Chocolate/ Dorie Greenspan/ Sweet

Soft-Centered Chocolate Teacup Cakes

 

I adore molten chocolate or lava cakes and have been collecting and saving the recipes. But I have never attempted to make them until now. A soft-centered chocolate teacup cakes, which bakers at Tuesday’s with Dorie TWD are making this week, are too adorable to pass up. I can’t think of anything more indulgent than a fine and textured chocolate cake, presented to your love ones, with a red rose, on Valentine’s Day. The idea came to me when we went to a Pre-valentine’s Day party for couples. There were red roses abound. They made perfect companions next to the molten chocolate cakes.

I don’t know whether my teacups would hold up to 400°F oven temperature. I used oven-proof ramekins instead and called these cakes ramekin cakes.

Now I learned the trick to achieve the soft moltenness is to add chunks of chocolate to the final chocolate batter, which are spooned in cups or ramekins. Then they go into the oven for about 10 minutes. The whole process is much easier than I’ve thought. No more than five ingredients are needed.

I like to serve the chocolate cake warm. I only made one-third of the recipe using just one whole egg. It has worked out well for me. You can efficiently weigh out 19 gm of butter to 66 gm of bittersweet chocolate (save 19 gm of it, cut in chunks and set aside). I melted the rest of cbocolate, coarsely chopped, together with butter in the microwave oven, in 30-second intervals, until they were almost completely melted. Whipped one egg and 20 gm of confectioner’s sugar in a stand mixer for about five minutes until the mixture turned pale and have increased in volume. Added one-third of one tablespoon of cornstarch to the egg mixture. (The cakes are gluten-free as cornstarch is used, instead of all-purpose flour.) Combined that with the melted chocolate mixture. Placed the remaining chocolate chunks inside the batter which has been divided among individual cups. They were ready to be baked in the preheated 400°F oven.

In less than half an hour from start to finish, you get one to two, depending on the size of the cups, of these adorable cakes. Quick, simple and decadent. I’ll definitely make them again! Maybe with a twist, like stuffing these cakes with white chocolate chunks, frozen berries, or berry coulis, as Dorie has suggested.

Valentine’s day is just around the corner.

Molten lava flows from the cake

 

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11 Comments

  • Reply
    Cakelaw
    February 9, 2016 at 7:25 am

    These were delish, weren't they – your photo makes me want to eat them all over again.

  • Reply
    Ryan
    February 9, 2016 at 7:32 am

    Great looking cakes! I love the gooey-ness of them!

  • Reply
    Mardi Michels
    February 9, 2016 at 10:55 am

    So pretty! I also made less than the full recipe (I did half though) – it's so easy to minify when the ingredients are listed in weight, right? Interesting that your chocolate doesn't look like it melted completely – I baked mine for 12 minutes (larger size) and it was all gone! Gone to gooey-ness, that is!

  • Reply
    Nicole
    February 9, 2016 at 11:16 am

    Your pictures are great! Really captured the gooey-Ness of them! And these were incredibly delicious. I did use my teacups and glad it worked out ok… with the last two cakes breaking I could totally have seen my teacups shattering in the oven, bUT thankfully not!

  • Reply
    Nicole
    February 9, 2016 at 11:17 am

    Your pictures are great! Really captured the gooey-Ness of them! And these were incredibly delicious. I did use my teacups and glad it worked out ok… with the last two cakes breaking I could totally have seen my teacups shattering in the oven, bUT thankfully not!

  • Reply
    Zosia
    February 9, 2016 at 5:48 pm

    These were delicious and the perfect dessert to make for loved ones.

  • Reply
    Cher Rockwell
    February 10, 2016 at 2:23 am

    So pretty – I didn't realize that this was such an easy dessert. That is a bonus! (I like the plating with the rose)

  • Reply
    steph- whisk/spoon
    February 10, 2016 at 10:03 pm

    This would make a wonderful Valentine's dessert! I like to see that you used the cornstarch here, because I was wondering how that would come out…I'll give the gluten-free variation a go next time.

  • Reply
    Diane Zwang
    February 11, 2016 at 12:24 am

    They look yummy, delicious and I can't wait to make them. I am also worried about my teacups in a 400 degree oven. I have ramekins but they are big so I am not sure what I am going to do but looks like I will enjoy them.

  • Reply
    Margaret @approachingfood
    February 15, 2016 at 7:34 pm

    Looks so good! I love the idea of presenting it with a red, red rose! And I also used ramekins as opposed to teacups. And that chocolate? Yum!

  • Reply
    sanyaliving.com
    February 16, 2016 at 1:08 am

    These look sooo good! I was surprised they were easy to make, I thought for that much reward they'd require a lot more effort 🙂

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