour and whisk again briefly until combined.
5. Divide the mixture between the moulds (I got 6 out of this mix) then you can leave them at this point in the fridge until ready to bake (see image below). When you are ready, they need to be baked for 10 minutes until the top is firm and the middles remain oozy.
6. Remove from oven then leave for 1-2 minutes before tipping out onto a serving plate. If they are a little stuck, run a knife carefully around the sides to loosen the fondants from the tins. Serve immediately with cream or a little sweetened creme fraiche.