Culinary Arts Creations
by Ava Morlier, Culinary Arts Writer
Happy February! Today’s recipe pays homage to the sweet and chocolatey flavors (and gooey love) of Valentine’s Day: chocolate lava cake! Relatively easy to make (a quick bake so you can get back to your date in no time with an impressive dessert to share), deliciously gooey, and great for sharing, the chocolate lava cake is the perfect Valentine’s Day food. It even contains the mess: unlike a messy chocolate fondue, the gooey chocolate is contained by the deliciously rich outside of the cake, allowing you to save yourself from an embarrassing mess. This cake includes relatively little flour, meaning that one can really taste the bittersweet chocolate (and it allows the cake to be much more lava-like). Worried about how the batter is gooey in the middle? Don’t fret! The high temperature of the oven kills off any pathogens, allowing the batter in the middle to be enjoyed safely. Want to boost the cake even further? Try using different garnishes! Some ideas could include crushed almonds (providing a savory and crunchy contrast to the sweet and gooey cake), sliced strawberries (adding a pop of romantic red color and tangy bite to the flavor profile), raspberry drizzle (adding elegance and sweetness), caramel drizzle, or even a peanut butter drizzle for the peanut butter chocolate lover in your life. This cake can also be served powdered with confectioner’s sugar or alongside a cold scoop of vanilla ice cream. Enjoy your Valentine’s Day delightfully with this heavenly cake, whether with a loved one or by yourself!
Chocolate Lava Cake
Ingredients
½ stick of butter at room temperature
3 oz. chocolate chips
1 egg at room temperature
1 egg yolk at room temperature
½ tsp. vanilla extract
½ pinch salt
2 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. flour
1 tsp. butter & 1 tsp. flour, for greasing
Instructions
Preheat oven to 4500. In a medium pot, fill a little less than halfway with water and set to boil. Get out a heatproof bowl that can rest in the pot without touching the water.
Put chocolate chips and butter in the bowl and put the bowl over the boiling water. Stir until mixture is smooth. Set aside.
In a different bowl, beat together egg and egg yolk until frothy. Add sugar and beat well until incorporated.
Add vanilla and salt; then add flour in small amounts at a time, mixing well after each addition.
With a spatula, fold chocolate mixture into batter. Fold until all ingredients are well combined.
Take out ramekins or ceramic dish. Grease with butter and dust with a pinch of flour.
Fill ramekins/dishes with batter until they are ⅔ full. Place dishes on small sheet pan and place in the oven.
Bake 8-11 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the edge of the cake comes out clean (the top of the cake should develop air pockets).
Once baked, take out and let sit one minute. Slide a knife around the edges of the cake with a serrated knife. Put a plate over the mouth of the ramekin/dish, then flip lava cake onto the plate, holding the hot dish with a potholder. The lava cake should come out of the dish and onto the plate; lift the dish off the cake with a knife.
Garnish and serve.
Tools Needed
Solid and liquid measuring utensils, heat-proof bowl, spatula, regular bowl, beaters and mixer, spoon, medium pot, medium ramekin or small round ceramic dish (mugs work), small sheet pan, toothpick, serrated knife, plate, table knife.
My own lava cake, topped with a strawberry compote (for a chocolatey, fruity flavor) and powdered sugar (for an element of sweet vanilla contrast).
*With credit to Chef Liddick of CTC
