Easy way to impress – Molten Chocolate Lava Cake

Ask a girl about her Mr. Right and get ready for a twenty minute monologue. A simple tall, dark and handsome is so outdated. It's the age of customization. So she would much rather tell you tell you the shade of fairness. Oh yeah dark is also not so cool, thanks to Sharukh & Shahid endorsing “Fair & Handsome”. And then there's type of humour liked, the hobbies that he should be indulging in, the places that he loves to visit and many more such specifications. That is after she has explained the expectation on the bank balance and social status. But then you asked for it!!

Get ready for a similar stuff, if you ever ask me about my type of dessert. No just saying chocolatey doesn't express me well. I got to tell you more – it has to be mildly sweet, not bitter, dense, not like cake, more like brownie, little hot to eat with vanilla ice cream, not white, not hard, few nuts can also be good, and if I'm making then easy to prepare too...... Hello, are you still there?? Or searching for the ear plugs, like my husband does, when I get started on telling him about my love for chocolate.

So I made this chocolate molten lava cake to actually show it. Yes just show, since I had no expectation of him to eat a chocolate cake!! Oh now, I can't dream that much. Thankfully few guests were coming to the needful of eating it. Not that I would have minded to finish it off on my own. But then miracles do happen. And this cake did the ultimate miracle. It converted my non-chocoholic husband to enjoy his chocolate dessert. And I can;t be happier :). Even my son, who likes sweets but not much of chocolate loved it so much that he hardly waited for me to click.

Finally I found a recipe (other than brownies, my eternal love) which ticks all the check boxes – Chocolate molten lava cake. Actually a brownie, with chocolate melting from its centre. For a while I had been eyeing this recipe in the blogsophere, but somehow it got delayed in entering my oven. And when it did come out of it, it had found a permanent residence in my heart, oven and recipe collection.

Molten chocolate lava cake was born when in 1987, US based chef Jean Vongerichten, took out a sponge cake from the oven much before it was done. And when he tasted the runny centre, found it good & tasty. Though many claimed that such a delicacy is a French invention, yet it is credited to Vongerichten for its popularity in US. And now it occupies a place of pride in restaurant menus across the world.

It's the easiest dessert to whip for guests. Only 10 mins to prepare and 10 mins to bake. That's it. And looks so impressive to serve. Simply dust it with icing sugar and serve it with ice cream or whipped cream and enjoy the accolades!! Though there are many versions to this dish, yet I stuck to my favourite Martha Stewart for her simpler version here.

Molten Chocolate Lava Cake Recipe:

Servings: 4-6, depending on size of dish used. I used standard ramakins and got 4.


Ingredients:

• 4 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted & cooled (Recipe specifies 8oz)
• Icing sugar, for dusting

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Generously butter 6 cups of a standard muffin tin. Dust with granulated sugar, and tap out excess. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla & beat slightly. With the mixer on low speed, beat in flour and salt until just combined. Beat in chocolate until just combined. Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups.
3. Place muffin tin on a baking sheet; bake just until tops of the cakes no longer jiggle when the pan is lightly shaken, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven; let stand 10 minutes.
4. To serve, slightly loosen sides with a blunt knife and invert on serving plate. 
   
   
   Sharing this with Iftar-moments, Iftar-nights, Only-baked-goods, started by Pari and with Bookmarked Recipes of Tinned Tomatoes, started by Ruth.
   
   

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