Chocolate fondant

Chocolate fondant

A gooey prepare-ahead dessert that's perfect for entertaining - it's all a matter of timing...

Difficulty and servings

Moderately easy

Makes 9 fondants

Preparation and cooking times

Cook time

Cook 15 mins

Prep 45 mins plus chilling
Freezable

Can be frozen uncooked

Method

  1. First get your moulds ready. Using upward strokes, heavily brush the melted butter all over the inside of the pudding mould. Place the mould in the fridge or freezer. Brush more melted butter over the chilled butter, then add a good spoonful of cocoa powder into the mould. Tip the mould so the powder completely coats the butter. Tap any excess cocoa back into the jar, then repeat with 1 the next mould.
  2. Place a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, then slowly melt the chocolate and butter together. Remove bowl from the heat and stir until smooth. Leave to cool for about 10 mins.
  3. In a separate bowl whisk the eggs and yolks together with the sugar until thick and pale and the whisk leaves a trail; use an electric whisk if you want. Sift the flour into the eggs, then beat together.
  4. Pour the melted chocolate into the egg mixture in thirds, beating well between each addition, until all the chocolate is added and the mixture is completely combined to a loose cake batter.
  5. Tip the fondant batter into a jug, then evenly divide between the moulds. The fondants can now be frozen for up to a month and cooked from frozen. Chill for at least 20 mins or up to the night before. To bake from frozen, simply carry on as stated, adding 5 mins more to the cooking time.
  6. Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Place the fondants on a baking tray, then cook for 10-12 mins until the tops have formed a crust and they are starting to come away from the sides of their moulds. Remove from the oven, then leave to sit for 1 min before turning out.
  7. Loosen the fondants by moving the tops very gently so they come away from the sides, easing them out of the moulds. Tip each fondant slightly onto your hand so you know it has come away, then tip back into the mould ready to plate up.
  8. Starting from the middle of each plate, squeeze a spiral of caramel sauce - do all the plates you need before you go on to the next stage.
  9. Sit a fondant in the middle of each plate. Using a large spoon dipped in hot water, scoop a 'quenelle' of ice cream.
  10. Carefully place the ice cream on top of the fondant, then serve immediately. Repeat with the rest of the fondants.
Try

Tins or ramekins?

As we make the fondants in such great volumes in my restaurants we use disposable 150ml aluminium muffin tins, but ramekins work just as well. The cooking times I have given here are for ramekins but if you want to use the muffin tins then 10 mins in the oven will be fine.

9 puddings for 8 guests

If you are making the fondants for a dinner party I would advise you cook one extra as an 'insurance policy' that you can test for doneness. If everything goes according to plan I'm sure there will be no shortage of guests wanting second helpings.

Variations

Once you have mastered the fondants it's very easy to adapt their flavour. For a boozy version add a generous splash of Baileys to the melted chocolate. You can also make a chocolate and orange version by adding the finely grated zest of 1 large orange and an optional splash of orange liqueur.

PER SERVING

581 kcalories, protein 9.0g, carbohydrate 52.0g, fat 40.0 g, saturated fat 21.0g, fibre 0.0g, sugar 30.0g, salt 0.55 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, November 2008.

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Latest comments and suggestions

Results 141-160

  • Binder photo Laura the Baker

    18 September 2010

    Laura the Baker rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Let's just say my family always request i make this 'to die for' dessert for every dinner party. By using the best quality ingredients, following the recipe exactly and using mini aluminium pudding moulds I have made these fondants countless times and they have always come out perfectly!

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  • Binder photo Daniel

    22 September 2010

    Daniel rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Really easy recipe, comes out perfect every attempt, perfect fondant. A hit with everyone not just the chocolate lovers.

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  • Binder photo milliesk0

    03 November 2010

    milliesk0 rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    A fantastic desert, and so easy!.....I served it with fresh strawberries and a dredge of icing sugar along with the ice cream, and received many compliments !, would work with fresh raspberries as well.

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  • Binder photo sailorgirl

    03 November 2010

    sailorgirl rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Great recipe. Turned out really well, everyone loved them. It was a nervous wait until they came out! In my gas oven they took about 18 mins. I made some chocolate custard to go with them, which for us chocoholics was just perfect.

