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 9g, carbohydrate 52g, fat 40 g, saturated fat 21g, fibre 0g, sugar 30g, salt 0.55 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, November 2008.

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Latest comments and suggestions

Results 201-220

  • Binder photo notthebestchef

    31 December 2011

    notthebestchef rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I'm so happy with this recipe! After reading the comments i used a good quality 70% cocoa chocolate and cooked them from frozen for exactly 17 minutes. The first batch I thought were a tiny bit under done but I put this down to the fact that I made them in pudding dishes so they were probably slightly larger than intended. I cooked the second batch for 18 mins and they were absolutely perfect! Sooo tasty. It's all about the timing!! Served with some Blacks and Greens vanilla and caramel icecream. Big five stars for this one ;)

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  • Binder photo rainbow84uk

    01 January 2012

    rainbow84uk rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Absolutely perfect!! I decided to try this for a New Year's Eve dinner and chose this recipe because of all the positive comments. Even though I make a lot of cakes, I was a bit nervous of how these would turn out since they're not cooked until right before serving. Thankfully all the other commenters were right! These were a doddle to make and involved very few, basic ingredients (other similar recipes called for ingredients which I didn't have to hand and couldn't get hold of at short notice.) I followed the instructions to the letter and cooked them from chilled for 12 minutes. They turned out rich, oozy and absolutely delicious, and went down a storm. This will definitely be a staple of mine from now on!

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  • Binder photo ladin recipy

    03 January 2012

    ladin recipy rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I used only 150g of sugar and added 10-15 g of coco powder, it tested so rich in chocolate!

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  • Binder photo ladin recipy

    03 January 2012

    ladin recipy commented on this recipe

    I used only 150g of sugar and added 10-15 g of coco powder, it tested so rich in chocolate!

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  • Binder photo ladin recipy

    03 January 2012

    ladin recipy commented on this recipe

    I used only 150g of sugar and added 10-15 g of coco powder, it tested so rich in chocolate!

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  • Binder photo Wee G

    07 January 2012

    Wee G commented on this recipe

    Made these for dessert on Xmas day and now my family think I'm some sort of culinary genius! Thanks Gordon!!

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  • Binder photo Kirsty_owen

    08 January 2012

    Kirsty_owen rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This recipe is incredible. Ive made these fondants numerous times and they always turn out perfect, taste delicious and never fail to impress my dinner guests. I follow the recipe exactly so thank you Gordon for a great easy recipe

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  • Binder photo My recipes

    19 January 2012

    My recipes rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I don't make desserts as a rule- but decided to try a chocolate fondant after watching many failures on Masterchef! I didn't need 9 only 4- so decided to use 3/4 of the ingredients and made 6- hoping to get the 4 required- cooked them for 12 minutes- straight out of the fridge - they didn't look all that when done- but turned them out- served them upside down with amaretto sour cherries and vanilla cream and they were delicious!! Everyone agreed - made them twice since and perfect everytime- easy to do and a bit showyoffy!!! Thanks Gordy!!!!

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  • Binder photo Miffi

    02 February 2012

    Miffi commented on this recipe

    Have made chocolate fondants before with varying degrees of sucess but this one is a winner! Have made it a couple of times and have cooked from fresh and frozen and have been so impressed with the results. Won't use any other recipe again.

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  • Binder photo pete

    07 February 2012

    pete commented on this recipe

    Made this for the first time and got a great result. Everyone in my family tried them and wow another result. So easy to make i didn't realise how the chocolate gets inside so try it and see. Thanks Mr Ramsay

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  • Binder photo emma4

    13 February 2012

    emma4 rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    What a corker! I made a quarter of the recipe which made 2 large fondants. It was incredibly easy and turned out well which is a problem I've had in the past with fondants. Needs a good dark chocolate though!

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  • Binder photo Mansha

    17 February 2012

    Mansha rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo Emma

    18 February 2012

    Emma rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I love this recipe. I've made these 3 times and they've come out perfectly every time. Twice now I've frozen the remaining ramekins and cooked them from frozen at a later date. They don't cook brilliantly from frozen. They tend to cook too much in the middle. I think next time I'll defrost them first. They make a very sweet pudding so I've never bothered to make the caramel sauce. I think that would be far too sickly. These are lovely served with single cream or vanilla ice cream.

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  • Binder photo Josée

    25 February 2012

    Josée commented on this recipe

    I halved the recipe to make 4, Absolutely delicious !! will definitely do this one again!

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  • Binder photo snaiste

    19 March 2012

    snaiste rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I have never had a better dessert.

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  • Binder photo LynneR

    19 March 2012

    LynneR commented on this recipe

    I made these at the weekend for a dinner party. They were absolutely amazing!!! Pretty easy to make really, and very impressive. Turned out very easily. I reheated the 3 leftover cooked ones the next day and they were still amazing. Definitely one for the recipe book!

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  • Binder photo rancegal

    20 April 2012

    rancegal commented on this recipe

    I'd never attempted chocolate fondants before, but made them in advance and froze as per instructions, and they were delicious. Simple recipe and instructions but looks as if you've just attended a masterclass!

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  • Binder photo Candice Gouws - RSA

    11 May 2012

    Candice Gouws - RSA commented on this recipe

    In true Ramsay fashion....PERFECT. a Food God!

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  • Binder photo damiogz

    18 June 2012

    damiogz rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    SOOOOOOO easy to follow! The first ever dessert I've made and my guests all think I'm a pro now!! Amazing!

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  • Binder photo Katherine

    19 June 2012

    Katherine commented on this recipe

    Amazing recipe - by far the best fondant recipe I have tried. No need to try any others, this is amazing! fondants cooked really well from both chilled and frozen. Cakey on the outside and lovely gooey chocolateness on the inside. Fondants slipped out of the ramekins very easily after their 1 min resting time. I served with fruit rather than the caramel suggested as they were very rich already. I used quite large ramekins and halved the recipe to make 4, and the upper end of the cooking time (12 mins from chilled and 17 from frozen) worked best.

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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 9g, carbohydrate 52g, fat 40 g, saturated fat 21g, fibre 0g, sugar 30g, salt 0.55 g

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