Shop Boy's Journey of Culinary Expansion: Chocolate Fondants

I like food and I like to cook.

I have an insanely large crush on Nigella Lawson…and upon meeting her, giggled. Yes, I am a grown man...and I giggled.

This however, is another story.

This little patch of cyberspace is where I will regale you with the Tales of my Culinary Expansion. Whilst I have a passion for food, my weekly menu always seems to be the same. Don’t get me wrong, I am a creature of habit and get anxious if my routine is changed up (yes…I also think I have OCD), so this gastronomical repetition really doesn’t phase me too much, however, I think the time has come for me to put my passion to work on a culinary expansion.

Each week I plan to cook something, be it a meal, dessert, cake, tart, something…anything, that I haven’t cooked before. This week is my Easter Sunday / my dad’s birthday Chocolate Fondants…with Caramel Bananas (recipes from Ben O’Donoghue’s At Home with Ben).

Being Easter, I felt the need to make something decadently chocolate to best celebrate the cocoa side of the religious holiday. Being my father’s birthday a few days back, I also felt something “cake-y” would be an appropriate dessert. How best do I combine these aspects? Gooey, oozing rich chocolate, spilling out of the centre of a cake…yes, Fondants, that’s how. Being greedy, I’ve also decided to whip up some caramel bananas. Lets see how we go.

Three hours later…

I decided it was best to not remind people that fondants are meant to ooze and hoped that my family would simply think fondant was a wanky term for pudding that my vocabulary was currently dabbling with. This turned out to be a good idea. I mean the centre of the fondants were soft and juicy, however the ooze factor sadly wasn’t there. I recommend following the advice of the chef to, a) do a test fondant to ensure the oven is the correct temperature and b) only cook for 9-10 minutes. I got distracted and I’m going to blame the extra two minutes in the oven for the loss of gooey chocolate.

Patience is a virtue required for melting sugar. I do not have said virtue. This is where my problem with the Caramel Bananas began. I then decided adding butter would help speed up the process; it did not; my first batch of caramel turning into fried crystals of sugar. Take two turned out better with patience resulting in a sweet pool of bubbling amber that when mixed with the pecans, bananas and cream created a deliciously rich accompaniment for the Fondants.

Despite a few set backs, it was a surprisingly easy task. I mean the super-mega-best value conjoined dessert of Fondants with Caramel Bananas I would have struggled to notch up 45 minutes of kitchen time.

My one piece of advice is to not attempt Fondants…or caramel bananas for the first time whilst drunk.

Yes, I’m blaming the beer. It is easier that way.