TWD: Gooey Chocolate Cakes

It seems that after my post about not being a chocolate fanatic, I keep posting recipes with chocolate in them. lol...it must be starting to grow on me! I didn't pick this recipe on my own (though I would have made it eventually no doubt!), it was chosen as the Tuesdays with Dorie by Leigh of Lemon Tartlett for today's weekly bake.

I actually made these not long after the pick was posted last week. It being the start of the week (lovely day at work...grrr) something sweet and chocolately seemed like a good choice. I can't remember the last time I had a chocolate lava type cake at a restaurant and I have never attempted something even remotely similar at home. Because Dorie has been so good to me in the past, I was once again excited to try this and immediately got to work on the chocolate concoctions.



First up was chopping the chocolate. Sure I could have used my handy (though tiny) food processor. But not me! No...I like a challenge and decided to chop by hand. Okay, not really. The tiny wonder was in the dishwasher that I forgot to run earlier after I made carrot muffins. I used Ghiradelli Semi-Sweet chocolate instead of the bittersweet listed in the recipe because I am not a big fan of bittersweet and it was also the only type of chocolate I had in my freezer. I had to let the chocolate thaw a bit because I was throwing bits like crazy when I first started chopping and Charlie was trying to eat what he could get fast enough. Here's the little bugger after I picked up the flyaway pieces. I don't think he understood (or cared) when I told him chocolate was bad for puppy tummies.



Oh dear. I almost forgot. I needed to butter and dust the muffin pans with flour since I had run out of spray earlier in the week.



As you can see, I got a little too much floor in the pan and my little cakes had a light dusting of floor on the outsides (which didn't take away from the taste thank goodness).

After everything was chopped, buttered, or floured, I started melting the chocolate. I was tempted to follow package directions on melting because I've always been a bit wary of the double boiler method. I'm not really sure why. Maybe its the time aspect, naturally the quick melting of the microwave is a draw. But I wanted to stay true to the recipe and went ahead with Dorie's instructions. While it took a little longer, I think it made a difference in the quality of the chocolate.

This was a pretty easy dessert to put together. After melting the chocolate, it is slowly added to an egg/dry mixture then put in the prepared muffin cups and topped with finely chopped chocolate. It doesn't make a large amount of cakes, six small cupcake sized cakes in fact. The was definitely a plus for me since I hate making large batches of something just for me.

My baby cakes baked up nice and fluffy (I was afraid they would be too flat).



They looked very tasty and tempting right in the pan. Normally I would expect to let these cool a little longer in the pan but Dorie says to leave them only 3 minutes before turning out and serving. Of course these is in expectation of the liquidy chocolate center to come oozing out of the cakes. However, mine didn't ooze or goo. They were warm and slightly less solid at the top but I didn't get the warm, chocolate running out of the cake like I expected. I'm not sure if I didn't chop the chocolate you put on top finely enough or if I should have pressed the chocolate further into the cake.



Despite the non gooey center, these were very, very good. They were definitely very tasty the next day when I took the rest to work. While they weren't warm, the inside that had previously been softer, became more solid and bonbonish (I say ish b/c of the lack of liquidness before). I received lots of praise from the few remaining (I had to test two for gooeyness naturally ;) ). Ultimate temptress was my favorite I think, lol.

Next time I make these, I'm going to have some vanilla ice cream or creme anglaise to serve alongside the cakes. Dorie suggests it in the book but because I made these early, I didn't have either to serve.

Don't forget to check out the other fabulous bakers at Tuesdays with Dorie for more chocolately goodness!



Gooey Chocolate Cake

1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon salt
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate,
4 ounces coarsely chopped,
1 ounce very finely chopped
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
6 tablespoons of sugar

Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. butter (or spray – it’s easier) 6 cups of a regular-size muffin pan, preferably a disposable aluminum foil pan, dust the insides with flour and tap out the excess. Put the muffin pan on a baking sheet.

Sift the flour, cocoa and salt together.

Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water, put the coarsely chopped chocolate and the butter in the bowl and stir occasionally over the simmering water just until they are melted – you don’t want them to get so hot that the butter separates. Remove the bowl from the pan of water.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and yolk until homogenous. Add the sugar and whisk until well blended, about 2 minutes. Add the dry ingredients and, still using the whisk, stir (don’t beat) them into the eggs. Little by little, and using a light hand, stir in the melted chocolate and butter. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and sprinkle the finely chopped chocolate over the batter.

Bake the cakes for 13 minutes. Transfer them, still on the baking sheet, to a rack to cool for 3 minutes. (There is no way to test that these cakes are properly baked, because the inside remains liquid.)

Line a cutting board with a silicone baking mat or parchment or wax paper, and, after the 3-minute rest, unmold the cakes onto the board. Use a wide metal spatula to lift the cakes onto dessert plates.

Source:Baking from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan