Chocolate fondant with whisky caramel

Decadent? Yes! Delicious? Absolutely!

For the fondants:

• 125g dark chocolate (70% or less)

• 120g salted butter

• 1.5 tbsp cocoa powder plus extra for dusting

• 1 tbsp plain flour

• ~0.5ml baking powder

• 2 eggs

• 2 egg yolks

• 60g white caster sugar

• 60g golden caster sugar

• 1 tsp vanilla extract/essence

• 1/4tsp espresso powder

• Lindt balls/chocolate truffles, chilled

Melt the chocolate and butter together and set aside to cool for ~10mins. Sift together the flour, cocoa and baking powder and set aside in a small ramekin. Brush melted butter into pudding moulds/ramekins/muffin trays and chill until the butter sets. Brush another layer on, tip in some cocoa powder and tap the mould until the cocoa powder coats the buttered mould. Chill.

Beat the eggs, egg yolks and the sugars together for about 5 minutes on high speed until nearly doubled in volume, pale, thick, moussey and at the ribbon stage. Alternating between the flour mixture and melted chocolate mixture, gently fold in the flour and chocolate until well-combined, being careful not to knock the air out.

Pour or spoon the mixture carefully into the moulds, stopping about 1.5 below the top. Gently place the chocolate truffle into the center and press down until just covered with mixture. Don’t press down too far or they’ll sink to the bottom. Chill the prepared puddings in the freezer for 20mins while you preheat the oven to 180 C.

Place the puddings on a baking tray and bake for 12-14minutes until the tops are set and the sides are coming away from the moulds. Take them out and leave on a cooling rack for 2 minutes before turning out onto a plate. Liberally pour over the whisky caramel and serve with vanilla ice cream and raspberries.

For the whisky caramel:

• 50g caster sugar

• 1 tbsp water

• 50ml double cream

• 25g salted butter

• 1/2 tsp vanilla

• Large splash of whisky

Add the sugar and water to a saucepan and heat over a medium heat, swirling often, until the syrup starts to boil. Once it starts colouring, watch it very carefully and take it off the heat once it is a golden amber. Add the butter and cream and stir to prevent clumps. It will spit a bit because of the moisture. If there are hard lumps of sugar, return to a low heat and stir until they have melted. Then remove from the heat and add the vanilla and whisky. Once again, it will spit so stir carefully. If sugar lumps appear, return again to a low heat and stir until smooth then remove from the heat and set aside.