Chocolate Caramel Lava Cakes

So, um, is the title ringing any bells with you? Maybe telling you something (hint: There are no hidden philosophical meanings)?

How about: “This is probably delicious.”

You’re probably right.

Of course, you might not be able to finish it.

It’s very rich.

When I say rich, do you picture a chocolate fudginess melting in your mouth?

Well, you should.

Serves: 4

Time: 30 minutes, counting 15-17 minutes cooking time.

 

Ingredients:

The Lava

4 tablespoons butter

¼ cup (4 ounces, 120 grams) semisweet chocolate

 

The Caramel

¼ cup brown sugar

¼ cup butter (½ a stick)

100 ml whipping cream

 

The Cakes

3 eggs

1/3 cup powdered sugar (aka confectioners sugar)

pinch of salt

4 tablespoons rice flour

2 tablespoons cornstarch (or potato starch or tapioca starch)

 

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.

Grease 4 ramekins with butter. If you don’t have ramekins (though ramekins do make for better cakes): Don’t panic. Here are instructions for using a muffin pan:

Grease 6 muffin holes well with butter, and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Cook for an extra 2 minutes.

Add an extra 2 tablespoons rice flour and 1 tablespoon cornstarch to the mix when you add the flours.

Okay. Moving on.

Put the eggs, sugar, and salt in a bowl and whisk together. If you feel like having a caffeine high as well as a sugar high, now is a good time to add 2 tablespoons liquid coffee.

Place the chocolate and butter in a saucepan (or in your microwave, I prefer to use a saucepan), on medium low heat. Stir it constantly so that the chocolate doesn’t burn. Cook until the chocolate and butter have melted. If you’re using a microwave, microwave in 20 second increments, stirring after each, until the chocolate is melted.

Pour the chocolate mixture into a separate bowl and clean out your saucepan.

Now, put the brown sugar and butter in your clean saucepan and cook on medium heat until the butter is completely melted. Add the whipping cream and cook, stirring often, until the mixture begins to gently boil.

Remove from heat and set aside.

Now, add the chocolate mixture and half of the caramel mixture to the eggs/sugar/salt mixture and stir until combined. Add the flours and stir until just combined (be careful not to over-mix).

Pour the mixture into the prepared pans. Into the center of each cake, pour some of the remaining caramel mixture until it is all used up.

Place the cakes in the oven. If you’re using ramekins, put the ramekins on a baking sheet.

Cook the cakes for 15 minutes if you are using ramekins. Cook for 17-19 minutes if you are using a muffin tin (until the edges have cooked enough that you can remove the cakes).

Refrigerate until eating. It tastes good warm or cold.