French Recipe: Espresso Chocolate Fondants

A kitchen court case: the trail of the six chocolate fondants

This weekend, six chocolate fondants were on trial. They faced a jury of impartial tasters (me and Gaylord) to prove their… ok, not innocence exactly, because these bad boys were sure as hell guilty of something – maybe let’s just say their virtue above all the others’. I’m going to lead with a spoiler – the espresso chocolate fondants won. (The title already gave it away didn’t it.)

I managed to taste six chocolate fondants in half as many hours, which I don’t recommend anyone do, I think my taste buds gave up around fondant au chocolat no. 4 and I needed to lie down.

You may be wondering why on earth I needed to taste so many, and that is an excellent question – turns out, Valentine’s Day is around the corner. What screams romance and pink hearts more than dessert, especially a dessert sprinkled with chocolate, that wily old aphrodisiac. Not only that but chocolate fondants seem to be on every single round-up of the “best Valentine’s Day desserts” across the internet. Is the world wide web trying to tell us something?

Is this the dessert blessed by Aphrodite or pricked by Cupid’s arrow? The romance and sex appeal of chocolate fondants is undeniable, although also surprising because they are messy to eat at the best of times, let alone when you’re on a date with someone gorgeous and you finish to eat with an alarming amount of chocolate lip liner.

Anyway, I can certainly not argue with the internet that chocolate fondants are the dessert of the season, however, what flavour is the Valentine’s Day favourite? Yes, there’s the classic, unadulterated plain chocolate fondant – the guy who calls when he says he will – but he’s in demand everywhere. You just need to type his name into Google, and he’s got the attention of Gordon Ramsay and the like.

Beyond him though, there are many alternative chocolate fondants, and so this was a trail of an extended family.

So, in the dock sat: Solid, reliable everyday chocolate fondant, then his more creative cousins Caramel, Black Forest, Peanut Butter, Peanut Butter Caramel, and Espresso chocolate fondants.

It was the taste test a jury has always dreamed of – wouldn’t jury duty be a lot more enticing if we knew we’d have baked goods on the stand rather than criminals?

Let me take you through the trial and to find out which is the best, most virtuous (but not in that way) fondant au chocolat. (Although you already know the espresso chocolate fondants come out clean. We’ll save them until last.)

Plain Chocolate Fondant

No matter how reliable this guy is, he burst out of his mould in a great big splodge. While we want everyone to be themselves, this guy could have been tidier about it.

The plain chocolate fondant mixture was used as a base for all the other fondants and technically wasn’t there to be judged – it was a control, a comparison to the flamboyancy I was about to sample, possibly even a palate cleanser if you will. But, despite its rich chocolatey punch, it fell at the first hurdle with its exit from the ramekin. This could have been due to my exuberant shake to unstick it, not gonna lie.

Anyway, as I said, chocolate fondants can be found anywhere. Let’s move on to his dock-mates.

Black Forest Chocolate Fondant

Nestled inside this fondant au chocolat in a warm moussey cocoon were some amarena-soaked cherries. They had been crushed with their syrup (the cherries were from a tin – I am loath to buy a list of ingredients that I will never use again – I’m looking at you Kirsch), and one full cherry was tucked in on top before piling over more fondant mixture. The flavour combinations were perfect on paper, yet in practice, it didn’t deliver. While I love that sweet almond flavour, it dominated the chocolate with saccharine sweetness, cloyingly coating my teeth. A couple of mouthfuls were more than enough.

Sentence: Black Forest was given a life sentence of my bin.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Fondant

Over the last year or so, I have apparently regressed into a primary school child, or at least my taste buds have. My infatuation with peanut butter has only grown. It goes in smoothies, I live off these noodles, it goes on banana and apple slices, I’m tempted to add it to eggs; it is love and I can’t get over it. So, you can imagine I was frothing at the mouth to try a peanut butter chocolate fondant. And the fact it didn’t win should tell you something.

Even though my peanut butter is in a squeezy bottle, it didn’t ooze and melt in the warm pillowy fondant. It remained a little dry, resolutely clinging to the crumbs like cement as the molten chocolate centre flowed over the plate.

Sentence: Community service, come back better next time.

Caramel and Peanut Butter Caramel Chocolate Fondants

Ok, these two fondants are collected as one because they both included an ingredient that didn’t do its job. The caramel of both chocolate fondants was a Werther’s Original. These caramel hard candies are beloved little suckers used for keeping children mute and sedated, and to secret into baked goods. Plus, I needed to give peanut butter a second chance. I hoped the melted caramel would sooth the dry stubbornness, not just in its immobility to flow out the fondant, but its mouth-feel, too.