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  • Binder photo Aga Khan

    05 November 2010

    Aga Khan rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This is such a great recipe. It did work when I didn't have time to do all the double buttering etc but it does have a better outside if you do it. Doing the extra one is a good idea too as if the first one collapses you can soon put them back for an extra few minutes. My husband even loved it cold out of the fridge the next day.........

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  • Binder photo Silvia

    10 November 2010

    Silvia rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I�ve made this recipe as a special mid-week treat (Nov 10, 2010) and it turned out perfect: a nice crust outside and creamy inside. But I used 6 eggs instead of "4 eggs + 4 yolks" as Ramsay recommends. I also used silicone baking moulds bought at Wilkinson (Wilko Muffin Cases Silicone x 12), which saved time on getting the moulds ready. The batter was enough for the 12 cases, a nice size chocolate fondant in my opinion, smaller than usual. I baked the little cakes for 10 minutes � perfect! The cake didn't come away from the sides whilst baking, though it was easy to turn them out. Surely I�ll repeat it, the boozy version next time.

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  • Binder photo Mick

    11 November 2010

    Mick commented on this recipe

    Used at a dinner party, fantastic recipe! Made them in advance and froze them - they cooked beautifully. Highly recommend to all chocoholics!!!!

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  • Binder photo TJSpain

    16 November 2010

    TJSpain commented on this recipe

    These were wonderful. I made them as dessert for a special birthday dinner, I made a really tangy orange sauce (tons of oranges on the trees) to go with them instead of the caramel just added a bit of sharpness.

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  • Binder photo Paul Jarvis

    29 November 2010

    Paul Jarvis rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Good ol' Gordon, follow the recipe to the letter and you cant go wrong, mine fell out of the ramakin. I've also added baily's and orange they both taste amazing...

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  • Binder photo mlsjb2

    03 December 2010

    mlsjb2 rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Fabulous- easy to make and very impressive on the plate. Not to mention delicious!

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  • Binder photo teresa

    27 December 2010

    teresa commented on this recipe

    oh, my, god... this is sooo goood! Easy to do and absolutely wonderful!

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  • Binder photo chantal

    29 December 2010

    chantal rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo Lynda Paul

    30 December 2010

    Lynda Paul rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    brilliant!! came out perfect and so easy to make and looks so impressive, thanks Gordan x

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  • Binder photo S.Omar

    31 December 2010

    S.Omar rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Perfect!

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  • Binder photo Ashley

    15 January 2011

    Ashley rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo Kit

    28 January 2011

    Kit rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I consider myself a good cook - but I am AWFUL at puddings. Except this one. Great and actually works!

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  • Binder photo Mel1983

    29 January 2011

    Mel1983 rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Absolutely perfect - like everyone else I never made fondants because everyone fails miserably on TV but these were perfect. made them for a birthday dinner party and everyone thought they were divine and couldnt believe I'd made from scratch!

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  • Binder photo maz

    15 February 2011

    maz rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Attempted these for the first time for Valentines day 2011 and what a result, they came out of the mould perfectly, looked great and tasted amazing! Will definitley do these again as they went down very well with the bloke.

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  • Binder photo maz

    15 February 2011

    maz commented on this recipe

    Attempted these for the first time for Valentines day 2011 and what a result, they came out of the mould perfectly, looked great and tasted amazing! Will definitley do these again as they went down very well with the bloke.

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  • Binder photo Mollie Gatens

    16 February 2011

    Mollie Gatens commented on this recipe

    Hi, probs a really silly question. But is it 4 whole eggs AND 4 egg yolks. Or 4 egg whites and 4 eggs yolks? Just don't want to mess up hah!

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Difficulty and servings

Moderately easy

Makes 9 fondants

Preparation and cooking times

Cook time

Cook 15 mins

Prep 45 mins plus chilling
Freezable

Can be frozen uncooked

Ingredients

  • 50g melted butter , for brushing
  • cocoa powder , for dusting
  • 200g good-quality dark chocolate , chopped into small pieces
  • 200g butter , in small pieces
  • 200g golden caster sugar
  • 4 eggs and 4 yolks
  • 200g plain flour
  • Caramel sauce (see 'Goes well with') and vanilla ice cream or orange sorbet, to serve
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PER SERVING

581 kcalories, protein 9.0g, carbohydrate 52.0g, fat 40.0 g, saturated fat 21.0g, fibre 0.0g, sugar 30.0g, salt 0.55 g

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