Not Healthy: Molten Lava Cake

Molten lava cakes (sometimes called molten chocolate cakes) are popular dessert options at restaurants for good reason: they are delicious. However, they are an incredibly easy dessert to make at home. It is perhaps one of the easiest desserts to make because it's just a half-cooked flourless chocolate cake. Seriously. You are shooting for an undercooked cake. This recipe comes from the man who popularized the dessert in the US (and claims to have invented it).

These cakes are easily made with the use of one cup ramekins but if you don't have any at your disposal then you can try to do this with basic coffee cups although I am not sure they will come out of the coffee cups in one piece like they will in a ramekin.

You want to use a double boiler to melt the chocolate. You can make a double boiler by partially filling a medium saucepan with water and bringing it to a boil with a smaller saucepan floating in the water. You put the chocolate in the smaller saucepan (make sure the water does not pour in) so you can heat the chocolate without applying direct heat. If you have a metal mixing bowl or saucepan that fits on top of the saucepan with water then you can also put the vessel holding the chocolate on top.

Molten Lava Cake Recipe

Details:

Servings: 4
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 12 minutes

Equipment:

• Oven
• Mixing bowl
• Kitchen utensils
• Measuring cups and spoons
• 4 one cup ramekins
• Whisk
• Double boiler
• Baking sheet
• Mixer (optional)

Ingredients:

• 4 oz unsalted butter
• 1 tbsp butter
• 6 oz bittersweet chocolate
• 2 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp flour

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450F. 
2. Use 1 tbsp butter to apply a thin coat of butter to the interior of the ramekins. Set ramekins on baking sheet.
3. Bring water to boil in double boiler and melt chocolate with unsalted butter.
4. In a mixing bowl mix the sugar, eggs, egg yolks and salt until thick.
5. Whisk the chocolate until smooth and butter is fully mixed. Fold in the egg mixture--it does not have to be fully mixed. 
6. Spoon the mixture in equal amounts into the ramekins. Gently tap the ramekins on the baking sheet to even the batter.
7. Bake for 12 minutes.
8. Remove from oven and let stand for 1 minute.
9. Place a plate upside down on the ramekin and flip the plate and ramekin over (use oven mitts!) so the cake will slide out and sit upside down.
10. Let ramekin sit for 10-15 seconds and then carefully pull up to release cake.
11. Serve immediately

Options: molten lava cake is often serves with a thin dusting of powdered sugar and vanilla ice cream but you can also experiment with drizzling with various sauces like chocolate sauce, raspberry sauce, caramel sauce and so on. You can also incorporate other flavors into the cake like coffee, orange, raspberry, mint, cherry and so on.

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