Fondue is inherently romantic, calling for candlelight and sharing food from the same dish and nibbling delicate amounts and feeding your partner.  Traditionally, fondue is a dish from Switzerland, France and Italy in which you dip breads into cheese that is kept warm and melted over a small portable stove. But in recent years, a new, delicious and sublimely romantic twist to the dish has become popular: chocolate fondue. What better way to use up all that Easter chocolate?

You’ll need a fondue pot, to ensure the chocolate remains at melting point, and skewers for the foods you dip in. Other than that, the equipment needs are basic, and your focus is all on the food!

The chocolate:

The richer and more expensive, the better! I add in a good dash of heavy cream to the mix as well to lighten it up. You can also melt in coconut, honey, caramel,  marshmallow, cinnamon, chilli, vanilla extract, orange zest, coffee and/or liqueurs.

The dippers:

Try these:

• Banana chunks (frozen work well)
• Biscotti
• Bread and cake (a little stale works best)
• Doughnut balls
• Dried apricots
• Fresh pineapple chunks
• Frozen cheesecake cut into cubes
• Marshmallows
• Meringues
• Orange segments
• Pear quarters
• Peppermint creams
• Popcorn
• Pretzels
• Slices of waffle
• Strawberries
• Truffles

Don’t forget to follow the tradition for fondues: if a man loses his dipper in the pot, he buys drinks all around, and if a woman does, she must kiss her neighbour. What a wonderful excuse, ladies, to ‘lose’ a bit of fruit…