Instructions

1. To prepare dishes, brush each small 125ml/4½fl oz ramekin generously with melted butter. Place ramekins in fridge or freezer until butter has set. Brush ramekins with more melted butter then spoon in about 1 tsp of cocoa into each ramekin, tip ramekin around so that cocoa coats the inside completely. Tip out excess cocoa then set ramekins aside.
2. Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6.
3. Place chocolate and butter in a small heatproof bowl. Set bowl over a pot of simmering water, making sure the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl. Melt chocolate and butter, stirring occasionally until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in the sugar. Leave to cool, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.
4. Add eggs and egg yolks and whisk in until thoroughly combined. Sift in flour and salt, whisk in until just combined.
5. Spoon mixture evenly between ramekins then place on a baking tray. Bake puddings for 12 minutes exactly. Puddings should have risen above rim of ramekins and will have started to pull away from the sides.
6. Remove from oven and gently run a sharp knife around the inside of each ramekin to loosen pudding from the sides. Carefully turn out chocolate fondants onto serving plates then dust each with a bit of cocoa. Serve immediately with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream or dollop of thickened cream.
7. Puddings can be prepared ahead of time, and once mixture is spooned into dishes, cover the top of each ramekin with clingfilm and leave to chill in the fridge, for anywhere between 10 minutes to overnight. Uncooked puddings can also be frozen until needed. Bake puddings as above if chilled, or add 5 minutes if baking from frozen.