Molten Chocolate Lava Goodness

One of the hottest (literally...because it is served warm) desserts around right now are the molten chocolate lava cakes available at numerous restaurants. I highly encourage you to avoid the cakes served at chains because in the case of the lava cake they are pre-made, packaged, and nuked cakes that do not resemble the warm, flow of cake that you can make with relative ease in your own home.

If you have been living under a rock and have no idea what I refer to when I mention Molten Chocolate Lava cakes you are truly missing out...if you love chocolate. The cakes are personal to two person sized, unless you are Matt's sister McKay who can polish off two or three of the larger ones on her own. The cake is a relatively light, soft chocolate cake that, when cooked properly, has a decent crust to offer a pinch of resistance before your fork cuts into the cake. Once you have forged that teeny bit of resistance you will find nothing for your fork to cut through because the recipe is designed to "separate" itself into baked cake and warm, gooey center. The center is thick and fudgy in consistency and has a decent overload of chocolate flavor. It is best served hot (so the middle stays warm and flows) and with your choice of sauces (we prefer raspberry), or as shown below with fudge ripple ice cream and fresh raspberries.

Recipe:

Butter your baking dishes (either 3/4 cup souffle dishes or I prefer a regular muffin tin).

Stir 14 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chopped (or just use chocolate chips), 1 1/4 cups of unsalted butter in a saucepan over low heat until the chocolate is melted. Cool slightly.

Whisk 6 large eggs and 2 tsp vanilla extract to blend. Whisk in 3 cups of powdered sugar until blended. Add the chocolate mixture and 1 cup of AP flour.

Fill dishes to top with batter.

Bake at 425 until the batter has risen above the dish, the top edges are dark brown and the center is soft and runny. For souffle dishes that is 18 minutes for cold batter or 15 minutes for room temperature batter. For the muffin tins I usually start checking them at 10 and it will take about 12 minutes.

Run knife to loosen the edges and let sit for 5 minutes.

Serve as elegantly (or not...McKay probably couldn't wait) as you wish...you can always simply dust with powdered sugar and serve with a mint leaf.

The batter can be made up to 1 day ahead and stored in the fridge.

Any leftovers you have make sure to refrigerate and reheat (we usually nuke them chain restaurant style).

Enjoy!