Chocolate Molten Lava Cake - My 50th Post

You like sweets. You love cakes. And you die for chocolates! Then, these decadent little cakes with a warm, gooey chocolate centre is for you - a chocoholics dream dessert.

When served on a plate or in a ramekin, it doesn't boast much about itself. Cut or dip into it and warm chocolate oozes out and tastes incredible with its dense and flow texture. It is at its best served straight from the oven, with berries of your choice.

It is quick and easy to prepare - you can get it out to your friends is less than 30 minutes. The downside, however, is that it is not a make-ahead dessert. The chocolatey centre continues to cook in its own heat even when taken out of the oven and after just 15 minutes, you will not have chocolate flowing out of the cake and hence fails its name (even after warming in the microwave for a few seconds). But the centre is still dense and moist and will appeal to everyone as a Soft-centred Gooey Chocolate Cake. I made 7 lava cakes and "dissected" it at different intervals after removing from the oven and I know what I am writing here. The easiest way to serve these little beauties is in the ramekin, in which it was baked. It involves quite a bit of effort to unmould the cakes without breaking it and serving on a plate.

                                                     
My hunt for chocolate lava cakes had been going on for some years now and I stopped at addictedfoodie.blogspot.com Divya has the perfect recipe for lava cakes and I only had to make a few adjustments to it. Thank You Divya.

Serves: 6
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Baking Time: 10 - 13 minutes

Ingredients

• 130g dark chocolate, broken (I used Plaistowe dark cooking chocolate - see image above)
• 110g unsalted butter
• 3 large eggs
• 130g caster sugar
• 35g cake flour, sifted
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 6 moulds or ramekins
• Baking chocolate powder + extra butter for moulds

Method
1. Preheat fan-forced oven to 200° C for half an hour.
2. Butter moulds/ ramekins with extra butter and dust with chocolate powder so its sticks to butter. Tap away excess.
3. Put broken chocolate pieces and butter into a microwave safe bowl. Heat in microwave for 30 seconds. Stir with a silicon spatula. Repeat for 30 seconds. Again stir. Repeat this until all chocolate has melted evenly (should take a total of 60 to 75 seconds). Add vanilla extract and mix well. 
4. In a bowl whisk together eggs and sugar and then gradually add flour until well blended. Slowly add melted chocolate-butter mixture, stirring continuously. Pour mixture into prepared moulds/ ramekins and place in centre rack of oven. Bake for 10 - 13 minutes / until sides leave moulds and top is cracked but wobbly. Time will vary depending on the type of moulds/ ramekins used. Start checking after 10 minutes. (It took me 11 minutes in a metal mould and 13 minutes in a porcelain ramekin). 
5. Remove from oven. If in a ramekin, serve straight from it. If in a mould, you may want to unmould it. Run a blunt knife around the sides and turn it upside down on your serving plate. You do not have the liberty to move the cakes around your serving plate.

Serve hot with berries of your choice.