Valentine’s Day is around the corner and you might be stressing about what to do for your special someone. Why not make them a fancy-looking French dessert with minimum ingredients and effort? Baking and chocolate are the perfect way to show someone how much you care. When my family lived in France we would go to the farmers market every Sunday just to buy the fondant au chocolate – half-baked chocolate cakes with delicious molten centers. We ended up going so many times that the vendors finally gave us the recipe. With simple ingredients and easy steps, you can whip up this delicious dessert that your loved ones will be sure to remember. Extra points if you serve it with ice cream or whipped fresh cream and berries.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Wait Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Servings: 16
Ingredients:
2 bars (200g) 70% dark chocolate
1 bar (100g) milk chocolate
1-2 bars dark chocolate in pieces
160g salted butter
8 eggs
250g (1 ¼ cup) granulated sugar
4 tablespoons flour
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 475°F. If using ramekins, lightly butter them and set aside. If you’re using individual paper molds you don’t need to butter them.
2. In a medium sized bowl, combine the eggs and sugar. Mix by hand or with an electric mixer until they lighten in color.
3. Add the flour and mix until just incorporated.
4. Melt the 70% dark chocolate, the milk chocolate and the butter together in the microwave, stirring every 10 seconds. Be careful not to burn the chocolate.
5. Mix the chocolate mixture and the egg/flour mixture together.
6. Pour the batter into individual molds, filling them 2/3 of the way full. Place a piece of chocolate into the center of each mold.
7. Bake for 8-10 minutes until they just begin to crack on top and the edges are spongy. Don’t over bake (you want the inside to be gooey). Let sit for 5 minutes.
8. Dust with powdered sugar and serve alone or with berries and ice cream.
Tip: If you are short on time, make the batter ahead of time and bake just before serving. You can even bake it ahead of time and microwave it for 10 seconds just to melt the inside again before serving.