Chocolate Lava Cake with Salted Caramel

Chocolate Lava Cake with Salted Caramel

The first time I made this it came out looking more like chocolate molten lava pudding. Of course there’s nothing wrong with pudding, except if you have 8 guests that have paid to eat at your supper club and what is on their plates looks like a big pile of brown mush. Then it’s not such a good thing.

I definitely had a ‘what the hell do I do now’ moment when I pulled the ramekin off the cake and the whole thing oozed all over the plate except for a thin crispy crust. For a moment I thought I would simply call it molten lava pudding. Instead it got scooped back into the pan and all 8 of these little cakes spent a little more time in the oven. Still not quite enough time; they weren’t as pretty as the one here in the photos. Didn’t seem to matter as all 8 slightly too molten-y lava cakes disappeared, except for the few streaks of chocolate on each plate.

I put one of these cups of chocolate molten lava cakes with salted caramel away  in my fridge so that I could share it with you. Wasn’t that thoughtful of me? You might think that I was doing it so that I could also have a bite of it, but that’s not true. I’ve been trying to be healthy and eat things like cucumber avocado salad and black rice salad with mangoes and cashews; chocolate molten lava cake wasn’t supposed to be part of the plan. But then I cut a piece out of the side so I could photograph the chocolate lava pouring out. And then that little piece was just sitting there and all this chocolate molten lava and salted caramel was oozing all over the plate. I was left with no choice; it had to be eaten

BTW: Stop by the post on Profiteroles with Chantilly Cream and leave a comment for a chance to win a copy  of Grace Massa Langlois’s new cookbook Grace’s Sweet Life. Contest closes July 26th. Good luck! Contest closed. 

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Chocolate Molton Lava Cake with Salted Caramel

 

Prep time

40 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

1 hour

 

It's simple to prepare, it can be prepared up to three days in advance It looks stunning on the table and is extremely delicious. If you make this once, I have a feeling it will turn into your go-to dessert, as it has with me. If you're running out of time, you can simply skip the caramel. It's nevertheless delicious even without it.

Author: The Endles Meal

Serves: 4 (3/4 cup ramekins)

Ingredients

• 10 ounces semi-sweet or unsweetened chocolate
• ½ cup butter
• 3 eggs, large
• 3 egg yolks
• ½ cup flour
• ½ cup powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons black cocoa powder (optional)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Butter and cocoa powder for ramekins
• Maldon sea salt
• Powdered sugar for dusting
• Chocolate Caramel: 5 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces
• ½ cup whipping cream, at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon good quality sea salt (Maldon/fleur de del)

Instructions

1. To make chocolate caramel: Melt chocolate in a double broiler or metal bowl over a pot of simmering water
2. Add sugar and water to a large pot (make sure it is large, it will bubble up lots)
3. Heat mixture over medium high heat until it is dark amber in colour and reaches 350 degrees. Remove from heat.
4. All at once add the whipping cream. Take care since it can be extremely hot and bubbly. Mix the ingredients until the bubbling ceases and the mixture becomes soft. Add the chocolate and whisk till combined. Stir in butter.
5. To make the cake: Liberally brush butter to thoroughly coat 8 ramekins. Darken each one by using cocoa powder. Tap upside down to close access. Set aside
6. Melt butter and Chocolate in a double broiler or a metal bowl over a pot of simmering water.
7. Whisk eggs and egg yolks together in a large bowl.
8. Whisk together flour, powdered sugar, salt and optional black cocoa powder.
9. When chocolate is melted (allow it to cool for several minutes if it is hot) add it to the eggs and stir well. Then add the whisked flour mixture and mix till smooth.
10. Fill each ramekin half way. Then, place a a small tablespoon of caramel on top and sprinkle with salt. The cake batter should be covered to about 1/2 inch away from the edge of the ramekin.
11. Preheat oven to 420 degrees. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Take the cake out of the oven and use a knife to run around the edges of the cake until it is loose. Put a dish on inside of each ramekin. Utilizing oven mitts, rotate the plate and ramekin and over until the ramekin sits inverted onto the plate. Carefully remove the ramekin. Repeat the process with all the other ramekins. dust them with the icing sugar.

Notes

It is delicious with or without salted caramel.
You will have more caramel than you need. Serve the rest onto the cakes once they have come from the oven or simply enjoy it as a scoop :) For cleaning the pan which you cooked the caramel in then fill it up with water and then place it over the stove until the sugar is once more melted.
Place the filled ramekins in the refrigerator and then bring the temperature to room-temperature before baking. The baking time may vary significantly based on the dimensions of the Ramekins (see earlier story). If the cake batter is more than four (please Please) cut down on the time they're in the oven, so that they don't cook for all of them. The way to go!