Molten lava chocolate cake

I originally had made this recipe in hopes to eat this as a classic, but oh-soo-good ending to our Valentine's day meal. We had a great breakfast with cocktail, fruits and everything, and we wanted the supper to stay in the same idea. We had everything planned out, with a fondue, and those cakes just waiting to be baked at the right time.

Then, (after using up half a bottle of white wine !) the fondue was just right, and we brang it to the table. I turned around to take my camera. Guyuk complained I needed to eat NOW, before we'd loose the right consistency again. He went back with the fondue to leave it on the heat. When I ran back down the stairs, I found...

...the table on fire.

Fuel had apparently leaked out of the container, and the tablecloth, along with the wood underneath caught on fire. We threw the metal cap on the burner, which solved part of the problem, but the table was still burning ! We ran to get the oven mitts (cause we just had cleaned up and everything was back in the kitchen) and we took the hot metal frame away, and without anything else to do it, I smacked the fire with a plate until it went out (no, I didn't shatter the plate).

This evening, we ended up eating on our small kitchen table, against the wall, under full light and heated the fondue (which we had to re-work to eating consistency) on an old portable electric stove. Not quite the ending we had planned for that day. Both exhausted from all the adrenaline, we simply went to bed and were planning to eat the cakes at a later time.

So, this time came to be. We had a couple of friends for supper last sunday, and with 4 of those beauties just waiting to be baked, it was the perfect time-saving excuse to eat all the delicousness inside. The trick to get all that gooey chocolatey goodness ozzing all over, is simply to underbake the cake so it remains liquid in it's center. After the prescribed 13 minutes of baking, however, I felt the cakes were still too soft and I was affraid they would splat open in the plate, so I monitored the baking and left them I think around an additionnal 5 minutes.

Maybe I overdid it, cause I would have liked more molten hot chocolate, but these were still insanely decadent and they definitively were the star of the meal. I think next time I will take the ramequins out of the freezer sooner to let them get to room temperature, which I think would shorten the baking time. We tried at the same time a Domaine Lafrance sparkling cider, which was made with a touch of ice cider, and even thought it was a bit higher in acidity than what I perfer, it counterbalanced the sweetness of the cake very well for an exiciting and delicious pairing.

Molten lava chocolate cakes
From Culinary Musings

Ingredients
100 grams good quality chocolate (I used callebault 54.4%)
2 large eggs
5 Tbsp white granulated sugar, plus extra for dusting the ramekins
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
2 3/4 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp crème fraîche
4 oven-safe ramekins

How to
Lightly coat the inside of your ramekin molds with butter then dust with granulated sugar. Set aside. Next, using the bain marie method, melt the chocolate pieces (refrain from stirring as it melts). Meanwhile, whisk the eggs and 5 Tbsp of sugar until pale yellow.

Once the chocolate is completely melted, remove container from the heat and mix in the butter. Next, slowly add the the egg and sugar mixture. Add flour and finally the creme fraîche. Pour and distribute the batter evenly into four ramekins. Place in the freezer overnight.

When ready to serve, remove ramekins from freezer and place in a 375 degree preheated oven. Bake for 13 minutes. Remove ramekins from oven and allow to cool for 2 minutes. Use a sharp knife to scrape along the edge of the cake. Next, take individual serving plate and rest it on top of the ramekin mold. Holding the mold with an oven mitt and keeping the plate in contact with the mold, invert the cake onto the plate. Tap the ramekins lightly and gently lift away. Use a simple contrasting decoration, like mint leaves, fanned strawberry, powdered sugar or even itsy-bitsy little scoops of vanilla ice cream !

Guacamole

It's now officially spring !

We've been having quite nice temperatures here in Quebec during march, ranging between 5-14C. We had no snow at all for a good part of the winter (and not at all during february). So I guess it's simply logic that right after spring, we start to have cold temperatures and snow forecasts. Right ? Why, yes, I found this logic of mine in a box of cereals, what's the problem ?

Candied orange dipped in chocolate

I've tackled this project in search of an inexpensive but classy looking wedding gift for some friends that got married last august. Money, we didn't have, but time, there was plenty (well, sorta, I had a shortened sleep schedule the whole week before and finished the packaging the very morning of the wedding).

Roasted cauliflower, au grattin

The eternal question: what are we going to eat for dinner ? Guyuk and me settled on some salmon, but still, we had to decide what was going to go with it. Having seen recently a lot of recipes involving cauliflower, and the fact that I had a head waiting in my fridge reminded me about a recipe I had seen about roasting cauliflower.

Pain doré

This is not almost not a recipe, seeing how easy it is to whip together. Really, three ingredients ? Eggs, milk and bread. If you tell me you don't have those, I won't believe you. This is as easy as you can get. I've always done those by hand, judging the donness of the mix with the texture, color, etc. so feel free to adjust from the measurements given.

Lemon and ginger marmalade

I've been canning a few things since I discovered how to process the jars in hot water baths. This is the project I've been doing during weeknights recently: marmelade. I'm not a big fan of it, because I find most marmelades bitter and too zesty for me. Maybe this is the one that'll change my mind ! I finally kicked my butt into processing the lemons before they went bad and I'm so glad I did. I was awarded with fourteen 250ml jars of the stuff. Actually, I even had 15, butt the last jar's bottom actually broke, and the marmelade was lost into the 7 liters of boiling water.

Sortilège truffles, rolled in crushed toasted hazelnuts

On with the food !

This is my first attempt at making truffles. Please, don't refrain from doing them, especially the rolled kind, because they are SO easy to make. Those dissapeared in a snap and my guests helped themselves to make sure there was none remaining at the end of the evening, by dividing what was left in containers to bring home.