Recipe - Chocolate fondant with lavender flower cream

 The perfect spring dessert

Yay for Spring! The lavender is out, the bees are dropping in again and the balcony plants are bursting back into life.

The lavender variety I'm growing has large soft lilac flowers with a gentler aroma than the tight hedge variety. The flowers are perfect stirred through some cream and served with a luscious oozy chocolate pudding.

Recipe: Chocolate fondant with lavender blossom cream

Ingredients:

350 g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

50g soft butter

150g caster sugar

4 eggs, lightly beaten

2 tablespoons plain flour

For lavender blossom cream

1 cup of thick cream

1 tablespoon caster sugar

5-6 lavender flower buds

Method:

To make the lavender cream: beat the cream and sugar with a whisk until it is thick. Stir in the lavender flowers and set aside in the fridge for the flavours to infuse.

Grease 6 dariole moulds and place them on a baking tray.

Melt the chocolate by placing a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water making sure the bowl does not touch the water.

Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs. Add the flour and mix well. Add the melted chocolate and beat to form a smooth batter.

Divide the chocolate mixture evenly between the 6 moulds. At this stage the fondants can be set aside in the fridge for up to a day.

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.

Place the fondants in the preheated oven for 18-20 minutes. Check them by inserting a skewer. They should still be gooey and runny in the middle. They should be cooked at least a 1cm in from the edge.

When ready, turn the dariole moulds on to a plate and serve with a dusting of icing sugar and a large dollop of the lavender cream.

If the word fondant made you break out into a cold sweat in the past you have got to try this recipe.

Fail safe, delicious .. your friends and family will swoon...