Sadly, however, the whole Werther’s Original could still be found in both chocolate fondants. The 11-minute bake was not long enough to melt the candy into a liquid. It definitely satiated the bitter chocolate, and I found a caramel sweetness to both, but sorry it’s not good enough if the main contender can’t pull its weight (ok, I won’t let the Werther’s Original take all the blame, I concede that I played a part here in not, I don’t know, crushing it into pieces first).

Sentence: Home arrest, time to work on those Werther’s Originals

Espresso Chocolate Fondants

For the espresso chocolate fondant, nothing was wrapped in a blanket of chocolate. Instead, a tablespoon of espresso was secreted away and folded into the fondant mixture. The molten chocolate could flow freely, without any hindrances or stow-aways, yet the whole cake was subtly infused with bright fruity coffee, complementing the dark chocolate without sweetening it. A dollop of crème fraiche or ice cream can do that, as the chocolate and coffee cover rich and sumptuous all by themselves.

It was by far the stand-out winner, or should I say – the espresso chocolate fondant got away with a shocking crime of making me eat it all in one sitting. The only problem is that espresso chocolate fondants, or should I say ‘espresso fondants au chocolat’, are rather demanding dahhling, and only the best coffee will do. So, keep any instant hidden! These fondants are material girls.

With the plain chocolate base, recreating a fondant au chocolat from this list would be easy. But it’s that gold-digger, the espresso chocolate fondant, already eyeing up those luxury coffee beans in your kitchen cupboard, who you should keep an eye on.

Print Recipe

Espresso Chocolate Fondants

Indulgent chocolate fondants to share with anyone you love this Valentine's Day. And I'm mainly talking about loving yourself here. Remember, I ate six. A big display of self-love if ever there was one.

Chocolate fondants must be eaten immediately or the center will thicken. As soon as they're out the oven, start with the unmoulding - it'll be hot though so grip the ramekins through a tea towel.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 11 minutes

Course: Baking, Dessert, sweet

Cuisine: French

Keyword: chocolate, eggs, espresso, fondant

Servings: 4

Author: Adapted from DK’s recipe

Equipment

• 4 170-ml ramekins

Ingredients

• Butter and cocoa powder for prepping the ramekins

• 150 g unsalted butter

• 150 g good-quality dark chocolate - I used Lindt 70%

• 1 shot of good-quality espresso - around 70ml

• 3 eggs

• 75 g sugar

• 1 heaped tbsp flour

• A pinch of salt

Instructions

• Grease the ramekins with butter using your fingers or a pastry brush. Sweep the butter in generous upward strokes up the sides of the ramekins and across the base. Fill the ramekins with a tablespoon of cocoa powder then gently turn the ramekin on its edge, and holding it carefully, slowly turn it for the cocoa to coat the buttered sides. Pour out the excess cocoa into another buttered ramekin and repeat with the rest, adding more cocoa when needed. Chill the ramekins in the fridge as you make the fondants.

• Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/400°F. Place a saucepan of water over medium heat and bring to a simmer, then lower the heat to low and place a mixing bowl on top. Add the butter, cut into rough cubes, and the chocolate, broken into pieces. Allow the butter and chocolate to melt, stirring occasionally. Don't let the water boil or it could overheat the chocolate.

• Once it is all melted and stirred into a smooth mixture, add 4 tbsp of espresso (one for each fondant). Stir to combine.

• In a separate mixing bowl, break in the eggs and add the sugar. Using electric beaters, whisk the mixture for 5 minutes, until it is light, creamy, and moussey, and when you lift the beaters out, it trails a ribbon of mixture that can support its own weight.

• Pour the melted chocolate, butter and coffee into the eggs, sprinkle over the tablespoon of flour and add the salt. Fold it all together until the mixture is evenly chocolate brown and moussey.

• Divide the fondant mixture between the four ramekins. Place the ramekins on a baking tray and pop them all in the oven to bake for 11-12 minutes, until the fondants are well-risen, springy, with a slight wobble.

• Remove them from the oven. They will be extremely fragile, but run a cutlery knife around the inside of each ramekin to loosen the fondant. Place a serving plate on top and turn it all upside down. Ease up the ramekin which will slowly loosen its grip on the chocolate fondant and it will plop out. Repeat with the other fondants and serve immediately with creme fraiche or vanilla ice cream.