MINI CHOCOLATE LAVA CAKES

MINI CHOCOLATE LAVA CAKES

Ingredients:

200g BITTER CHOCOLATE BAR 70% (=7,05oz=1 ½ cup=6 ¾ square)

200g unsalted BUTTER (=7,05oz=0,881 cup)

150g SUGAR (=5,29oz=¾ cup)

4 EGGS

40g PLAIN FLOUR (=1,41oz=⅓ cup)

1 pinch TABLE SALT

Ingredients to grease the moulds:

BITTER COCOA POWDER to taste

unsalted BUTTER to taste

Ingredients for the serving (optional):

fresh MIXED BERRIES (blackberries, blueberries and raspberries)

RASPBERRIES COULIS

Method:

Chop dark chocolate in small pieces and melt them with butter at low heat (or even better bain-marie). Then let everything cool down a bit.

In the meantime, beat eggs and sugar, then add flour and table salt.

Add melted butter and chocolate and mix (if you beat it too much you will let air bubbles in and these will turn into holes once cooked… you can see them in my picture as I mixed more than necessary while recording the video)!

Grease 8 little moulds (mine were big ones as I wanted to make a Valentine’s Day dessert to be shared, so they turned out to be 4, but I suggest you to opt for smaller ones) with butter, then coat with bitter cocoa powder (if you used flour as you would normally do, you would get a white halo around the mini cakes). Make sure to choose moulds that can be frozen and that can be placed in the oven directly from the freezer.

Pour the mixture in and freeze for minimum 4 hours… but you can keep them there for months!

When you decide to serve them, just preheat the oven at 220°C (=428°F). Take the moulds out of the freezer and place them directly in the oven.

Bake for 10-12 minutes if the moulds have been kept in the freezer only 4 hours. If they have been stored there for more than 4 hours, you will have to bake them for 15-20 minutes. If you are using a double-serve mould as I did, you will need to leave it in the oven more (about 1,5 times: I kept mine in the freezer one entire night and I baked it for about 25 minutes).

You can serve them as you prefer: I’ve opted for fresh mixed berries (blackberries, blueberries and raspberries) and a raspberries coulis I’ve made following my strawberry coulis recipe.

Mini chocolate lava cakes are the perfect dessert you can store in your freezer: easy to make and ready in few minutes… your guests will find a warm and delicious surprise when cutting the first bite!

Don’t wait for Valentine’s Day to have some!