Knowledge Base > Fran Costigan - Vegan Desserts: Ask Me Anything!

Vegan Desserts: Ask Me Anything!

Fran Costigan - Vegan Desserts: Ask Me Anything!

This event was on Tuesday, September 09, 2025 at 1:00 pm Pacific, 4:00 pm Eastern

Get ready to satisfy your sweet tooth, without eggs, dairy or refined white sugar! Join us for a special Ask Me Anything live event with Rouxbe Director of Vegan Pastry, renowned veg… Read More.

Recorded

Question:

How can I do a "fondant au chocolat" as plant-based? Can you suggest a good cooking/serving strategy?

— Tiziano Tomasetti

Answer:

I have done that, but I want to say that my chocolate cakes are very, very moist to start with. And I, you know, everybody's taste or everybody's likes and dislikes are different. We are all different. We, we can tell if something's awful, that's for sure. But you know, I, I would have four people over here when I was teaching in person say that chocolate was good, but it was too dark. And four people over here who would say that chocolate was good, but it was too bitter. So that kind of thing. I don't actually love cakes with that kind of gooey center. But what I do, because so many people like them, is I bake a chocolate cake or mini I here. I like prefer small ones. So let's say a muffin size or a cupcake size, I get the cake frozen, I cut out the center. It's easier to cut cakes when they're very cold. And then I take a one of my vegan truffles, uh, ganache, which is an emulsion of heavy cream and chocolate, depending on the percentage of dairy, you know, non-dairy milk and the chocolate. You're going to get either a pouring ganache like this or a truffle. And, um, I put a truffle inside the cake that I have cut. I put the piece that I cut back on and I put it back into the oven until it's warm. And it really works beautifully. It's just the same thing to me as the fondant.
Fran Costigan

Fran Costigan

Director of Vegan Pastry

FranCostigan.com