Before we get to all the fun of what ingredients to use and the legend behind this chocolate treasure let’s get the technical stuff out of the way. A chocolate fountain, to put it very simply, is a large, self-stirring fondue pot. To be a little more precise it is a stainless steel device standing on average 12 to 52 inches high that usually houses a basin on the bottom that is heated from underneath, a vertical corkscrew auger (picture an upward rotating spiral staircase) run by an internal motor, and multiple tiers of varying sizes, fitting over the auger, that the chocolate flows over. So the journey of the chocolate goes like this: it stars in the basin where it is melted to a perfect smooth and creamy texture, once the consistency is just right it is carried up the height of the fountain by the auger, next comes the climactic liberation over the tiers where it cascades from level to level in curtains of inviting sweetness, and finally is falls delicately back into the basin where it starts the adventure all over again. Your part in all this would be to stand near the fountain, skewer and plate in hand, and plunge your various treats through the curtains in order to cover them with the flowing melted chocolate, then savor slowly and do it again!
