Hello everyone, hope you had a nice week and managed to stay warm during these bitter cold days. I have struggled a lot with this weather especially while waiting for the bus to go to work. Anyway, it is soon going to be Valentine’s day (which is a perfect excuse to celebrate) and I was trying to find the perfect dessert to cook for that special day. I don’t know about you but for me Valentine’s day is all about chocolate. So this year I thought I will prepare the delicious and very simple Chocolate Molten Lava Cake. There is something about this dessert that I really like, maybe the molten lava chocolate oozing from the yummy cake, the fact that you can prepare it in literally 15 minutes and have a perfect result or the fact that you can add whatever extra flavour to make the chocolate lava even more special. This very simple chocolate cake will definitely make that day unique for your partner or even just for yourself.

Serves: 2 People

Cooking time: 15 min

For this recipe you will need:

35 gr of milk chocolate

40 gr of dark half bitter chocolate

1 whole egg

1 yolk

1/2 cup of icing sugar

2 tablespoons of butter

2 tablespoons of plain flour

1 pinch of salt

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

The preparation:

First of all, preheat the oven at gas mark 7/ 220 C / 425 F. Then apart, melt the chocolate with 1 & 1/2 tablespoon of butter in bain-marie (water bath) making sure that the bowl where the chocolate is, doesn’t touch the water otherwise it will burn. It should take about 3 minutes after the water boils.

Aside mix the egg and the egg yolk with the sugar, making sure to mix very well until you have a creamy result and no lumps, then add the vanilla, salt and mix again. After that, add one tablespoon of the melted chocolate in the bowl where you have mixed the ingredients and mix (this will avoid the egg to get cooked as the chocolate will be hot) then slowly add the rest of the melted chocolate and mix.

The final thing to do is adding the flour and mix as long as that the flour get incorporated in the whole mixture.

After that, butter the 2 muffin ramekins (with the remaining butter) and put at the base of them some baking paper (this way the cake won’t stick at the base and it will be easier to take the cakes out after cooking.)

Now it is time to put the yummy mixture in the ramekins making sure to fill about 2/3 of them and bake for about 10-12 minutes, it really depends upon your oven. Just make sure the borders are cooked and you can see the center loose and wobbly.

Tip: Remember the more you cook them the less oozy they will be in the center.

After cooking let them rest for 1 minute then serve immediately the cakes in the ramekins or upside down for a special result. I sprinkled some icing sugar on the top and added a raspberry as I find it really helps balance the flavours plus it adds some really nice colourful touch.

Tip: You can prepare in advance the chocolate molten lava batter, put the batter in the ramekins, cover with a cling film and put it in the fridge. When you are ready to have the dessert take the ramekins out, leave to rest for 5 minutes and bake. Please remember that it may take longer for them to bake (about 13 minutes).

I really hope you will like this dessert recipe and give it a go, I am really sure you will like it. I think is perfect for a special dinner such that of a Valentine’s day to celebrate love in all of its meaning, love for our special person, love for simple things in life but most of all, the love we should have more for ourselves.

See you on the next recipe,

Enjoy!

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