Chocolate Fondue Fountain - The Night One Came To Dinner

Author: Stephen Turner

Chocolate fondue fountains are all the rage these days, unless you hadn't noticed. A friend is renting a chocolate fondue fountain for her wedding, the news of which sparked off my new born interest in the phenomena that is the 'chocolate fondue fountain'. A chocolate fondue fountain can be an eye catching, mouth watering central feature for all sorts of social occasions, parties and events. After I was introduced to the concept, I thought, 'Why wait to the wedding?' I just had to see what all the fuss was about right now. So I hired a chocolate fondue fountain for a night and invited a few friends around to test it, and this article records what happened.

We got the chocolate fondue fountain out of the box easy enough and it revealed itself to be a stainless steel structure with three tiers with an overall height of about 15 inches top to bottom. It looked harmless enough so we proceeded to plug it in. Power was provided by the usual three-pin socket.

So now the science: the chocolate gets plonked into the basin, gets heated there and then carried to the top of the fountain via a rotating internal shaft. (My internet research later revealed the shaft to be a form of Archimedes screw). However, there are other ways of getting the chocolate to the top of the fountain, namely a pump (the most common method). The box for our chocolate fondue fountain said that a screw had been chosen over a pump because the screw eliminates the possibility of blockages associated with some pumps, so the fountain will always flow smoothly. (My internet research revealed a general preference for quality auger-style pumps amongst the more pricey chocolate fondue fountains.)

A big surprise was that any melting chocolate will do - you don't have to have special chocolate fondue fountain chocolate. We had armed ourselves with 900g - just to get started, although our we go so stuck in that this did not last long and someone had to be requisitioned to the all night garage for more just after 1.00am. Our experience has confirmed the universal view amongst chocolate fondue fountain aficionados that when it comes to chocolate, the more the merrier, since you need a fair amount to get a good flow and a respectable looking fountain. We were having a party after all.

Some bright spark suggested adding a dash of vegetable oil to the mix to make the chocolate flow easier, and the tests were conclusive that this did work to loosen up the flow. A party being a party, someone usually gets carried away and this someone decided to add alcohol. Bad move - and things had been going so smoothly. Our river of running chocolate turned into clotted lump of muck faster than a round of tequila slammers. You live and learn.

Final verdict

Visual impact: 10/10

Popularity 10/10.

Ease of set up and operation 9/10

Versatility 9/10: we tried putting various things into the falling curtain of chocolate, including marshmallows, pineapple, strawberries, and cake. Shame about the alcohol.

So go hire one or better still go right in to a shop and buy one. There are bargains to be had out there, and it is the opinion of this reviewer that if a chocolate fondue fountain comes to dinner, you won't be disappointed.