I'm baaaaaack..... (Chocolate recipes)

Did you miss me? I missed you all SO much...

Sorry I disappeared off the face of the earth. Without getting too into it, I've had an awful lot of personal issues, and decided to take some time out from blogging. Every time I went to write a post, I drew a blank. Y'all know how it is. Just recently, I've been catching up on my favourite bloggers blogs, and felt really inspired to start up again, so a big thank you.

Big catch up time. OK. Well, puppies are growing rapidly! Wow. Massive. Tigger has gone to live with my mother for a bit, so she's living with her brother Alfie. They absolutely love each other, and the countryside. Tigger is turning into a right little madam. Such personality, and so beautiful.

This is Tigger, sitting pretty.... Isn't she just amazingly wow? Model in the making...

 

Right, enough of puppies.... Cake!

So, I was up at my mama's, baking as usual, and thought WOW. I love chocolate, cake, both together if possible, warm and gooey. Why the hell have I never made a Chocolate Fondant????? I mean, I've always dribbled at it in recipe books, always order it if I see it on a dessert menu, it's probably my most favourite dessert, ever, and I have never even tried to make it. You know why? Because it looks so difficult. But look what I did create.... Excuse the god awful facial expression, and the face come to that...

Excuse me? Down here? I know. Wow huh? Now I am adamant, anyone can make this, even if you're a crap cook. Can you imagine serving at a dinner party? And let me tell you, they poo all over M&S melt in the middle chocolate cakes.....(And I've eaten a lot of them....).

So, how do I make you a dessert serving goddess or god? Quite simply, with these ingredients...

Chocolate Fondants

Ingredients

2 medium organic eggs
2 medium organic egg yolks
120g caster sugar
90g good quality organic dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa)
90g unsalted organic butter
45g "Dove Farm" Plain white flour (You can use Gluten & Wheat Free Plain Flour, which is what I use if you are intolerant to Gluten and/or Wheat)
A dashing of coca powder
6 ramekins (5cm in diameter, 4/5cm tall), which must be oven-friendly. No microwave used here!

Alrighty! First off, butter up the ramekins, and dust out with the cocoa powder. The powder will stick to the butter (intentional) and the reason why I use cocoa powder like this, is so the fondants are easy to turn out. A neat little trick if you can't use greaseproof paper, or suchlike.

Now, get those fabulous eggies into a large bowl (including the 2 egg yolks), and whisk in the sugar until blended in evenly. Pop that to the side sitting pretty.

Next, grab that wonderful chocolate (Green & Blacks is always my favourite, but you use whichever you like. Alternatively if you're not a big fan of dark chocolate, use Milk Chocolate and add in Cocoa Powder to the mixture at the end and taste until it's chocolately enough for your taste), and pop it into a glass bowl over a pan of boiling water (a bain marie). Add the butter to the chocolate. Keep the temperature quite low, because you don't want to overcook the chocolate, and keep stirring until all lumps and bumps have been removed and you're left with the most luscious smelling chocolate which tastes divine (Dip your finger in. Go on). Take off of the heat, and leave to cool for a bit. Ideally, the chocolate and egg/sugar mix should be the same temperature.

Mix the chocolate into the egg/sugar mix, and stir in evenly (This is the time to add your Cocoa Powder if you used Milk Chocolate. Make sure you taste it! Dark Chocolate users, ignore this).

Next get your sieved flour and fold it into the mixture. Leave it to chill for about 30 minutes (If putting in fridge, cover with cling film. Nothing worse than a dessert that tastes/smells of the fridge. Ew).

Grab your mixture and spoon it evenly amongst the ramekins/bowls. They should be about 3/4 full in the ramekins, don't overfill them. Greedy. 

Again, pop cling film over each ramekin/bowl and leave to chill for 3 hours. Perfect if you're having a dinner party, because they need to set and do not take long to prepare after you would have finished your main course. The 3 hours can be an agonizing wait if you're not having a dinner party. Maybe go for a walk. Or a run, to exercise off what you're about to eat.

After that awful waiting time, give them a little poke and they should feel set. They should be slightly soft to touch, and not completely hard. If they are too hard, you cannot use them, as they won't work (But fret not. You can turn them into truffles. More on that later). So try to keep them cool, but not too cool, if you catch my drift?

Turn on the oven to 180 degrees fan (or 200 degrees / gas 6). Once oven is heated, pop those fabulous little bowls of lovelyness in the middle of the oven for about 10 minutes. Maybe 12. I've done this recipe twice and timing is quite odd. So keep looking and poking at them. They won't rise, so won't get interrupted by the oven being opened. When the top of the cake looks and feels like a cooked cake, but still jiggles when moved, they should be ready. Remember, they are supposed to jiggle, because of the chocolate goo in the middle. The more giggly, the more goo.

Let them rest for 2 minutes (torture). Carefully turn them upside down on plates and lift off the ramekin. If this fails, serve it in the ramekin/bowl. Remember they are soft, so be careful not to puncture them! Serve with Ice cream or Cream. Or on their own. Enjoy.

Chocolate Fondant Failure!

Ingredients

6 x hard chocolate things you left in the fridge for too long in ramekins

A sad face
And some Double Cream

Method

Don't freak out. I know it's deeply upsetting to screw up a dessert. It happens. I have cried in my time over a ruined pud. Only me? Oh.

Stir in 100ml double cream, then pour into a deep tray and chill until set. Roll into balls and roll in cocoa powder. Chill until firm. Vuala! Wonderful truffles to scoff.... Nom nom nom...

Hope you enjoy! Much love, CG xxx