GBBO 2017 Week 5 - Peanut Butter Chocolate Fondants

The technical challenge of dessert week on the Great British Bake Off was to bake perfect melt-in-the-middle Peanut Butter Chocolate Fondants. Fondants are notoriously difficult to bake as you have a tiny window of time when they go from being uncooked cake batter, to the perfect goo, to a solid chocolate cake I don't have pudding basins, which were used in the tent, so used ramekins instead.

These are far cheaper, and can be used for serving condiments as well as for baking souffles etc. (I.E. they are a lot more useful). My recipe makes two fondants, so perfect for a dinner date. However, you can easily scale up the recipe if you're having lots of guests over.

They can be prepared the day before you need them - after making the batter and dividing between the ramekins/moulds, cover them in clingfilm and chill until you need them. Just add a minute to the baking time to compensate for the starting temperature when they go in the oven.

Makes 2

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp cocoa powder, for dusting
• 40g (1/4 cup) dark chocolate 70% cocoa solids
• 40g (3 tbsp) unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
• 1 medium eggs
• 1 medium egg yolk
• 30g (2 tbsp) caster sugar
• 2 tsp plain flour
• 2 heaped tsp smooth peanut butter

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 200°C(180°C fan)/392°F/Gas Mark 6. Grease two individual pudding moulds or ramekins with butter and dust the insides with cocoa powder. Place in the fridge whilst you prepare the filling.

2. Melt the chocolate and butter together in a bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water. Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly.

3. Whisk the eggs, egg yolks and caster sugar together in a large bowl using an electric whisk, until thick and mousse like (and when you lift the whisk from the mixture, a ribbon of mixture lies on top of the mixture and is visible for a few seconds).

4. Carefully fold the cooled melted chocolate and butter into the egg and sugar mixture. Finally sieve the flour over the top and fold in, taking care not to knock the air out of the mixture.

5. Divide two thirds of the mixture equally between the prepared moulds (it will only fill them about halfway). Spoon a heaped teaspoon of peanut butter into the middle of each mould and spoon over the remaining chocolate mixture. If not using immediately, cover in cling film and chill until needed. Add an extra minute to the baking time if you chill the fondants prior to cooking.

6. Place the puddings on a baking tray and bake for 8-12 minutes, until the puddings are risen but not cracked. They should still have a slight wobble.

7. Turn out the puddings and serve. You could make this extra delicious by serving with some vanilla ice cream (YUM).

8. Enjoy!