Cooking with Colm O'Gorman: How to make a chocolate cake in your air fryer 

If you thought an air fryer was only for making chips and chicken wings, this week’s recipe will blow your mind.

This gorgeous chocolate fondant takes less than thirty minutes to prepare.

 An air fryer is essentially a small, powerful fan oven. It circulates hot air faster than a regular fan oven, and as a result, it cooks food more quickly. It can ‘fry’, roast, dehydrate and of course bake. It really is a very versatile tool.

This gorgeous chocolate fondant takes less than thirty minutes to prepare and bake and tastes incredible. The little hit of chilli in this fondant is stunning, chocolate and chilli are just a fabulous flavour combination. I use smoked chilli flakes produced by Frank Hederman in his Belvelly Smokehouse on Great Island in Cork for this dish. You can order them online, and they are fabulous. I use them a lot in both savoury and sweet dishes. Hederman also produces the best smoked paprika I have ever tasted, so grab some of that as well if you can.

Chocolate Fondant is one of those desserts that is often presented as quite technical and challenging to make, which is frankly, rubbish. I blame TV cookery competitions for that myth but ignore that nonsense and give this recipe a go. There are just a few ingredients, and it only takes about fifteen minutes to put together and eight minutes to bake. In less than thirty minutes you can serve up a rich, gooey, chocolate fondant. It is the perfect dinner party dessert or just a lovely indulgent treat. This recipe makes four fondants, but you can scale it up or down easily to suit yourself.

If you want to make a gluten-free dessert, just skip the flour in this recipe and you will end up with a beautiful Chilli Chocolate Soufflé. I discovered this when I was developing the recipe. I accidentally left out the flour when making my first test batch. The batter rose beautifully, and the end result was a gorgeous light and airy soufflé. An example of the good things that can come from making a mistake in the kitchen. At worst a mistake when following a recipe is a chance to learn a lesson, but at best, you might stumble upon something new and delicious.

Next time, I make these I am going to add a little orange zest, which I think will be delicious. You could add a little alcohol if you want an even more indulgent dessert. Skip the chilli perhaps and add some coffee liqueur, that would be wonderful.

Use good quality dark chocolate with at least 70% cocoa solids when making fondants. Milk chocolate or a lighter dark chocolate will not give you the depth of flavour you need for this decadent dessert.

Air Fryer Chilli Chocolate Fondant Cake

recipe by:Colm O'Gorman

Yes, you can make cake in your air fryer

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 8 mins

Total Time

 18 mins

Course

 Baking

Ingredients

• 50g butter

• 50g dark chocolate

• ½ tsp smoked chilli flakes

• 1 large egg plus the yolk of another

• 60g caster sugar

• 1 tsp vanilla essence

• 50g plain flour

• Cocoa powder to dust the ramekins

Method

1. Melt a tablespoon of butter in the microwave. Use a pastry brush to coat the inside of four ramekins with butter and pop them in the fridge to cool for about ten minutes. Chop the chocolate and fifty grams of butter into pieces and pop them into a metal bowl. Place the bowl over a pan of boiling water. Use a bowl that can sit on top of rather than inside the saucepan, as you do not want the bowl sitting in the water.

2. When the butter and chocolate have melted, remove the blow from the heat and stir to combine thoroughly. Add the vanilla essence and stir that in as well. Put the egg, egg yolk and sugar in another blow and use an electric whisk to beat them until they are pale, creamy, and thick. This will take three to four minutes. When the mixture is thick and creamy and forms ribbons as you remove the blades of your whisk, it is ready.

3. Pour the chocolate and butter mixture into the whipped eggs and sugar and use a spatula to fold them together. Do this gently as you want to keep as much air as possible in the batter. Sieve the flour and then fold it into the batter until it is fully combined.

4. Remove the ramekins from the fridge. Pop some cocoa powder into one, and then turn it on its side and rotate it to fully coat the inside with cocoa powder. Tip the residue cocoa into the next ramekin and repeat, adding more cocoa powder as needed until the insides of all four ramekins are well dusted with cocoa.

5. Heat your air fryer to 190°C and let it run for five minutes. Divide the batter equally between the ramekins. Pop them into the air fryer and bake them for no more than eight minutes. Remove them for the air fryer and run a butter knife around the inside of the ramekins before turning them out onto serving plates. Do not let the fondants sit before removing them from the ramekins as they will continue to cook, and you risk losing that lovely gooey centre. Serve them immediately with some vanilla ice cream and a dusting of cocoa powder.