Last week I wrote about my Culinary Bucket List and listed a few things I would like to attempt to cook and or bake. Bluebell and I really wanted to try to make Cannoli, but apparently in order to make Cannoli you need Cannoli molds….who knew? AND they are difficult to find. They can be ordered online from a few places, but are not carried in the store…sheesh.
So it was on to plan B. Plan B ended up being Chocolate Lava Cakes. You know, those supremely chocolatey cakes with chocolate oozing from the center.
Well, here is my story about our venture into the world of Chocolate Lava Cake. I found the recipe on the Ghiradelli web site. I doubled the recipe because I wanted to use 6 oz ramekins instead of 4 oz ramekins.
Directions
To make centers, melt 2 ounces of chocolate (1/2 a baking bar) and cream in double boiler. Whisk gently to blend. Refrigerate about 2 hours or until firm. Form into 6 balls; refrigerate until needed.
To make cake, heat oven to 400°F. Spray six 4-ounce ramekins or custard cups with cooking spray. Melt 4 ounces of chocolate (1 baking bar) and butter in double boiler; whisk gently to blend. With an electric mixer, whisk eggs, yolks, sugar, and vanilla on high speed about 5 minutes or until thick and light. Fold melted chocolate mixture and flour into egg mixture just until combined. Spoon cake batter into ramekins. Place a chocolate ball in the middle of each ramekin.
Bake about 15 minutes or until cake is firm to the touch. Let it sit out of the oven for about 5 minutes. Run a small, sharp knife around inside of each ramekin, place a plate on top, invert and remove ramekin. Garnish with raspberries and a dollop of whipped cream.
Here is how it looked:
melting butter and chocolate in double boiler
Melted butter and chocolate
After sitting in fridge for 2 hours I divided into 6 equal (ish) pieces and
rolled each piece into a chocolate ball
Choco balls going back into fridge while we make the cake batter
egg, sugar mixture after about 4 minutes on high in Kitchen Aid mixer
Pouring melted chocolate mixture into batter
Folding in flour
Ready to go in ramekins
spooning batter into ramekins
dropping a choco ball into center of each ramekin
Ready to go into the oven
out after about 20 minutes
Flipping out onto a plate
It didn’t come out as cleanly as I would have liked. (I did spray the ramekins)
Not so cute, but
A little whipped cream can cover the hole. *wink*
NO chocolate lava coming out.
A bit disappointing.
we tried another with the same result.
So the bottom line is: the cake was yummy, although it was definitely bittersweet. The boys took a pass, as they said it was too bitter. Although the Hunter took his, mixed in about a cup of whipped cream and pronounced it “ok”.
I would not make this again, as in my opinion the results did not live up to the effort of making them.
NOT a winner for my family.
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Looks like your “lava” sank to the bottom and stuck to your ramekins. Weird. I think there’s probably a recipe for this in the “Death by Chocolate” cookbook I have. I’ll let ya know.
Thanks! For now I am going to move on down the list. I will say that they were tasty. Just not tasty enough for all the work.
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