Chocolate Fondue

Apparently it was eventually renamed The Melting Pot and then closed. Boo.

Anyway, Fork & Cork was where I had my first fondue experience. You’d choose your type of fondue - oil or broth - for the meat fondue, then start out with cheese fondue as an appetizer.

I rarely ever had room to follow all THAT up with a dessert fondue, but it was touted as the perfect way to finish out the evening.

The meal fondues were such a decadent treat on their own! I usually left the melted chocolate for its own thing, as a standalone excuse to visit .

On one of those recent occasions, I figured it was a good excuse to whip up a batch of my homemade chocolate fondue!

Besides, I’d have all the stuff on hand for updating my Chocolate Fountain, so really... it was all about efficiency, LOL!

Anyway, this recipe makes an excellent chocolate fondue, with very little time or effort involved. It’ll take you more time to prepare and arrange your dippers, than to actually make this sweet treat!

It’s the perfect chocolate fondue to bring out on special occasions, like Valentine’s Day, Christmas, or New Year’s Eve.

The great thing about this recipe, though, is that it’s easy enough to throw together for a casual movie night at home, too!

Anyway, lots to talk about, so let’s get to it!

Ingredients

This is a really easy recipe, using simple ingredients that you can find in most grocery stores.

Good Quality Chocolate Chips

Chocolate is the star of the show in this delicious fondue, so be sure to use a high quality chocolate.

I’ve written this recipe for milk chocolate, so some good brands of chocolate chips to look for are Guittard Milk Chocolate Chips, Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate Chips, and Callebaut Milk Chocolate Callets.

If you’d like to use your favorite chocolate bar, go ahead - just use as many bars of chocolate as you need, to get the same weight.

Also, chop the chocolate bars up into small, even pieces for the best results when melting.

Really, you can make fondue out of any kind of chocolate, you’ll just want to be aware that the different types of chocolate require different amounts of liquid, to reach the same texture.

If you’re using dark chocolate, bittersweet chocolate, or semi-sweet chocolate, add an extra Tablespoon or so of heavy cream.

If you’d rather use which chocolate chips as your fondue chocolate, cut your heavy whipping cream by a Tablespoon or so.

As for white chocolate, I recommend a couple of the same brands, as I use for milk:

Ghirardelli White Chocolate Chips and Callebaut White Chocolate Callets.

Really, whatever you use, just aim to use high-quality chocolate, for the best flavor.

Heavy Cream

You’ll want to use heavy whipping cream in this recipe, as it needs the fat content in order to not seize the chocolate.

I would NOT recommend swapping in whole milk or any kind of alternative milk (almond milk, etc), though I’ve heard some have success with full fat coconut cream.

Caveat: I haven’t tried it, so I can’t really comment on how successful it would be in a fondue!

Butter

I use butter in my truffle making, as a way to boost the fat content. It just gives the ganache a smoother, creamier texture.

The same principle applies to chocolate fondue recipes!

You can skip the butter if you like, your fondue will still be great - the texture will just be slightly different.

Flavour

As a default, I use Pure Vanilla Extract - and a pinch of salt - in my base chocolate fondue recipe. It elevates the chocolate flavour, without competing with it.

Alternately, there are all kinds of different ways to flavour your ganache - read on to learn more about those options!

Flavour Variations for Chocolate Fondue

There are a few different ways you can customize the flavour of your chocolate fondue.

Before getting into the options, I just want to mention that you should keep your choice of dippers in mind, when flavouring the ganache.

Some flavours are fairly “universal” when it comes to chocolate that will be used for dipping. These flavours are ones that will go well with pretty much anything you’re going to dip in it - whether you’re talking fruit, baked goods, etc.

Others will be a bit more limited.

For example, a peppermint chocolate fondue is a fun, festive option for Christmas ... but that’ll definitely work better with marshmallows, brownies, cookies, etc, than it will with, say, pineapple.

Flavour Extracts

Going beyond vanilla extract, there are all kinds of different flavors you can use in your chocolate fondue, you’ll just want to mind the amounts used.

When it comes to grocery store extracts, some are best at about 2 teaspoon - Vanilla, Lemon Extract, Maple Extract, Orange Extract,Rum Extract, etc.

Other flavors are more intense and require less - use 1 teaspoon for Peppermint Extract, and either 1 or 1 ½ teaspoon for Almond Extract or Anise Extract.

