Chocolate Fondant Recipe with Nori & Ginger

This chocolate fondant recipe with Nori & ginger is neither cake nor mousse but something in the middle. This perfect flavour combo features Nori, also known as Karengo, a red seaweed which is flavourful and nutritious.

Serves 4

Prep time 30 mins, cooking time 40 mins

Ingredients

• 60g unsalted butter, plus extra to coat the fondant moulds (a vegetarian spread will also work)
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 60g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
• 3 tbsp nori flakes
• 20g crystalized ginger, grated
• 1 egg (size 7) and one egg yolk
• 50g caster sugar (or vanilla sugar for extra flavour)
• pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp plain flour (a gluten-free flour mix for cakes will also work)

Directions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200 C and put a baking tray on the middle shelf.
2. Butter the inside of 4 ovenproof Dario moulds (or ramekins), and coat with the cocoa (or you can also make in cake tin as we have done here).
3. Put the butter and chocolate into a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water; make sure the bowl doesn’t touch the boiling water. Stir occasionally until melted. Allow to cool slightly.
4. Add the Nori & the grated ginger and combine.
5. Whisk together the egg and the yolk, sugar and a pinch of salt until pale and fluffy. Gently fold in the melted chocolate & butter mixture and then fold in the flour. Spoon into the prepared moulds, stopping just shy of the top.
6. Put the moulds on to the hot baking tray and cook for 12 minutes, until the tops are set and coming away from the sides of the moulds.
7. Leave to rest for 30 seconds and then serve turn out on to plates, with thickened cream or plain ice cream and fresh strawberries.

Notes

These puddings will not wait around once cooked, but you can prepare everything ahead, even fill the moulds, and cook them when you are readyhere are many other lovely sweet concoctions that can be made using various seaweeds….re-hydrating seaweed in something sweet like a juice, tea or even liqueur, impart to them a flavour (and sometimes a colour) that is perfect for dessert.

Both the seaweed jelly (agar or carrageenan) or the leaves can be really interesting ingredients in desserts. Rehydrated in a ‘sweet’ liquid (juice or fruit tea) seaweeds can be used in cakes, fruit salads or as crystallised or confit garnishes.