Chocolate Fondant Puddings

I know I only just made a chocolate recipe last time Dear Readers, but with post-Easter chocolate still hanging around, I thought I'd use it up with a recipie more suited for our wintery weather and make some Chocolate Fondant Puddings, AKA Chocolate Lava Cakes.


What lovely impressive little cakies these are indeed!

Molten chocolate flowing from the centre, with a raspberry or two on the crest of the wave. Mmmm...


These are perfect desserts for when you want a bit of Wow for a dinner party, and they can even be prepared a few days ahead of time, or frozen for a few weeks if you're really that organised- or like me and just like to have a few things on hand for chocolate emergencies!


It took a few goes to work out the kinks in my recipe, this one was Too Soft- collapsing into a sog on the plate, this one was Too Hard- just a plain old cake, but finally I got it Juuuuuust Right!


I didn't want a light and fluffy version of these that almost souffles up before collapsing, or a plain raw-cake batter mix either (yes, I've been served one of those and it wasn't at all nice) I decided instead to go for a heavier almond meal base that would really stick-to-your-ribs for winter, but be perfect as a small serving to end an elegant meal.

The raw mix sets quite stiffly and the heaviness of the almonds means you need to cook it a bit lower and slower than you might think. I also tried baking these from frozen, to try for the perfect molten centre, but the heavy mix put too much pressure on the softer baked shell.  I timed them exactly for my oven and it's quirks, but you might need to try one out in yours before you want to impress anyone with perfection. That also means that the sacrificial pudding will need eating so it doesn't go to waste- what a shame! I won't tell anyone you got one extra, I promise.


Chocolate Fondant Puddings

makes 4

200g Dark Chocolate (I used Lidnt 85% because that's what I had handy, but really it was very rich and strong. 70% would have been much better)
200g Butter
1/4 cup Almond Meal
1/4 cup Castor Sugar
4 Eggs
Pinch of Salt
Frozen Raspberries
4 1/2 cup capacity ramekins



Melt the butter and chocolate together. You can use a pan, a water bath, or just the microwave, it doesn't really matter as long as they are combined nicely

Add in everything else

then stir really well until smooth and silky looking with no lumps

Grease your ramekins really, really well. You don't want the little Lavas to stick on their way out now.
Fill your ramekins nearly to the top, then pop just a few frozen raspberries into the mixture, and push them into the middle of the cake

Tap the ramekins sharply on a flat surface to remove any air bubbles and settle the raspberries in place

Now you can put the little cakies away in the fridge and forget about them for a few days, or until your dinner party. You can even freeze them if you like, but let them defrost thouroughly before baking


Bake these little lovelies at 180* for exactly 13 minutes. Pull them out, then let them settle for just 2 minutes more before turning them out carefully onto the serving plates

Aren't they just lovely!

I served these with a swipe of raspberry sauce underneath and some extra berries scattered around. If you have some lactose free cream or ice cream around, that would be nice too.

Cut into your little pudding, and watch the magic happen! Oozy, molten middle spilling over the crust of cakiness, Yummo!

More elegant than a self sacing pudding, and a bit of foodie theatre as well. What a perfect ending for a winters evening.

So Dear Readers, what do you think is the perfect chocolate dessert for winter?








.

Fluffy Chocolate Cake

Can you guess what I'm making?

BigJ was feeling left out. I bake all the time for others, I experiment with gfree baking too, but normally things that I enjoy. All he wanted was a 'normal' chocolate cake. What do you mean by normal? Soft and fluffy, not too rich or dense, not crumbly or dry like a lot of gfree can be. Like a packet mix. 'Normal'. Ooookay then, research time!

I explored a lot of recipes but none of them seemed right. The not too rich bit was proving harder than it sounds. I found a recipe at allrecipes that sounded promising so I changed things around to be user and pantry friendly, and this is what I came up with.

1 1/2 cups of gluten free flour
1 up of cocoa
1 1/2 tsp xanthum gum
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup of butter - remember there is very little lactose in butter, or feel free to use an alternative
3/4 cup of white sugar
3/4 cup of brown sugar
3 eggs
2 egg yolks
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups of lactose free milk- or your liquid of choice

Make the cake in the usual, time proven, cakey way...
Cream butter and sugars
Add eggs and yolks
I like to pop the 'add ins' now, like the gum, powder,vanilla and soda and give it a good mix
Add in the flour and cocoa bit by bit, alternating with the milk
Give a quick mix, but be careful, the batter is very thick and rubbery, so not too much!

Grease your tin and spoon in the batter. You do need to smooth it down as it is a bit gluggy, but don't worry,it will be alright. I wanted to use my little cake tin, just because it's cute but you could certainly use a larger one if you like.

I bake this in a pre-heated 175* oven for 35 minutes. The batter rose quite high, and sort of souffled up, but settled as it cooled. If you are using a larger tin, I think it would be best to drop the temperature to about 160* and check after about 50-60 minutes. It might take a bit longer as the batter is quite thick. Anyway, when you stick a skewer in the cake, it should come out just a bit moist, not with half the cake batter clinging to it. That means it's pretty right to come out of the oven.
Let this cool in the pan for about 15 minutes to collapse a little and firm up a bit, before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

I actually left this cake out overnight before cutting as this was convienient, but I think it's usually a good idea for the cake to settle a bit and they seem to be less crumby this way too.

I decided to serve the cake with yummy frseh strawberries and some chocolate buttercream frosting. * see my previous post about buttercream frosting for a fantastic recipe *

I sliced the cake into layers and slathered on crushed strawberries - the cake doesn't slip off this way the way it does when you use sliced ones- and piped on the frosting just to keep it even and pretty.

The cake was amazingly light and fluffy as well as being nice and moist. It really did taste 'normal'. When I took my first bite, I nearly spat it out again as it just like a 'real' cake and didn't feel at all familiar to me anymore! Even littlej asked if I was sure this was a gluten free cake.... and didn't beleive me! I think it was a huge success and BigJ even had seconds!

So Reader, what is a 'normal' cake for you?

PS. I am so sorry dear Readers for the tardiness of this post. Extreme hayfever and starting a new job combined for a very hetic, unpleasant week, but I'm back on track again! Thanks for your patience and Tolerance with me.