Molten Chocolate Cake

a.k.a Chocolate Lava Cake. This is an extremely quick and easy dessert to make. What's even better is that it's one of those recipes that work for small family, i.e. of size 2. Or if you live by yourself, you can make the batter, bake one, and keep the other for the following day. One last thing, it's sure to please. Well, if a non-vegan is not pleased, you definitely need to check if that person needs Zoloft (or something along that line) instead!

INGREDIENTS:

2 servings

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2 oz chopped good bittersweet chocolate*

2 Tsp sugar

2 Tsp butter, and more softened butter

1 Tsp all-purpose flour

Cocoa powder

Pinch of fine sea salt

*If you can afford, use something like Valrhona. I can't so I settle for Callebaut. 

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 450ºF.

Mix the flour and salt together.

Grease 2 5- to 6-oz (or 3 4-oz ones)ramekins with softened butter. (Greasing well will ensure your cakes invert easily later.) Coat with the cocoa powder, tap out the excess. You could also use good old all-purpose flour but the cakes will have some white flour spots later. If you are going to sprinkle powdered sugar over your cakes anyway then it really doesn't matter.

In a medium bowl over simmering water, melt the chocolate and butter. Let cool.

In another medium bowl, whisk the egg and egg yolk and sugar until the mixture just turns pale. Add the melted chocolate and butter, mix well. Fold in the flour.

Divide the batter equally between the ramekins. Place the ramekins on a baking sheet and bake for 8-9 minutes, until the outside third is set but the middle two-thirds is still jiggly. You might have to experiment with your oven temperature and baking time as oven temperatures can vary greatly and 30s more could wreck the whole thing. Well, that's an exaggeration, you will still have some chocolate cakes. What you won't get is the oozing goodness. 

Cool the ramekins on a rack for a few minutes. Invert onto plates and serve immediately with vanilla ice cream and some berries, or just powdered sugar, or whatever you fancy. If you do decide to serve with ice cream, let the cake cool down a bit more or it will melt your ice cream very very quickly. But it's hard to wait. I can never be patient enough to wait (hence the messy picture below) knowing what I will get spooning into that small little cake!

Here's what I had:

I served mine over a candied orange wheel and raspberry sauce, topped with ice cream. And please please pardon the terrible sugar decoration, it was a rushed experiment.

The batter can be kept in the refrigerator for up to a day. In that case, let them cool down to room temperature before baking.