Moelleux au Chocolat

by Taina
(Florida)

I have a question about the recipe, I thought it was delicious when I finished cooking it, but I was just curious and was wondering what region or city of France does it come from? Where is it mostly eaten?

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Hi Taina,

Thanks for writing to me with your question.

The moeulleux au chocolat, or fondant au chocolat as it is sometimes called, was first developed in the early 1980's by Michel Bras, a highly reputed French chef.

Working in his kitchen in the Aveyron region, Chef Bras spent several years perfecting his recipe. He has said that he was trying to capture the delicious warming emotion of a cup of hot chocolate after a day in the cold.

The chef's perfected recipe involves placing a frozen ball of chocolate ganache in the center of the chocolate cake batter. The result was so delicious that it was of course copied and soon spread all over France. You can now find a moelleux au chocolat on restaurant menus everywhere in the Hexagon.

Of course, not everyone is as enterprising as Chef Bras, and the recipe has frequently been reworked into something much simpler. The results, I am sure are less refined than the original, but nonetheless good.

For those of you ready to try an easier version of the recipe, here it is: Chocolate Lava Cake Recipe.

Hope that answers your question Taina and happy cooking!

Kind Regards,

Kim

Reference: Jérôme Estèbe, "Le destin prodigieux du fondant au chocolat", in the "Tribune de Genève, May 22, 2009, page 36.

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