A quick and easy Chocolate Fondant for the perfect warm and cosy dessert! Recipe with step-by-step photos.
Chocolate Fondant
One of my go-to, middle-of-the-week, easy-to-make desserts is this Chocolate Fondant, also known as Chocolate Lava Cake, Molten Chocolate Cake, Chocolate Pudding, Moelleux au chocolat … one dessert, so many names!
A Chocolate Fondant is a dessert which is cake-like around the edges, but with a soft and oozy centre, hence why it is sometimes called a Lava Cake or Molten Chocolate Cake. If you love warm and cosy desserts, you will love this recipe.
Why This Recipe Works
- This Chocolate Fondant takes only about 10 minutes to prepare, and about 12 minutes to bake. So it is a quick and easy dessert!
- You can even prepare this recipe ahead of time and keep it in the fridge for a few days before baking. Just add a few more minutes to the baking time.
Chocolate Fondant Recipe
This Chocolate Fondant recipe is super quick and easy – 10 minutes to prepare, and about 12 minutes to bake.
What’s also great about this recipe is that all of the ingredients are likely to already be in your fridge and pantry. As an avid baker, I always have a good supply of dark chocolate on hand. And the remaining ingredients are items we typically have at home.
So if we happen to have unexpected guests for dinner, I know I can whip up this Chocolate Fondant at short notice. These days, our unexpected guests are usually our childrens’ friends who sometimes stretch out their playdates at the last minute to include dinner. Most kids I know love this dessert – just be sure to warn them about the very hot centre!
I often bake them in smaller ramekins for the kids, but I happen to prefer the smaller portions for myself, too.
And for any fussy kids, you could always bake the puddings for a bit longer and serve up mini chocolate cakes instead.
How to Serve Chocolate Fondant
Chocolate Fondant is often served unmoulded on a plate, so that you can see the molten chocolate centre ooze out onto the plate once you cut through it with a spoon.
I happen to prefer serving Chocolate Fondant in a ramekin. I love the crackled top of the cake, which is almost brownie-like in appearance, and which you would otherwise not see if you invert the cake onto a plate to unmould it. And I also like to keep the molten centre contained because the dessert then keeps warmer for longer.
As it is a fairly rich dessert, some plain vanilla ice-cream works really well alongside this Chocolate Fondant, or even a very good quality crème frâiche, such as the Isigny crème frâiche from France.
How to Make Chocolate Fondant
Step 1
Melt the butter and chocolate in a bain-marie or on low power in the microwave in short bursts. Whisk the chocolate mixture together and then set it aside to cool slightly.
Step 2
In a large measuring jug or a bowl with a pouring spout, whisk together the eggs, sugar, flour and salt.
Step 3
Add the chocolate mixture to the batter, and whisk until you have a smooth batter.
Step 4
Generously butter the ramekins. For the recipe below, I have used ramekins with a capacity of 250 ml/1 cup. You could also use smaller ramekins, but you will need to adjust the baking time accordingly.
If you don’t have ramekins, any oven-proof ceramic mould would work, such as small mugs or teacups.
If you prefer to serve your Chocolate Fondants unmoulded, in addition to greasing the moulds or ramekins with butter, I also recommend dusting them with flour or cocoa powder. This will help the cakes to unmould more easily.
Fill the ramekins halfway with the batter.
At this stage, you can proceed to bake the Chocolate Fondants right away, or cover them with plastic wrap and keep them in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Step 5
Bake the Chocolate Fondants for about 12 minutes. The cakes should generally be puffed and risen with a cracked topping, and the centre should be molten.
However, this is one of those recipes where you might have to experiment before you will have a good idea of how long the baking time should be. It might be a good idea to experiment with one ramekin first before baking all of them.
The baking time will vary depending on:
- Your oven
- The size and thickness of your ramekins
- How much batter is in the ramekins
- How gooey you like the centre to be
Make Ahead Tips
A great advantage about this Chocolate Fondant recipe is that you can make everything ahead of time, even 2-3 days ahead, and bake it just before serving. If you are baking them straight from the fridge, you might need to give the ramekins an extra few minutes of baking time. They will bake and rise beautifully in the oven as per normal.
