Fondants au Chocolat

This is a classic french dessert that I think all people who know of it will say it's definitely one of the most comforting ones too. The joy that people get when they cut through the mini cake is great and the usually finish it before you have even said "go!".

A "Fondant au Chocolat" is essentially a rich mini chocolate lava cake. They are super easy to make, the making of the batter can be made in 5 minutes and then to cook them, 11-14 minutes.

How much people like their cake runny in the center or just a little gooey really depends on the person so I would ask if you are serving it to people of their preference.

For a really runny center, go for about 11 minutes at 210°C . It will look really runny and you probably won't be able to lift out of the pan without breaking it so you will need to flip oven onto your serving plate and then it will be fine.

For a squidgy but not runny center, I would go for 13+ minutes in the oven, so I would keep checking them every minute after 13 minutes to make sure the will not be spongy like a cake and cooked all the way through.

If you are cooking them to get a runny center, do not be scared off to turn them onto the plate if you see through the cracked top some runniness, this is perfect, you CAN turn these out onto the plate.

When you serve these, it's ideal that they are hot and have just been baked, so to do that, make the batter and place it into the butter molds and then place the mini cakes in the fridge until 20 minutes before serving. 20 minutes before serving, pre-heat your oven and when the oven is pre-heated, place your fondants au chocolats in the oven.

I have individual metal round molds that are perfect for making these but you could use a silicone muffin pan for it to be easy to take them out once they have cooked or if you don't have either of these, a metal muffin pan but just note, if you are trying to achieve the really runny center, the might break when you are trying to take them out but of course, if you see that they are bound to break, place a board over the top of the pan and turn oven the whole thing to make them come out easily.

Ingredients:

• 160 grams of dark chocolate

• 3 eggs

• 80 grams of flour

• 200 grams caster sugar

• 130 grams butter

• 60 ml crème fraîche

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Instructions:

1. Grease 7 individual metal mini muffin pans with melted butter thoroughly.

2. Melt the chocolate + butter in a bain-marie and then leave to cool slightly before adding in, one at a time, the eggs + egg yolk, whisking after each adding.

3. Whisk in the sugar + crème fraîche and mix until combined.

4. Add in the flour + salt + baking powder and mix a final time to obtain a silky and runny mixture.

5. Divide your mixture into the 7 greased molds.

6. Bake in the oven at 210°C for 11-13+ minutes depending on how runny you prefer your center.

7. Once they have cooked, if getting it out with a knife seems impossible without cracking it, just turn over onto a plate and serve with a little dusting of icing sugar.

Enjoy

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Bye Xxx