Gooey Chocolate Cakes
This is my first week participating in Tuesdays with Dorie, the group dedicated to baking its way through Dorie Greenspan’s Baking From My Home To Yours. This week’s recipe, Chocolate Gooey Cakes, was selected by Leigh of Lemon Tartlet. I’ve always had a weakness for molten chocolate cakes like this, so I was super excited to see that Leigh selected this recipe. If there is a molten chocolate cake on the menu at a restaurant, you can guarantee I’ll order it. One of the best molten chocolate cakes I’ve had in recent memory was last May at The Beach House Restaurant in Kauai, Hawaii. Because they prepare each cake to order, you had to place your order for the molten chocolate cake at the same time you ordered your entree. Though the salad and entree were excellent, I remember looking forward to this dessert throughout the meal. What could be better than enjoying a delicious melt-in-your-mouth chocolate cake topped with vanilla bean ice cream while watching the sun set over the ocean in Hawaii with your loved ones?
This cake lacked some of that ambiance that made the Kauai cake so special, as this one I made and tasted on an overcast Monday afternoon at home accompanied by a cranky seven month old who didn’t take a proper nap. But it tasted delicious! It wasn’t quite as gooey as I would have liked (and looks completely un-gooey in the photo below, taken several hours later), so when I make it again, I’ll cook for a little less time to ensure maximum gooeyness and serve it with vanilla ice cream. I absolutely love that this recipe is baked in muffin cups instead of ramekins! No special bakeware required–somehow we wound up with only 1 of the ramekins from our wedding registry, and I’ve yet to purchase more of them (4 years later). I actually had one of those 6-cup disposable aluminum muffin tins mentioned in the recipe. If you’re a chocolate lover, you definitely need to try this recipe. Perfect single size servings for a dinner party.
Gooey Chocolate Cakes
Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 5 ounces bittersweet chocolate (4 ounces coarsely chopped, 1 ounce very finely chopped)
- 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
- 6 tablespoons of sugar
Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. butter (or spray – it’s easier) 6 cups of a regular-size muffin pan, preferably a disposable aluminum foil pan, dust the insides with flour and tap out the excess. Put the muffin pan on a baking sheet.
Sift the flour, cocoa and salt together.
Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water, put the coarsely chopped chocolate and the butter in the bowl and stir occasionally over the simmering water just until they are melted – you don’t want them to get so hot that the butter separates. Remove the bowl from the pan of water.
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and yolk until homogenous. Add the sugar and whisk until well blended, about 2 minutes. Add the dry ingredients and, still using the whisk, stir (don’t beat) them into the eggs. Little by little, and using a light hand, stir in the melted chocolate and butter. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and sprinkle the finely chopped chocolate over the batter.
Bake the cakes for 13 minutes. Transfer them, still on the baking sheet, to a rack to cool for 3 minutes. (There is no way to test that these cakes are properly baked, because the inside remains liquid.)
Line a cutting board with a silicone baking mat or parchment or wax paper, and, after the 3-minute rest, unmold the cakes onto the board. Use a wide metal spatula to lift the cakes onto dessert plates.
Glad you enjoyed these, even though you weren’t in Hawaii! Welcome to TWD!
They look just like mine! They were delicious weren’t they?
Donna
welcome aboard! super oozey-gooey or not, your cakes look delicious!
I imagine everything tastes better in Hawaii. I wouldn’t mind being there right now… Even though your gooey cake wasn’t quite as gooey, great job! Welcome to TWD! 🙂
Clara
i have the same memory from The Beach House and had just as high hopes for these cakes as i did while waiting for the Beach House cake to arrive. not on the same level but pretty darn close. nice job!!
I think your cakes look fabulous! Mine were more fudgy than gooey, but they did taste delicious, especially with a drizzle of muscovado toffee sauce and some clotted cream!! Welcome to the group!
Mine wasn’t gooey enough, either, but it was tasty!
welcome to TWD! your cakes look fantastic!
I dont own ramekins at all. So you are 1 up on me! ha!
They look great, I am glad you liked them despite the lack of goo.
This looks great! Welcome to TWD!
Great looking cakes!!
Looks great! Welcome!
They look delicious. When you mentioned Hawaii, my first thought was Kona coffee. I bet a little of that would add a great flavor.
That looks really good even if it is no longer so gooey. I have been wanting to try making a molten chocolate cake for a while now. I will have to get to it.
I agree! THis recipe is perfect for a party. Great job!
those look just awesome! everything you TWDers make looks so amazingly good. i’m so impressed.
and thanks for your comments on my blog…..i know how it is to have a “high need baby.” shoot, mine didn’t sleep thru the night until he was over a year old. i was insane with the lack-of-sleep. thankfully number two is way way easier, but still having two is hard!