Any baked Chocolate Fondants can also be reheated in the microwave, or even back in the oven, to serve as a warm chocolate cake.
More Dessert Recipes
If you are looking for more dessert recipes, you might also like:
Profiteroles with Chocolate Ganache
Sunken Chocolate Amaretto Cake
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Chocolate Fondant
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 12 mins
- Total Time: 25 mins
- Yield: Makes 6
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: French
A quick and easy Chocolate Fondant for the perfect warm and cosy dessert! Recipe with step-by-step photos.
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RateIngredients
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
- 160 g (6 oz) dark chocolate, 70% cocoa, roughly chopped
- 160 g (1 stick plus 3 tablespoons) unsalted butter
- 4 eggs
- 200 g (1 cup minus 1 tablespoon) caster sugar
- 50 g (1/3 cup) plain flour (all-purpose flour)
- pinch of fine salt
- cocoa powder or icing sugar (powdered sugar), for dusting (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/392°F (without fan).
- Place a baking tray in the middle of the oven.
- Use the softened butter to generously grease 6 ramekins. I use ramekins with a capacity of 250 ml/1 cup.
- Melt the butter and chocolate in a small bain-marie (bowl over pan of simmering water), or on low power in the microwave at short intervals.
- Whisk the chocolate mixture together and set aside to cool slightly.
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, flour and salt.
- Whisk in the chocolate mixture until everything is well-combined.
- Pour the batter in equal quantities into each ramekin, about half way.
- Place the ramekins into the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes. Please see Kitchen Notes below for tips.
- The Chocolate Fondants are ready when they have puffed and risen slightly with a cracked topping, but the centers are still molten.
- If desired, dust with cocoa powder or icing sugar (powdered sugar).
- Serve immediately.
Kitchen Notes
UNMOULDING CHOCOLATE FONDANTS
If you wish to serve the Chocolate Fondants unmoulded, prepare the ramekins or moulds by generously greasing them with butter, followed by a dusting of flour or cocoa powder. Tap the excess flour out over the kitchen sink. Proceed as per the recipe. Once the Chocolate Fondants have finished cooking, I recommend leaving them to rest for about 5 minutes before unmoulding them. This will give the cakes a chance to set and not collapse upon unmoulding.
BAKING TIME
The Chocolate Fondants are ready when they have puffed and risen slightly with a cracked topping, but the centre should still be molten. The baking time will vary depending on your oven, the size of your ramekins, how much batter is in the ramekins, and how molten you want the centre to be. You may want to experiment with one ramekin before baking all of them.
OVEN TEMPERATURES
All recipes on this website state temperatures for a regular oven (i.e. a conventional oven without fan). If you have a convection oven with a fan, please consult the manufacturer’s handbook on how to adjust the temperature and baking time accordingly.
CONVERSIONS
To convert from cups to grams, and vice-versa, please see this handy Conversion Chart for Basic Ingredients.
Great recipe. Worked perfectly – 13 mins with my ramekins, also 1 cup capacity. Great tips for making ahead of time too.
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Beautiful! These chocolate fondants were so good!
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Lovely recipe! Also great that you can make it well in advance and bake just before serving. I will be making these again regularly!
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Thank you for your great tips. Not unmoulding the chocolate fondants was a game-changer for me – it made the recipe so much easier! And I agree with you in that serving the fondants in the ramekins keeps them warmer for longer.
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So easy and delicious!
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This was really delicious and surprisingly very easy to make.
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Beautiful recipe and very easy to make.
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Absolutely delicious! And amazingly easy. This will be my go-to dinner party dessert.
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I made this recipe tonight and the puddings were delicious. Lovely recipe.
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I made this for dessert last night and they were just AMAZING! So easy to make and everyone loved them. Love this recipe!!
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Hello, I am a long follower and I recommend you to all of my friends and family. If I am every trying a new recipe, I always go first to your website! These chocolate fondants were a great success, but your recipes always work out great! Thank you so much 🙂
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Fantastic recipe! Worked a treat and everyone loved them.
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This recipe was great
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Loved this recipe! I found similar ramekins and also served them unmoulded. They looked and tasted beautiful!
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