Chocolate fondants, sometimes know as chocolate melt in the middle puddings or chocolate lava cakes have been my favourite dessert forever. The contrast of the molten sauce, spongy pudding and cool cleansing vanilla ice cream altogether in one mega mouthful is unbeatable. Although chocolate is my first molten pudding love, this white chocolate and pistachio melt in the middle pudding is a close second. I am a pistachio fiend and can and will work this flavour into any recipe given half the chance. I found it strange that I had never seen a white chocolate pistachio version of this globally worshiped dessert so a few years ago I started experimenting to create one. After around 5 attempts across 2 years, I have finally pinned down a formulation I am thrilled with.

This recipe for white chocolate and pistachio fondant is made from whole pistachios, and flavoured and coloured with nothing else (except a dash of good vanilla).

I am a proud and fully paid up member of the pistachio police, whose mandate comprises the prevention of the use of artificial pistachio colours and flavours, and the protection of the public from knock off pistachio products.

Joking. But also not joking. My love of all things pistachio does not extend to the fluorescent green variety packed full of cheap almond extract and that has almost certainly never seen a pistachio in its life. I have been disappointed in my life many times by a pistachio dessert. I once had an amazing meal in a well known London restaurant and was ready to proclaim it deserving of a michelin star when out came the nasty bright green almond flavoured ‘pistachio’ ice cream I had ordered for dessert. So close. More recently in Geneva when out to dinner with my mother who was visiting me from London we were served a pistachio cake at the end of our meal that the hostess swore blind was made with pistachio paste, but was unequivocally an almond cake dyed green with food colouring. Sigh.

So readers, the moral of the story is it is a wild world out there when it comes to pistachio flavoured fare, and the safest option is to make your own. I am very pleased to share with you my recipe for pistachio lava cake, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. I have paired the pistachio fondant cake with cooked berry fruits that have been spiked with brandy. The combination of the rich and nutty cake with the kick of the brandy berries is wonderful (and dare I say it on November 2nd, a tad festive) and when you add in a scoop of your favourite vanilla ice cream, it really is game over.

A quick word about equipment. The pudding moulds basins I used have been in my family kitchen forever, and I am not sure where they are from or if they are the standard size. If you find that you have filled 6 of your moulds and you have mixture leftover, do extra puddings but take a minute or two off the baking time as your puddings are smaller than mine. Conversely, if you make less than 6 with the mixture, add a minute or two on to the baking time.

The pudding is ready when the middle looks wobbly but you can touch it lightly with your finger without it sticking to you.

Enjoy this recipe, and if you have any questions please direct message me on instagram @gggsarah.

Make sure to tag @gggsarah if you make this! I would be delighted to see your version!

Recipe

Pistachio and white chocolate melt in the middle pudding

makes 6 individual puddings

Pistachio cream:

50g pure pistachio paste (from 50g pistachios)

100g white choc

Two tablespoon milk

Rest of the mixture:

100g melted butter

4 medium eggs

2 teaspoon Vanilla paste

85g pistachio flour (from 85g pistachio)

50g tablespoons plain flour

75g caster sugar

Small pinch of salt

Brandy Berry syrup:

50g blueberries

100g blackberries

2 tablespoons of caster sugar

3 tablespoons of brandy (2 to be added before the berries are cooked and 1 to be added at the end)

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Serve with:

Vanilla icecream

A dusting of icing sugar over the top

Brandy berries

Method:

Weigh out all the ingredients. This will mean you can add everything in quick succession to avoid the batter sitting.
Make pistachio flour. Blend 85g of shelled, unsalted pistachios until a fine flour is obtained. Set aside
Make pistachio paste. Blend 50g of pistachios until a paste is achieved. Use a strong blender or spice grinder and scrape down the sides regularly. This process may take some time but eventually the crumbs will look damp, then clump and finally ball up and then turn into a paste. Set aside
Make the brandy berry syrup - place the fruit, sugar, 2 out of the 3 tablespoons of brandy, and water into a small sauce pan. Place on a medium-low heat and swirl occasionally until the fruit has cooked and softened (but not lost its identity totally) and a deep, dark red syrup has formed. Continue to cook until the syrup is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon like maple syrup). Set aside for a few minutes to cool then add the remaining tablespoon of brandy and the lemon juice. Set aside
Prep your pudding moulds. Grease the inside of 6 moulds with room temperature butter and your fingers. Dust flour inside and tap out the excess. Place them on a baking sheet and set aside
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees
Make the pistachio cream. In a saucepan add the pistachio paste, the white chocolate and the milk and place on a very very gentle heat. Using a spatula mix and mash the chocolate and paste, removing from the heat often so as not to scorch the chocolate. Continue to do this until a smooth homogenous cream has formed.
Melt the butter and add it to the cream in the saucepan. Add the ground pistachio, the eggs (lightly beaten first), the vanilla, a pinch of salt and mix with a whisk. Lastly add the flour and whisk again until the mix is homogenous (a few seconds)
Spoon the mixture into the moulds dividing evenly and leaving at least a cm space at the top. The mixture fills 6 of my moulds but depending on the size this will vary.
Set the syrup on a very low heat to reheat for a minute only. Set aside
Bake the puddings for 11 minutes only. Remove the puddings as soon as the timer goes and invert and un mould onto plates after 30 seconds. I wear a rubber glove to allow me to touch the hot puddings immediately.
Serve with vanilla icecream and the brandy berries and finish with a dusting of icing sugar over the puddings