Macadamia Chocolate Fondant-Style Cake

I’ve made this recipe more times than I can count in our magical Parisian apartment, adjusting something with every attempt, and I can finally say it’s exactly where I want it to be, and you’re about to fall in love with it too. It’s a fondant-style chocolate cake (dairy-free) that I received from Jade Genin, daughter of Jacques Genin, one of the finest chocolatiers in Paris.

Jade grew up in her father’s chocolate laboratory. I remember her as a little girl darting between the workers, spending hours among the tempering machines and enrobing equipment, surrounded by her father’s famous chocolate bonbons and caramel candies.

But unlike other celebrated French families in the world of chocolate and pastry, Jade chose a very different professional path. She studied law, built a career as a corporate attorney, and only after several years decided to return to her roots. In 2019, she came back to the laboratory where she grew up, above Jacques’ shop in the northern Marais, underwent intensive hands-on training, and became her father’s right hand in the world of chocolate.

In 2022, she opened her own chocolaterie bearing her name on Avenue de l’Opéra in Paris, developing a distinct personal style. One of her most celebrated creations is the “Pyramidions,” chocolate bonbons shaped like the tip of the obelisk in Place de la Concorde, filled with a range of surprising and inventive flavors. She works exclusively with natural ingredients, no additives, and weaves in influences from her travels around the world to create an identity that is entirely her own, clearly distinct from her father’s.

And why do I call it a fondant-style cake rather than simply a fondant? Because it doesn’t quite fit the classic definition. It’s a variation on the famous French fondant, both in its ingredients and in the way it’s baked.

Over the years I’ve written extensively about the differences between chocolate soufflé, mi-cuit, and chocolate fondant, three wonderful desserts that many people confuse with one another. So before you make this dangerously good cake, here’s a quick guide:

Chocolate Soufflé – based on whipped egg whites, dramatically puffed and full of air (hence the name). Because it’s filled with air, it collapses within seconds of leaving the oven, which is why so few restaurants serve it.

Mi-Cuit (literally “half-cooked”) – the dessert you’ll find on the menu at countless restaurants: a small chocolate cake baked for a relatively short time. Because of that brief bake, the inside stays liquid, and when you break it open with a spoon it spills across the plate. Since “half-cooked” is a slightly odd name for a dessert, the translation never quite caught on, and it goes by many names: lava cake, chocolate soufflé, chocolate fondant, warm chocolate cake. The correct translation from French is “half-cooked,” but if you want a catchier name, chocolate fondant is the closest equivalent.

Chocolate Fondant – an intensely moist chocolate cake made with very few dry ingredients. Unlike the airy soufflé or the flowing mi-cuit, its texture is velvety, dense, and slightly sticky (the kind that clings gently to the palate), the result of caramelization that develops during a longer, lower-temperature bake.

Macadamia Chocolate Fondant-Style Cake
16 cm ring, 6 cm height

Ingredients
Chocolate Fondant-Style Cake:
170g quality dark chocolate (70% recommended)
100g neutral coconut oil (no smell or flavor)
Seeds from half a vanilla bean
60g egg yolks (approximately 3 medium eggs)
110g powdered sugar (divided: 90g + 20g)
65g ground almond
5g fleur de sel
5g baking powder
160g egg whites (approximately 5 medium eggs)

Chocolate Glaçage:
75g dark chocolate
75g milk chocolate
40g canola or sunflower oil

Approximately 100g roasted macadamia nuts

Preparation
1. Chocolate Fondant-Style Cake: Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease the ring and place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
2. Melt the chocolate, coconut oil, and vanilla over a bain-marie. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
3. Add the egg yolks and stir vigorously so they don’t scramble. Set aside.
4. Whip the egg whites, gradually adding 20g of powdered sugar. Whip until very stiff peaks form.
5. Fold a small amount of the whipped egg whites into the melted chocolate to lighten the mixture. Gently fold in the remaining egg whites.
6. Combine the dry ingredients: 90g powdered sugar, ground almond, fleur de sel, and baking powder.
7. Add the dry ingredients to the chocolate mixture and fold together. Unlike a mousse, there’s no need to preserve airiness here, the batter will deflate, and that’s perfectly fine.
8. Pour the batter into the ring and bake for approximately 25 to 30 minutes, until the surface is dry but the inside is still very soft. Cool to room temperature and unmold.
9. Chocolate Glaçage: Melt the chocolate over a bain-marie, remove from heat, add the oil, and stir until smooth and glossy.
10. Pour a little of the glaçage over the top of the cake and arrange the macadamia nuts however you like. The glaçage acts as a kind of glue, anchoring the nuts to the cake.
11. Place the cake in the freezer for about half an hour.
12. Remove from the freezer and pour the remaining chocolate glaçage over the top (if it has set while the cake was in the freezer, warm it gently before using).
13. Wait until the glaçage has fully hardened, then slice and serve.

Jade Genin:
33 Av. de l’Opéra,
75002 Paris

Bon-Appétit
Sharon