How to Make an Easy Chocolate Fondue
Serve the Melted Chocolate Dessert with Fruit, Cake, or Cookies
Nov 12, 2009
Not long ago, when people heard the word "fondue," they usually thought instantly of the traditional Swiss dish of melted cheese served with bread cubes for dipping. But the word fondue, which means "melted" in French, also refers to chocolate fondue, which has become so popular in recent years that it has all but eclipsed the cheese version, especially for party entertaining.
A fondue party is easy and fun to prepare. The chocolate mixture itself is ready to serve in less than half an hour. The only advance preparation required is cleaning fruit and cutting it up into bite-sized pieces for dipping, along with any other dippables, including good-quality pound cake, either homemade or bakery-bought.
How to Serve Fondue
Once melted, the chocolate mixture goes into a traditional fondue pot, kept warm by a candle or canister of Sterno placed beneath it or, in more modern models, by an electric element. Small crockpots or slow cookers are also good for keeping the fondue molten.
Set out long forks, or just an assortment of attractive long toothpicks or skewers for dipping. Be sure to make spoons available, too, so guests can more easily fish out any bites that drop into the pot.
Chocolate Fondue Recipe
Serves 10 to 12
Ingredients:
- 1/2 pound good-quality unsweetened chocolate, broken or chopped into small pieces
- 1/2 pound good-quality semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, broken or chopped into small pieces
- 2 1/2 cups superfine sugar
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2/3 cup framboise (raspberry liqueur) or other fruit-flavored liqueur
Directions:
- Put the chocolate, sugar, cream, butter, and salt in the top half of a double boiler over but not touching barely simmering water. Cook, stirring frequently, until the chocolate and butter have melted and the sugar has dissolved completely, 10 to 12 minutes.
- Carefully stir in the framboise until thoroughly blended, keeping the liqueur away from the stove's heating element.
- Transfer the mixture to a fondue pot. Serve immediately. Or hold the mixture, covered, at room temperature and gently reheat over the double boiler before serving with assorted treats for dipping, chosen from the options that follow.
Fresh Fruit for Dipping in Fondue
Be sure to get fruit that's not only ripe but also firm, so it doesn't disintegrate when dipped. Allow at least 1/2 cup of fresh fruit per guest. Choices include:
- Strawberries. Leave the stems on as convenient dipping handles.
- Other berries. Raspberries, boysenberries, and blackberries make excellent choices.
- Bananas. Cut into bite-sized chunks, they go wonderfully with chocolate. Peel and cut up just before serving, so they don't have time to turn brown.
- Melon. Try firm but ripe pieces of cantaloupe or honeydew.
- Grapes. Choose seedless red or green grapes.
- Tropical fruit. As long as they are fairly firm, fruit like mango, papaya, and pineapple are excellent for dipping.
Baked Goods
Check out the local gourmet shop, bakery, or supermarket for a range of options including:
- Pound cake or angel food cake. Cut them into 1- to 1 1/2-inch cubes and arrange on a tray near the fondue pot. One 10- to 12-inch loaf of pound cake or 1 small ring-shaped angel food cake should be sufficient.
- Cookies. Look for plain but flavorful varieties that lend themselves to dunking by hand, such as ladyfingers, madeleines, shortbreads, or biscotti. Animal crackers are also delightful choices. Allow several cookies per guest.
Dried Fruits and Nuts
In all, allow about 1/2 cup of assorted fruits and nuts per person. Arrange them on a tray. Options include:
- Dried or candied fruit. Consider apricots, pineapple chunks or spears, peaches, pears, papaya spears, figs, prunes, and so on.
- Nuts. These go great with chocolate, though present some challenges for dipping. Walnut and pecan halves are fairly easy to impale on the sharp ends of fondue forks. For other kinds of nuts, offer the option of long sundae spoons.
Don't forget the old fondue rule, too: Whenever a guest drops a dippable into the fondue pot, she or he owes a kiss to everyone else!
(Looking for other great chocolate treats? Check out How to Make Chocolate Truffles, Chocolate Shortbreads, or Hot Chocolate!)
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