Damson Chocolate Fondant by Chef Simon Rogan
A refined twist on the classic molten chocolate dessert, Chef Simon Rogan’s chocolate fondants pair rich dark chocolate with a vibrant damson centre that melts into the cake as it bakes. Elegant yet deeply comforting, the recipe balances intense cocoa richness with the bright, slightly tart flavour of late-season damsons.
Ingredients
Damson filling:
- 300 g damsons
- 2 heaped tbsp caster sugar
Chocolate fondant:
- 250 g unsalted butter plus extra softened butter for greasing
- 3 tbsp cocoa powder plus extra for dusting
- 250 g dark chocolate (60% cocoa solids), broken into pieces
- 5 eggs plus 5 additional egg yolks
- 125 g caster sugar
- 100 g plain flour
Instructions
For the Mould Prep:
- Brush six dariole or pudding moulds evenly with softened butter. Place on a baking tray and chill the moulds for 10 minutes in the fridge until the butter has set. Once set, brush them again with softened butter and dust the insides with the cocoa powder, tapping out any excess. Chill the moulds again until required.
For the Damson Filling:
- To make the damson filling, put the damsons and 100ml (⅓ cup + 1 tbsp) water in a medium, heavy-based saucepan and bring to the boil over a medium heat. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook the fruit for 10–12 minutes.
- Strain the cooked damsons through a fine sieve into a clean, heavy-based saucepan, pushing as much of the pulp as you can through the sieve using the back of a spoon or ladle. Discard the damson stones.
- Add the sugar to the damson juice and cook over a low–medium heat for 15–20 minutes until the mixture has the consistency of jam.
- Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly. Divide the damson mixture between six 20 ml (4 tsp) ice-cube moulds and transfer to the freezer until hard.
For the Chocolate Fondant:
- While the damson filling is freezing, melt the butter and chocolate together in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water (make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water), stirring regularly.
- While the chocolate is melting, whisk the whole eggs, egg yolks and sugar in a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment on high speed until pale, light, fluffy and quadrupled in size.
- Transfer the mixture to a bowl and gently fold the melted butter and chocolate mixture through the eggs. Once fully incorporated, sift in the flour and fold through again.
- Put the fondant mixture in the fridge for 10 minutes and preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C Fan/Gas Mark 4 (350°F/325°F fan-forced).
- Keeping the moulds on the tray, pour 50–60g (3-4 tbsp) of the chilled fondant mixture into the bottom of each chilled mould (about halfway), gently add 1 frozen damson cube and cover each cube with 50–60g (3-4 tbsp) of fondant mixture.
- Bake the fondants for 12–13 minutes, then remove from the oven and allow to sit in the mould for 2 minutes before turning out on to plates.
- Serve immediately, dusting with cocoa powder.
Notes
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