Flavour Oil

Flavour oil is basically like a flavour extract, but far more potent.

Flavor oils are a bit harder to come by than extracts, but can usually be found at your local candy or cake making supply store.

The larger craft chain stores that have a cake decorating section also tend to carry a limited selection of them.

Lorann Oil is the gold standard of flavour oils, and it comes in a LOT more flavours than grocery store extracts do.

As I mentioned, though - flavour oils are MUCH more concentrated than extracts, and you’ll want to keep that in mind when using them.

Where you’ll need 2 teaspoon of extract in this recipe, you’d only need ½-1 teaspoon of flavour oil.

Coffee

Coffee is a great way to add some extra flavor to chocolate ganache. It tends to boost the chocolate flavour, make it taste richer, etc.

There are two main ways to add coffee flavor to your milk chocolate fondue .

The easiest way is to simply measure your desired amount of Instant Expresso Powder into your hot cream, and stir until it’s fully dissolved.

Another option is to steep coffee beans in the cream when you heat it up. After steeping for 10 minutes or so, strain them out and re-measure the cream before stirring it into the chocolate chips.

As you lose some of the cream to the strained coffee beans, you may need to top it up a bit.

Whichever way you do it, use good quality coffee and flavor the cream stronger than you think you’ll need it - the coffee flavor will be diluted by the chocolate flavor, once added to the chips.

Items to Dip in Chocolate Fondue

Half the fun in planning a fondue, is arranging your favorite chocolate fondue dippers! There are all kinds of different things you can serve with your fondue.

Personally, my favorite dippers are all fruit.

In terms of fresh fruit, I love strawberries, banana slices, kiwi slices, orange segments, chunks of fresh pineapple, raspberries, etc.

When it comes to preserved fruit, I love well-drained maraschino cherries, as well as almost any kind of dried fruit - dried apricots, pineapple, and mango, especially.

If you have a batch of my Candied Orange Slices on hand, that’s another tasty - and festive! - option.

Mini Macarons, coconut macaroons, and Rice Krispie Treats are other great options.

If you DON’T need your fondue to be gluten free, consider adding cubes of pound cake or angel food cake.

I’ll usually serve these with a little spoon for the chocolate, to avoid crumbs breaking off in the fondue.

Finally, if salty snacks are more your thing, potato chips and pretzels are always great options. I love the Snyder’s Gluten Free Pretzel Sticks (Plain, NOT honey mustard for this use!)

Equipment to Make Fondue

First off, you’ll need a few basic kitchen items - a heat safe bowl, a small pot, and a spoon, basically. This is what you need to actually make your fondue mixture.

Beyond that, you’ll want something to serve it in, and something to serve it WITH.

When it comes to the serving vessel, aim to have something that has evenly distributed, low level heat.

I’m not a fan of those tea light fondue pots that you see in flea markets and home goods stores.

With that style, there’s no real control over the heat level, and I don’t find it to be an even heat. They tend to be either too not, not hot enough, and/or have hot spots - this can lead to burnt fondue.

Personally, I like a good Electric Fondue Pot.

Pick one that’s well rated and suits your needs in terms of style and size. Some are specifically intended for chocolate fondue.

For us, we love our Electric Fondue Maker Set. It has a removable serving tray for the dippers, adjustable heat, and is easy to clean up. It even comes with little fondue forks!

On that note, whichever fondue pot you get, you’ll want something to dip with. Usually, that’ll be either the aforementioned fondue forks, or a bamboo skewer.

How to Make Chocolate Fondue

The full recipe is in the printable recipe card at the end of this post, here is a visual walk through:

Head’s up: I do NOT recommend using a double boiler for making any kind of ganache, as the risk of water getting into it is too high. Even a drop of water can seize the chocolate, and make it grainy and ruined.

Place your choice of chocolate - chocolate chips, a chopped chocolate bar, etc - into a glass mixing bowl, and put aside.

Measure heavy whipping cream, butter and a pinch of salt into a small saucepan, bring JUST to a boil over medium heat.

Remove from heat, and stir flavor extract(s) or other flavorings of your choice.

Starting in the middle of the bowl, slowly start stirring the chocolate and cream until all of the chocolate is melted the cream disappeared into it – it should be smooth.

Serve with your choice of dippers - enjoy!

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