Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Chocolate Lava Cake

This is the most unhealthy thing ever. But also the most delicious. I crave this like crazy. At least it's not fried . . .
I always use this recipe off of Famous French Desserts. I'm always afraid the website won't exist anymore, so I'm rewriting it here. Oh, and I don't have a double boiler, and I don't pretend to make one. I just put it on super low heat and stir constantly. It all melts fast.

6 oz. Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate (or use your favorite 70% dark chocolate bar)
6 oz. Butter (diced, room temperature)
3 Eggs
1/2 cup Granulated Sugar (reduce sugar if you prefer darker chocolate)
1/3 cup Flour
Butter for Ramekins

How to Make It:

Preheat oven to 350°F

1. Melt chocolate on low flame in a bain-marie (double boiler). When melted, take of flame, and…
2. Stir in diced butter, until it melts.
3. In another bowl, beat eggs and sugar, until it starts to whiten.
4. Stir in melted chocolate and then the flour.
5. Butter 4 individual ramekins, and pour in chocolate batter.
6. Cook for about 10 minutes.
7. Tip ramekins upside down onto dessert plates and serve.

Voilà!

Tips:
You can definitely prepare your chocolate lave cake recipe ahead of time, and then bake 10 minutes before serving. I always do it this way!

In terms of buttering the ramekins: butter the bottoms first, and then butter the sides, wiping from the bottom up to the top. It helps the chocolate to rise even more.

In terms of baking time… well, it depends on how runny you want it! I like it with a super-liquid-oozing center -- so do my guests! For this, you want the top to be cooked through, but the center to be liquid. You can check with a toothpick after 10 minutes of baking. (If your oven cooks hot, check earlier. So disappointing when it doesn't ooze.)

If you don't like liquid-center chocolate desserts, just cook for a little longer, and you will have an incredibly moist chocolate cake. So, either way, you can't go wrong!

Let it cool for around 10ish minutes before attempting to invert onto a plate. It will be very hot.

No comments: