Gooey. Rich. Meltingly chocolatey. Combine a soft, decadent chocolate fondant with salty-sweet caramel, and you have a sophisticated dessert to impress any sugar addict! The greek yoghurt cuts the richness and prevents the dish from becoming overly sweet.
I had planned to make this dessert for weeks, brainstorming in my idle moments and daydreaming about chocolate. I wasn’t sure whether I’d be able to successfully create the molten centre surrounded by fluffy cake, but somehow I did! To make sure it had a pure heart of chocolate, I pressed truffle mixture into the unbaked batter. And stuffed it with salted caramel. Waaaaahhh . . .
Cocoa is rich in antioxidants and you get a fair bit of it in each serving. Eggs provide protein and minerals, and butter adds fatty richness. However, this is a very ‘special occasion’ sort of dessert. Caramel is rather sweet, and the addition of white flour doesn’t help the nutritional profile. But then again, without all the fructose, you definitely don’t have to feel bad about eating it 😉
I made two fondants, one for my father and one for me. I’m sure you could double the recipe to make four, or triple it for six, but I haven’t tried this! My fondants took 15 minutes in the oven, but make sure you check yours before this so you retain the saucy centres.
You’ll have to make a batch of “Salted Caramel” (see my recipe in “Desserts”) for this, but I can assure you it isn’t hard. In fact, you can cook it in under 10 minutes – just do so before preparing the fondant batter, so it has time to cool.
Preparation time: 15 minutes (plus refrigeration)
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Serves 2
Ingredients:
– 75 grams butter, chopped, softened to room temperature
– 1/3 cup cocoa powder
– 1 egg yolk
– 1 egg
– 1 1/2 Tablespoons dextrose
– 1/2 cup plain flour
– 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
– 1/4 cup milk
– “Salted Caramel” (see my recipe in “Desserts”)
– greek yoghurt, to serve
Method:
1. Place the butter and cocoa in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high power for 30-40 seconds, or until the butter is melted. Stir well. Place two Tablespoons of the mixture into two separate ice cube/ chocolate moulds and freeze. Let the remaining chocolate mixture cool.
2. Whisk the egg yolk, egg, and dextrose together in a bowl. Sift in the flour and baking powder, and fold in along with the milk and cooled chocolate mixture.
3. Grease two ramekins well with butter and spoon the batter evenly into each one. Remove the frozen chocolates and press one into each batter-filled ramekin so that there is an ‘hole’ above each chocolate. Spoon 1 teaspoon of salted caramel into each indent, and gently shift the batter so it covers the caramel. Refrigerate the prepared fondants for at least 2 hours.
4. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Remove the fondants from the fridge and place on a baking tray. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until the tops are set but insides still gooey. Run a knife around the edges of the ramekins and unmould the fondants.
5. Garnish the fondants with greek yoghurt and additional salted caramel. Serve immediately, and enjoy! 🙂
