This Chocolate Fondant Cake is a delicious recipe from La Baule, and is possibly one of the most well-kept culinary secrets in France… (updated recipe – January 2019).
La Baule is a picturesque seaside resort town on the Atlantic coast, where beautiful stoned-façade villas and casinos mass along stunning sand beaches. It is a beloved weekend getaway spot for Parisians, who yearn for a slower, sun-bathed atmosphere and some fresh Atlantic air.
In 1980, in his little shop in La Baule, a man known only as “Mr. Denis” invented a chocolate delicacy with a taste and a texture like no other. Its thin crust, velvety texture and delicate notes of salted caramel quickly made this “Fondant Baulois” an institution for locals from La Baule. And since then, most tourists spending their holidays in the beautiful sea-side city have been making it a point to grab a slice of this regional specialty.
The recipe has been kept secret by the family for the past 39 years (which I am sure adds to the whole prestige around it). And there are now many bakers around who attempt to recreate the iconic Chocolate Fondant cake from La Baule.
For my attempt to this recipe, I have drawn inspiration from Bernard’s recipe (one of my favorite French food bloggers), who claims to have found – after many, many tries – the most accurate possible recipe.
After many, many tries myself, I chose to slightly adjust his recipe to create a heftier Fondant Baulois to fit an 8-inch circular pan (Bernard’s recipe is much smaller). It makes for a thick, dense, creamy and deeply chocolatey fondant that bears a signature crust on top. The combination of salted butter and cane sugar delivers the salty caramel notes that are so unique to the Fondant Baulois … and the taste and texture are simply to die for.
Now, is this recipe the true Fondant Baulois? I guess no one could ever really tell – expect for the keepers of the authentic recipe (Marie-Sophie and Stéphane Boullier, developers of the Fondant Baulois trademark). But I like to think the recipe I share, is very, very close.
Unquestionably, this iconic French cake is something you should enjoy at least once in your life – whether you make a visit to beautiful La Baule to grab a slice, or you attempt to make it at home.
Cooking notes:
- This recipe is easy, but it is about precise proportioning – which is why I recommend using a scale so you can work in grams. For the eggs, you need exactly 215g – which is about 4 large eggs. Break the 4 eggs in a separate bowl first, weight them and remove some of the white if needed, to make it exactly 215g.
- Use good-quality dark chocolate; this will make a big difference. I like the 70% cocoa Excellence Dark Chocolate by Lindt (this is not an ad, I simply love it, and it works great in this cake).
- Don’t rush the recipe – the batter needs to rest 2 hours at room temperature before baking. This resting period allows the air bubbles in the batter to gravitate to the top, which will create the thin meringue crust at the top of the cake. Once baked, the cake needs to be chilled overnight to properly set and firm up, before being enjoyed.
- Because this cake is so delicate, you need a spring form pan (8-inch ideally), or it will be quite difficult to remove it from a classic pan).
If you try this Chocolate Fondant Cake from La Baule recipe let me know! Leave a comment or share a photo using #pardonyourfrench on Instagram. Bon Appétit!
A recipe translated and adapted from La Cuisine de Bernard.
27 comments
Great, let me know if you try it !
I can tell from the simple but great ingredients this would be amazing. I’ll make this and take it to the guys at work I think. I promise I’m going to make a three course dinner of some of your recipes soon. I am so glad I found your blog. I get so bored with many of the others always doing the same things.
Thanks so much Sue! This just made my day.
This chocolate cake recipe is phenomenonal, so rich and dense. I could not resist sampling it immediately the first time I made it, and what a mistake that was! The transformation that takes place in the fridge overnight is unbelievable! I’ve made the cake 7-ish times now, and you’re right, the quality of chocolate used is critical. I used 72% Valrhona Araguani and it was hands down better than Trader Joe’s 70%.
Could you help answer my questions?
1- What brand and grain size of cane sugar do you suggest? I’m using a coarse Sugar in the Raw.
2- My cake loses 1/2 its volume about 10 minutes after I take it out of the oven- is this supposed to happen? I don’t like how it looks like “just” an 8 inch round brownie when it’s so much more.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe!
Hi Debbie! Thanks so much for this great feedback, glad to hear you love this recipe!
– For the cane sugar, I like the Wholesome brand, although I have a pack of Zulka pure can sugar in my pantry right now and love it too.
– Yes the cake looses volumes when it cools down; it is perfectly normal. This is why it ends up being so rich and dense. I like mine right out of the fridge (when it’s dense and fudgy), but some like to bring it back to room temp so it’s a bit creamier in texture in the middle.
