Thursday, September 29, 2011

Cheeky Chocolate Fondant


Now that I had a simple starter and main course sorted for the husband's birthday, I focused my energy on dessert. The choice was unanimous and based on a recent visit to the Beehive in Peterborough. There we shared a chocolate fondant for dessert and it was divine. I looked around for recipes and chose the Gordon Ramsay version as a starting point.

Ingredients:
200g plain flour
200g dark chocolate + a small bar of plain chocolate
200g caster sugar
200g unsalted butter
4 eggs
25g butter for melting and lining the moulds
Cocoa powder and icing sugar for dusting
Method:
Line the baking moulds ( or ramekins in my case) with melted butter  and allow it to cool in the fridge. Once cooled brush some more butter and then dust evenly with cocoa powder. Shake off any excess. In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs, add sugar and mix well. Now slowly add the flour and mix well. In another bowl melt dark chocolate and butter together. The gurus say do it over simmering water. I did it for 15 secs at a time in a covered bowl in the microwave. I think my method is quicker. Now add the butter-chocolate mixture to the flour-egg-sugar mixture and mix well. Pour into the baking moulds and chill for about 30 mins. The batter should set a little now. Now this is my touch: I broke cubes off the plain chocolate bar and pushed a cube into the heart of very fondant mixture. Stick this in a pre-heated oven at 180 deg for about 10 mins till a crust is formed. Once done, take it out and let it cool for a couple of mins before extracting the fondant. Serve with a dusting of icing sugar, fresh strawberries or raspberries ( or both!) and some orange sorbet ( or any ice cream). Your fondant should melt in the middle like in this picture. Thanks Gordon. Ann x

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