Soft-Centered Warm Chocolate Cakes
"From My Chateau Kitchen by Anne Willan and found at splendidtable.com. The chocolate dessert of the nineties, these little cakes are baked to a crisp outside and a warm, melting center that acts as sauce. The recipe makes eight servings, and one key to success is leaving the batter to stand overnight. Then the cakes must be baked just long enough to hold a shape while the center remains soft. Don't worry if they overbake and set firm; they are still the very best of chocolate puddings."
- Ready In:
- 24mins
- Ingredients:
- 6
- Serves:
-
8
ingredients
- 5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
- 3⁄4 cup butter, cut in pieces
- 4 eggs, separated
- 1⁄2 cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons flour
- creme fraiche or whipped cream, for serving
directions
- Butter 8 1-cup/250-ml. ramekins. Freeze them for 5 minutes, and then butter them again. Finally sprinkle them with flour, discarding the excess. Put the chopped chocolate and butter in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water and stir until melted and smooth, 5 to 8 minutes. Set the bowl aside to cool.
- In another bowl, beat the egg yolks with half the sugar until thick and light, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in the cooled chocolate mixture, followed by the flour. Using an electric mixer, whisk the egg whites with the remaining sugar to form a light, stiff meringue, about 2 minutes. Fold the meringue into the chocolate mixture. Fill the ramekins to the rim, smooth the top with a spatula, and run your thumb around the edge to detach the mixture from the sides. Cover and refrigerate the cakes for 8 hours or overnight.
- To bake the cakes, heat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius). Set the cakes on a baking sheet and bake until puffed and set on the surface but still liquid in the center, 8 to 9 minutes. Take them out and let them cool for about 10 minutes so they shrink back into the molds. Run a knife around the edge and turn the cakes onto warmed individual plates. Top with a spoonful of ice cream, crème fraîche, or whipped cream, and serve at once.
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Reviews
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I cut the recipe to 2 servings and because I didn't have 1 cup ramekins I thought I could use a large muffin tin to make 2 individual cakes. I ended up not adjusting the baking time correctly and overbaked the cakes, but they were still delicious. If I make this in the future I will go out and buy ramekins because even though the cakes didn't really stick to the pan they didn't exactly slide out and when tried to lift them out with a fork the delicate cake fell apart... still delicious just not as pretty!
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
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OK, here goes. I live in Athens, Greece. I moved out here many, many years ago from Ottawa, Canada - so I am blessed in having two wonderful heritages!
I suffer from compulsive obsessive behaviour with regard to food and my psychiatrist thought it would be a good idea to find a 'society' where many have the same problem and try to find a cure.
So far, I've copied a couple of thousand recipes from this site and my psychiatrist has thrown the towel in and refuses to answer the phone when I call.
What did I do wrong?
Got 3 kids that keep me on the go - 10 and under at this point (2008) - I may not get round to updating this for a few years, so you'll have to do your own maths.
I teach English full-time and Greek Cookery part-time. I would like to make the cooking part of it full-time and the English Grammar part of it part-time.
That's all for now.