Hello,
Caner sugar is not avaible in my country so do you have an idea how much beet sugar I could use for the recipe? Thank you very much.
Hi Hande. I never made this cake recipe with beet sugar, but I assume you can use beet sugar to replace cane sugar without changing the measurements in this recipe. The only difference is that cane sugar tend to caramelize better than beet sugar, so you may have a Fondant Cake with less caramel notes. Let me know how it turns out, happy baking!
Thank you! It turned out to be an amazing taste, I can’t forget 😊 With love…
Great! Thank you for your feedback!
I love this cake and I actually have been known not to rest it in the fridge and just enjoy it that evening! My kids love it. It’s the closest I have found to the real thing. And I just ordered your book and can’t wait to try it!
Thanks so much for your feedback, enjoy the book too!
Can this be heated up and served with ice cream?
Of course, what a great idea for serving it!
This is hands down one of the best cakes I’ve eaten. It is exactly how you describe. The top of mine never looks like yours but is a bit smoother. I let it sit out for two hours before baking. Any suggestions? Love your blog.
Hi Tami! Thank you for the great feedback! The smoother top could be from your oven (depending on where the heat comes from). Using convection mode next time could result in a “cracklier” top. I hope this helps!
Hi Audrey, which oven you use fan (convection) oven or conventional ove for this recipe. Also in your other recipes please.
Hi there! Unless otherwise stated, I always use a non-convection oven for all my recipes. Happy baking!
What would cane sugar be called here in France? Thanks!
I always find it marked in bags called “sucre de canne”, I hope this helps!
I’m serving a crowd. Have you ever doubled this recipe? I’ve made it many times but never doubled?
Or perhaps I should just make two cakes? Advice appreciated.
Unfortunately, I haven’t had the experience of doubling this cake, but if I can give some personal advice (and doesn’t mean it’s correct, but just my opinion) – I worry about the texture in the middle if the cake is doubled. I have no idea what the cooking time would change to, or if a temperature adjustment would be required. A cake double the size would be absolutely decadent, but I think some trial and error would be involved in getting that right. Sorry!
You write you use 4 large eggs for 215g. A large egg is usually between 63 and 73g. Taking the higher end, 3 eggs are 219g; minus the shell you are still very close to the target.
If I take 4 eggs, I have to remove a notable amount of egg white, making the eggs yolk-heavy.
I’ll just take 3 eggs, weigh that, and scale the rest of the ingredients. Do you see any downside, other than having to do 4 multiplications?
Hello! Large eggs a touch smaller here in France I’ve found than they are in North America. If your 3 eggs weigh around 219 grams and you’re just removing the shells, you’ll be absolutely fine, a few grams won’t alter the cake. Hope you’ll enjoy it!
As a note, I often just mix the eggs and then measure out the amount I need, if the amount is somewhere inbetween the weight of two eggs. This way it’s not just white or yolk you’re removing, it’s a blend.
First off – thanks for still replying to a 7 year old recipe!
I got around to trying it yesterday. It rose way more than expected. Maybe I whisked the egg and sugar mix too hard and had incorporated too much air (that’s something you hear rarely in baking…). Then it got quite crunchy on top and I was afraid it would be too dry after almost an hour in the oven. But after a night in the fridge it turned out to be great. Thank you for posting the recipe, I very much appreciate your website!
I was wondering: What is the point of letting it rest for 2 hours before baking? It’s not supposed to ferment like a sourdough or yeast dough. Is it just to get rid of large air bubbles? If yes, could that be sped up by knocking the pan against the counter?
This recipe defintiely has a tendancy to rise like crazy and make you wonder, doens’t it? But it always settles and becomes what it is meant to be 🙂 So glad you enjoyed it!
As for the 2hr rest, there is a reason! The resting period allows the air bubbles in the batter to gravitate to the top, which creates that thin meringue crust at the top of the cake. I feel like knocking the pan would likely destory those bubbles, or make them “exit” the cake completely. But you could absolutely try some light tapping and a shorter rest period and see if that works for you.
Hi there! I made this cake today but mine looks completely different when I took it out from the oven. It doesn’t have a crust layer and looks more like a normal chocolate cake 🙁 I adjusted proportions to my 23cm cake pan though. And I think it’s not really wobbly inside. What could I do wrong? I would love to have this delicious crunch and texture next time. Ps. I LOVE YOUR RECIPES!!
It’s hard to say, Vanessa. My best guess would be something slightly off in the proprtion change to a 23cm pan, which likely meant it was too flat and overbaked? Tale as old as time when using different sized pans, I know I’ve had this issue myself many times.
May I ask, are you weighing the ingredients, or using volume measurements?