Monday, March 31, 2008

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.

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think next time I make these I would shave some time off of the cooking time as well. Mine had a bit of goo, but it wasn't as lavaey as I expected. They tasted heavenly though. :)

CB said...

Oh so Goo'd! You are the queen of play on words. ::bowing down:: Man, I really wish I had some ice cream last night. I bet they were fab with vanilla. Great job!
Clara

Anonymous said...

Mine were also goo-challenged but yummmmmmmmmy.

Anonymous said...

No goo, either, but tasty, indeed!

Annemarie said...

I think your pics look great!!!

Anonymous said...

Looks great! I will cut down on the baking time next time as well. Looks delicious with the ice cream :)

Marie Rayner said...

My cakes were not very moltenly either. I will cut the bake time down next time I do them, but they were delicious!

LyB said...

These are perfect to make for company, so easy and fast, and delicious! Yours look great!

Anonymous said...

Great job!
Mine weren't as gooey as they were supposed to be either.
Next time......

Anonymous said...

This ain't on the subject of chocolate cakes, but did you know that I can't eat a tangerine any more without thinking of your blog? This happens a lot, because I love tangerines. Your cakes are the best!

Mary said...

don't apologize for the pics... they look scrumptious! i cut my recipe in half knowing my husband and I didn't need to eat them all hot out of the oven...although he would have like to!

noskos said...

Great looking cakes!!

Tammy said...

Your cakes look great!!! The centres look lovely and gooey!

Anonymous said...

Lucky for you and your hubs, these lil' cakes are also excellent cold! :-)

Gretchen Noelle said...

Mine could have been gooier also, I will bake less next time. Looks yummy along with ice cream!

zebe912 said...

You know I <3 you Rach, but how can you not love chocolate? That breaks my heart. Anyway, I have non Dorie version of lava cake that goos pretty well. I will have to compare the two and see what differences there might be. I'm curious now!

Anonymous said...

I had problems with the "eat right away" issue as well. I ended up making half the recipe and leaving half an egg yolk in the fridge until I was ready to bake the next half. I tried leaving the uncooked batter in the ramekins for a few hours before baking (refrigerated), but those didn't rise as much as the immediately-baked ones did.

Natalie said...

I'm with CB - I'd have killed for some vanilla ice cream when I made these! That's what I get for procrastinating (and making my husband's birthday cake this past weekend).

mimi said...

your photo still looks great and yummy! i was only going to do half the recipe to deal with the eat them right away, but it seemed so little, so i have some leftovers in the fridge and we'll see what they taste like!

Rachel said...

DIANNE - I agree. Heaven!

CB - Come on over. We always have vanilla in the freezer!

REBECCA - Just because they are challenged, doesn't make them any less.

MADAM - Tasty Tuesday!

ANNEMARIE - Thanks, dearie.

ERIN & MARIE - Yes, I think shaving a bit of time off helps, especially for my unpredictable oven.

LYB - Yes, perfect company food. Even great for suprise company since they bake up quick.

Lemon Tartlet - I tart you!

MARY - Thanks. I just see some amazing food photogs in TWD land and I envy them!

Cecilia said...

I thought your pictures turned out nicely.

My cakes also didn't have gooey centers, but they were still totally satisfying for this chocolate lover.

Rachel said...

NOSKOS - Thanks!

TAMMY - My down under friend! Thanks :)

GRETCHEN - Me too.

ZEBE - I just like fruity of vanilla better. What can I say?

BRIDGET - Good to know. PS I love your name!

NATALIE - You must keep the Dreyers on hand. (unless you live in TX and can get Blue Bell)

MIMI - They are good the next day. Don't ask me how I know ::wiping crumbs off chin::

Rachel said...

Thanks CECELIA. I'm just angling for a new camera ::wink::

Katrina said...

Yours look great! I wrapped mine up for dessert this week as well- If you put it on a plate and microwave it for 15 seconds, it makes it nice and mushy in the middle again.

Piggy said...

mine are not gooey as well, but the cakes still taste great, weren't they? :-)

Anonymous said...

Even not so gooey, they still look great!

Dolores said...

I'm sorry you didn't get the "goo" you wanted, but I agree with the others... they look great. And thankfully, they seem to store and reheat well... I still have two in the 'fridge fighting for space with this week's lemon cream. :)

Jaime said...

you can easily the halve the recipe if you're not making these for company - that way you end up w/fewer cakes :) just use the leftover eggs for some scrambled eggs or something. i think for the goo factor you need to cut back on the baking time even more... goo or no goo, it still looks great! wish i had had some ice cream for mine though!