TWD - Gooey Chocolate Cakes

For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie, (a weekly bake & blog event) Lemon Tartlet, a girl after my own tart heart chose Gooey Chocolate Cakes.



Early in the week, I noticed that some folks were having trouble getting their cakes to "goo". I took their advice and shaved a minute off the baking time. Mine were a bit squishy in the center but goo they did not.



They were, as most Dorie recipes, totally tasty even for this non-chocolate lover. Dorie recommended using chocolate that you like so I used half the bitter sweet (60% cocoa) left over from something else and half semi-sweet chocolate. The combo was perfect and went great with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.



My only complaint was that this recipe made six little cakes that were to be eaten right away. I had a long and busy week and was not going to have company over the weekend. Since it's just hubs and I, we ended up wrapping the remaining cakes and will eat them up for dessert this week. (However, Weds is hubs bday so he gets to choose his treat.)



I'll definitely make these again but will do it when we have company. Thanks Lemon Tartlet for a great choice! Head on over to TWD (just click on my badge to the right) and see how goo'd the other bakers did this week.



PS I apologize for my terrible pictures this week. I think I took them with my eyes closed. I was so tired!



Gooey Chocolate Cakes
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon salt
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, (4 ounces coarsely chopped, 1 ounce very finely chopped)
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
6 tablespoons of sugar



Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. butter (or spray – it’s easier) 6 cups of a regular-size muffin pan, preferably a disposable aluminum foil pan, dust the insides with flour and tap out the excess. Put the muffin pan on a baking sheet.


Sift the flour, cocoa and salt together.


Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water, put the coarsely chopped chocolate and the butter in the bowl and stir occasionally over the simmering water just until they are melted – you don’t want them to get so hot that the butter separates. Remove the bowl from the pan of water.


In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and yolk until homogeneous. Add the sugar and whisk until well blended, about 2 minutes. Add the dry ingredients and, still using the whisk, stir (don’t beat) them into the eggs. Little by little, and using a light hand, stir in the melted chocolate and butter. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and sprinkle the finely chopped chocolate over the batter.


Bake the cakes for 13 minutes. Transfer them, still on the baking sheet, to a rack to cool for 3 minutes. (There is no way to test that these cakes are properly baked, because the inside remains liquid.)


Line a cutting board with a silicone baking mat or parchment or wax paper, and, after the 3-minute rest, unmold the cakes onto the board. Use a wide metal spatula to lift the cakes onto dessert plates.