Chocolate Molten Cakes

I love lava cakes. LOVE EM. 

I mean...chocolate cake with a molten, decadent, rich rich rich chocolate center. There's nothing not wonderful about it. My first taste of lava cake was at a dinner theatre (that is now closed) when I was a teenager, and I fell head over heels. Then...I started eating these packaged microwaveable lava cakes. And now-I make every recipe I get my hands on.

Thus far my favorite lava cake recipe came from Michael's stepmom--it is foolproof (a PERFECT molten center) and delicious. This recipe is a very close second place---the only reason it's not number 1 is I could not get them out of their ramekins unscathed, so I couldn't get that pretty picture of a cake with lava-like chocolate oozing out. Instead you're safer just eating them out of the ramekins. However the molten center is on point and the level of chocolatey decadence is FAB.

One of the beautiful things about lava cake is how perfect it is for entertaining. You can easily make these ahead of time and just bake them when you're ready to serve. They're sorta fancy. And they're impressive-people are going to think you're an exquisite chef and nothing beats the wow-factor of breaking in to a cake to find that liquid chocolate goodness, ready to make your tastebuds siiiiing.

And...although Thanksgiving is generally all about that pie game...maybe you wanna mix things up and serve some chocolate indulgence? I know if I showed up to a Thanksgiving dinner and was given a lava cake for dessert I would think to myself, "This person is a total rock-star. I want to be their best friend for liiife."

Don't you want people to think that about you? Yeah, me too.

Chocolate Molten Cakes

From Delicious Shots

Makes 4.

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. bittersweet chocolate
• 8 tbsp. (or 1 stick or 1/2 lb.) butter + more to grease ramekins
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preparation:

• Preheat oven to 400F degrees and generously grease 4 six-ounce ramekins with butter. Place them on a baking sheet and set aside.
• In a double broiler (AKA a heatproof bowl fitted on top of a saucepan with boiling water-making sure the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl.--I was actually able to do this just by putting very hot water in a pan and being very patient for the chocolate and butter to melt without having to put it on the stove) melt the chocolate and butter until smooth.
• With a mixer beat together sugar and eggs until light and foamy, a couple minutes. Beat in vanilla.
• Gently stir egg mixture into the chocolate. Mix in the flour until combined.
• Divide the batter evenly between the 4 ramekins.
• Bake 12-15 minutes, until the edges look set but the center still looks a little wet.
• Let cool about 5-10 minutes. Serve in ramekins or by running a knife around the edges and inverting onto a plate (although I had little luck getting a pretty cake out this way).
• Store leftovers, covered, at room temperature for up to 4 days-reheat for 10 seconds in the microwave. OR only bake as many at a time as needed. Store ramekins (covered) with uncooked batter in the refrigerator for up to a week or in the freezer for up to 1 month, let come to room temperature before baking.

THAT MOLTEN CHOCOLATE !!!