There's one thing on a dessert menu that's a clear winner every time. It's chocolatey, it's gooey and it tastes like heaven - yep we're talking about a chocolate fondant!
Sometimes after dinner a melt in the middle chocolate pudding is just what's needed. Unfortunately we all know the traditional calorific recipe for one of these is laden with refined sugar and flour, but you're in luck as we have a recipe that has all that chocolatey flavour, but less guilt!
This recipe uses coconut flour and coconut oil as substitutes and the added sugar isn't actually needed when using high quality dark chocolate.
Here's how to make your chocolate fondants, the key part of this is cooking time - you definitely want that gooey centre!
Makes 4 fondants:
120g 85% dark chocolate (we used Green & Blacks)
4 tbsp of coconut oil
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
A pinch of salt
1 tbsp cocoa powder (we used Green & Blacks)
1 tbsp coconut flour (available from supermarkets or Holland & Barrett)
To prepare the ramekins:
A little extra coconut oil and coconut flour
4 ramekins
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Grease the ramekins with a little coconut oil and line with coconut flour. This will help easily remove the fondants from the ramekins once cooked.
2. In a heat proof bowl melt the coconut oil with the dark chocolate in the microwave and leave to cool a little.
3. In a separate bowl whisk together the eggs, vanilla essence & salt. Make sure you beat this mixture together until it's pale in colour and frothy, about five minutes should do it.
4. Add the melted chocolate and coconut oil mixture to the egg mixture and stir together.
5. Then mix in the coconut flour and cocoa powder.
6. Fill each ramekin with a tablespoon and a half of the mixture. Use the back of a wet spoon to smoothe out the tops so they cook evenly.
7. Cook the fondants in the oven for seven minutes, until the surface is cooked; when you press down in the centre it should feel a little soft. It's essential not to overcook these as the gooey middle is the best part!
Using a tea towel as the ramekins will be extremely hot, turn the fondants out onto a plate. If you're looking for some indulgence, serve with dairy free ice cream!