Dark Chocolate Fondue

Use good quality dark chocolate - it's the star. Don't let cream boil or it may scorch. Grand Marnier adds orange notes but any liqueur works. Keep fondue warm but not hot or chocolate will seize. Dry fruit thoroughly - water causes chocolate to seize.

Chocolate fondue was invented by Swiss restaurateur Konrad Egli in the 1960s as a promotional collaboration with Toblerone, the Swiss chocolate brand known for its distinctive triangular bar representing the Matterhorn. Wikipedia confirms Egli created it at his Chalet Suisse restaurant in New York City to help sell Toblerone chocolate in the American market; the original preparation combined Toblerone chocolate with heavy cream and brandy. This places chocolate fondue firmly in the history of mid-20th-century culinary marketing rather than Swiss alpine tradition — unlike cheese fondue, which has genuine centuries-old Swiss Alpine origins. The cheese fondue craze that swept American homes in the late 1960s and early 1970s created both the infrastructure (fondue pots in nearly every American kitchen) and the cultural framework that allowed chocolate fondue to be positioned as the dessert extension of the savory Swiss dining experience. The combination of dark chocolate with fresh fruit and cream for dipping draws on European confectionery traditions of serving chocolate with seasonal fruit, documented in 19th-century French and Belgian chocolate culture. The romantic association of chocolate fondue — two people sharing one pot, feeding each other pieces of fruit — reflects the mid-century American cultural linking of shared food with intimacy.