Molten Chocolate cakes – how to get it wrong and right

I followed the recipe to a tee and I got it wrong. I was alone with my partner away in Asia and I was missing him, staring at the wilted Valentines Day roses which I couldn't bring myself to throw away. Maybe that had something to do with this culinary disaster.

The Oscars were on and I was bored as I am during any award season. I was hoping it was Monday so I could watch the “Bachelor.” I was looking at Food and Wine Magazine till I stumbled on this recipe.

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/molten-chocolate-cake

I am always looking for ways to make quick desserts when I have company. I also will not try a new recipe if that is the case so I thought this was the perfect time to make something quick and fast, like a practice run, and distract myself from the blues. So, molten cakes are supposed to be soft with a gooey filling. Mine had no filling, they were spongy throughout. The shape was…., wait, there was no shape. The flavor was actually nice, but hey, this was no molten cake.

The recipe was for four cakes, but since I was testing, halved it.

½ stick of butter
1/8 cup of flour or 2 Tbspn
3 ounces dark Ghirardelli chocolate
1 tspn vanilla extract
1 ½ large eggs
¼ cup white sugar
Some butter and cocoa powder to dust the ramekins

1. I preheated the oven to 425 degrees.
2. In a mixer, I beat the eggs, sugar, butter, and vanilla till I get a light airy batter.
3. I melted the chocolate in the microwave for around 40 seconds.
4. I cooled the chocolate and add a little bit of batter so the batter would not scramble. I gradually added the chocolate to the batter and ran it in the mixer.
5. I added the flour.
6. Poured the cake batter in the ramekins and baked it for 16 minutes according to the recipe.

I think 16 minutes' baking time was too much. Also, the batter was thick, so less flour would have been better. I should have used deeper ramekins with lesser surface area on the top. Let’s see, it could turn out right next time.

Looking at this recipe confirms my doubts.

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/molten-chocolate-cake%20comments_page=1&#conversation-container%0A
or
http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/12/molten-chocolate-magic/

Martha Stewart’s recipe requires a six muffin-tin, a temperature of 400 degrees, and only 8 minutes' baking time. I need two slabs of Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate and three eggs to make six cakes. This recipe uses less butter. The New York Times features Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s individual warm, soft chocolate cakes. This recipe requires 1 tspn flour, 1 egg, 1 egg yolk, 2 tbspn sugar, 4 tbspn butter, and 2 ounces, or half a slab, of bittersweet chocolate for each cake. It would be easy to test one cake. The oven should be at 450 degrees and the cakes should be baked for 6-7 minutes. So here is the correct way, tried and tested.

The other good thing about molten cakes is that you can make the batter in advance and refrigerate it. The batter does not have baking powder so you are not worried about air escaping the batter. Just before you bake the cakes, you need to bring the batter to room temperature. If the batter is cold, the baking time will increase and I am not sure by how much. The best thing to do is to pour the batter in ready ramekins and pop in the oven around 15 minutes before you want to serve.

Makes 2

½ cup unsalted butter or 1 stick butter
4 ounces of semi sweet chocolate or 1 bar of Ghirardelli semi sweet
2 teaspoons of flour
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 tspn vanilla extract
¼ cup sugar
Cocoa powder for dusting the ramekins
Butter for coating the ramekins

1. Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees.
2. Heat the butter and chocolate in a double broiler. Or just heat the butter and add the chocolate after breaking it into small pieces. You do not want to burn chocolate so be very careful. The mixture should be warm and not hot.
3. Beat the sugar and the eggs and egg yolk in a blender.
4. Add the egg mixture to the chocolate slowly. Add a little and whisk as you do not want the egg to curdle. Keep repeating till you mix the two together.
5. Now add the flour.
6. Rub the ramekins with cold butter and dust the ramekins with cocoa powder.
7. Add the cake mixture to the ramekins and bake for 7 minutes. The sides will be soft but the cake will have a molten center.
8. To unmold, take the ramekin out of the oven and invert on a plate and tap very lightly. You should run a knife on the side of the dish to separate the cake out a little before you do so. Let the cake rest for 5 minutes before you serve.