Individual Chocolate Fondant Puddings - The W&W Signature Dessert

When I first went out with Mr W&W I hadn’t been to too many restaurants. In my family, if we wanted nice meals, we would buy nice produce and cook them at home. We have always cooked, and only in recent years have my family really enjoyed the restaurant scene. This meant of course that when Mr W&W and I first started seeing each other, the only way I knew to win him over was to cook for him, and to cook from the heart. He dined out a lot, so he had pretty high standards.

I distinctly recall the first meal I cooked for Mr W&W – lobster mornay, followed by my fail-safe chocolate fondant puddings. I like to think I won him over with this meal, and even today his eyes light up at the mere thought of these chocolate puddings. Lobster Mornay is very much appreciated, but is a luxury reserved for birthdays and special occasions. These puddings, however, make a regular appearance on the W&W Dinner Party Menu. They are rich, but not too sweet, filled with top quality chocolate, almost cakey at the edges and deliciously gooey in the middle. My chocolate fondant puddings are a mousse, a clafoutis, a cake and a souffle all in one. I promise you this dessert will be your saving grace! If you are like me you will have everything (with the exception of perhaps a strawberry garnish) on hand, and they are ridiculously easy. Plus, you can always make these ahead of time – just stick them in the fridge until you are ready to serve and bring them to room temp before putting in the oven. Ramekins are scraped clean whenever I serve these puddings at dinner parties and I bet your guests will gush about them just as much as mine.

Chocolate Fondant Puddings
Serves 4

You will need:

125g best quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa)
125g unsalted butter
3 eggs
¼ cup caster sugar
2 tbs plain flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
Double cream and fresh strawberries to serve

What to do:

Preheat oven to 180° and grease 4 ramekins (around 6cm in diameter) with butter or a little olive oil spray.

Place chopped chocolate (or break it into squares) in a heatproof bowl with the butter. Rest the bowl over a saucepan of lightly simmering water (making sure that the base of the bowl does not touch the water). Allow to melt, stirring occasionally. Remove chocolate mix from the heat.

Meanwhile, whisk the eggs, sugar, flour and vanilla until smooth. Stir in vanilla. Carefully stir in chocolate mix (adding it in a thin stream and whisking immediately to prevent the eggs from scrambling!).

Pour the chocolate mix into ramekins, distributing mix evenly, and cook about 10-12 minutes until just set on the outside but still runny in the middle.

Serve with thick cream and strawberries.