I Bet You Didn’t Know How This Dessert Was Made
As I said in my other article, I have recently returned from my first Carnival cruise and absolutely LOVED it. I’ll get straight to the point and give you four words that describe one of my very favorite things from the entire cruise: warm chocolate melting cake. Ring any bells for any of you Carnivalers? It’s the dessert from the formal dining room that I got almost every night the entire time and never got sick of it! Normally I am one to try any and every dessert I can, but this cake kept me coming back for more every night! Thankfully my husband tried some different things every night so he could have a little of the chocolate cake and I could have a spoonful of whatever fun dessert he ordered that night. It worked out perfectly! :)
This cake is a delicious individual chocolate cake made in a ramekin and the middle is all warm and gooey and chocolatey, the top is dusted with powdered sugar, and they give you two little scoops of vanilla ice cream on the side. I totally was thinking of Olaf’s little song the first time I took a bite of this wonderful concoction, “The hot and the cold are both so intense! Put them together it just makes sense!” Couldn’t have said it better myself, Olaf!
Ok, so when I got back, this was truly the one recipe I had to figure out and make for myself ASAP! Now, as I would ponder how I thought this cake was made when I felt like a caveman on the ship without internet so I couldn’t research it right away :) it seemed to me that it had to be injected with some sort of ganache or something. But boy was I wrong.
HISTORY
Legend has it that this dessert was the result of a major catering disaster. The dessert for this particular event was to be individual chocolate cakes, but someone took them out of the ovens too soon and the centers were not cooked enough and still liquefied. Well, there was no time to take them off the plates and bake them more, so the chef simply had his wait staff introduce the dessert as Chocolate 'Lava' Cake! Brilliant!
PREPARATION
Molten lava cakes are always baked in ramekin dishes and have four main ingredients: butter, eggs, sugar, and chocolate. The butter and chocolate are melted together, while the eggs are either whisked with the sugar to form a thick paste, producing a denser finished product; or are separated so the egg whites can be whipped into an egg foam to provide more lift (and thus a lighter cake) when the mixture is baked.
PRESENTATION
Rather than presenting only the cake itself in a ramekin or on a plate, the baker may choose to make the cake more appealing. Fresh raspberries, a drizzling of raspberry and/or chocolate sauce, and dustings of powdered sugar may be added to enhance flavor, or a sprig of mint may look more appealing as well. For a more intense chocolate taste, the baker may also add a tablespoon of strong coffee.
I found a wonderful recipe for Chocolate molten cake (or Chocolate Lava Cake) on allrecipes.com. It was really highly rated and I give my full approval as well. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
Chocolate Molten Cake
Ingredients:
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1 cup unsalted butter or unsalted margarine* 8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips, or bars, cut into bite-size chunks 5 large eggs 1/2 cup sugar Pinch of salt 4 teaspoons flour (or matzo meal, ground in a blender to a fine powder) |
8 extra-large paper muffin cups (or use regular paper muffin cups, which will make 12 cakes) Garnish: 1 (6 ounce) container raspberries, barely moistened and rolled in about 1/2 cup sugar right before serving |
Directions:
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1. |
Melt butter and chocolate in a medium heat-proof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water; remove from heat. Beat eggs, sugar and salt with a hand mixer in a medium bowl until sugar dissolves. Beat egg mixture into chocolate until smooth. Beat in flour or matzo meal until just combined. (Batter can be made a day ahead; return to room temperature an hour or so before baking.) |
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2. |
Before serving dinner, adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 450 degrees. Line a standard-size muffin tin (1/2 cup capacity) with 8 extra-large muffin papers (papers should extend above cups to facilitate removal). Spray muffin papers with vegetable cooking spray. Divide batter among muffin cups. |
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3. |
Bake until batter puffs but center is not set, 8 to 10 minutes. Carefully lift cakes from tin and set on a work surface. Pull papers away from cakes and transfer cakes to dessert plates. |
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4. |
Top each with sugared raspberries and serve immediately. |
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molten_chocolate_cake
- allrecipes.com/Recipe/Molten-Chocolate-Cakes-With-Sugar-Coated-Raspberries/Detail.aspx
Mary Richardson
Weekly Newsletter Contributor since 2014
Email the author! mary@dvo.com
