City Chick Cooks

its 12 past midnight

here’s my valentine’s day present for you 🙂 it’s late i know, but in my defense, i was planning on making this since last weekend!

as i’ve said before, i’m not a baker. i like to play with flavors and make my own recipes. i don’t think i can create my own baking recipes – there’s too much chemistry involved with binders and all that. BUT! molten chocolate cakes are different because they’re not baked all the way through. and the quantity is much smaller, which is nice too 🙂 if i mess up, its not a complete disaster!

this recipe is simple, and uses a microwave instead of a double boiler 🙂

whole foods carries way too many types of chocolate. took me a while to find the normal stuff

you’ll need a large microwavable bowl to melt the butter and chocolate in. my only mixing bowls were stainless steel, so i had an excuse to buy some more bowls 🙂 i got some pretty glass mixing bowls!

you need 1 stick of unsalted butter and 4 oz. of semisweet chocolate. semisweet is usually about 50%-60% cocoa if you’re looking at the fancier bars of chocolate.

break the chocolate up and plop the stick of butter in your bowl.

i love my new bowls!

stick this in the microwave for 1 minute.

meanwhile, crack your eggs into a second bowl. you need 2 whole eggs and 2 yolks.

separating eggs is fun

the butter should all be melted. whisk the chocolate and butter together, it’ll melt everything nicely.

so glossy

add a cup of powdered sugar. i recommend sifting the powdered sugar. i started to sift, but then i ran out of patience.

i think that you can use less sugar if you don’t like things too sweet, because i did think these were a tad on the sweet side. although, when i said this to my friend KM, his only response was, “not possible.” while shoveling cake and goop in his mouth. haha. just a suggestion.

yikes! thats a lot of sugar

however, if you do decide to lower the powdered sugar content, i’m not sure what that would do to the baking chemistry. ill try it one day and let you know.

whisk until nicely mixed.

butter + chocolate + sugar. i dont think this blog can be any good for my health.

add the eggs and egg yolks.

just adding to the insanity

whisk until incorporated. try not to overmix. you’ll end up with a gloopy mass of chocolate.

glop

add 6 tablepoons of flour.

someone stood in front of my light. ah-hem.

fold until incorporated, without overmixing.

brush melted butter on the insides of 4 ramekins. i think mine are 5oz size. i buttered pretty heavily so that the cakes would come out nicely.

scoop the batter into the ramekins.

"what is a ramekin?" can you believe that was on a MENSA test?

slide into a 425 oven for 13-15 minutes, until the edges are set. the middle will not be done.

always gotta have my oven pic

while the cakes are baking, make some chantilly cream to go on top 🙂 chantilly cream is sweetened whipped cream. basically, homemade whipped cream with a fancier name. usually has vanilla and maybe brandy in it. i used bourbon vanilla extract.

i’m in desperate need of an electric mixer. pretty sure im gonna get a cuisinart stick blender, i’ve just been lazy. and what’s the lazy man’s way out of making homemade whipped cream? whipping by hand – definitely not. enter… blender!

lidcam

just pour some heavy cream in, i’d say about a cup. spoon in about 1-2 tablespoons powdered sugar, depending on how sweet you like your cream. and add a large splash of bourbon vanilla extract.

pulse until soft peaks form. i think i pulsed too much hehe. i ended up with a cream that was pretty close to butter. oh well. tasted good and had more body to it 🙂

chantilly cream = dressed up name for whipped cream 🙂

while i was scraping down the sides of the blender, i knocked over the vanilla. of course, my friend thought this was hilarious and told me to post a pic. fine.

at least this way you can see what kind of vanilla i used! loove TJ.

and then they were done 🙂

normally, this would not be ok

wait for them to cool just a bit. then invert onto plates. top with the chantilly/whipped cream, and enjoy!

ooze.

molten chocolate cakes with chantilly cream

adapted from brandielle

4 oz. semisweet chocolate

1 stick unsalted butter

1 cup powdered sugar, sifted

2 whole eggs

2 egg yolks

6 tablespoons flour

melted butter, to brush insides of ramekins

1 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon bourbon vanilla or vanilla extract (less if desired, i like it strong)

1-2 tablespoons powdered sugar

1. preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. melt the butter and chocolate in a large microwavable bowl in the microwave for 1 min.
3. whisk the butter and chocolate together until its mixed and glossy.
4. sift in the powdered sugar. whisk.
5. add the eggs and egg yolks, whisking until incorporated.
6. fold in the flour.
7. generously grease 4 ramekins with melted butter.
8. fill each ramekin with the batter and place these on a cookie sheet.
9. bake 13-15 minutes until the edges are done and the middle is not.
10. to make the cream- whip the heavy cream, powdered sugar and bourbon vanilla extract until soft peaks form. you can use an electric mixer of blender to do this.
11. when cakes are done, let cool for a min or so. then carefully invert onto plates. if they dont come out easily, run a knife along the edge and tap the bottom a little until the cake comes out.