Molten Chocolate Cake

Paula,

I used to work as a pastry cook in a restaurant and the chocolate molten was the most popular dessert (we could do 60 in one batch of batter.) Make the batter all the way through and fill the cups, then refrigerate or freeze. They can go into the oven directly from the fridge or the freezer. If they're going in frozen, you may need to bake them just a little bit longer. I usually took them out when the surface (what would become the bottom) had just become matte.

Good, but butter and dust with cocoa powder instead of flour - otherwise, white streaks are left on the cake upon removal.

I accidentally used 4 whites and 2 yolks. OOPS, I always mess that up. It's probobly because I know non the basic rules of baking. I mean hey, I'm still in school. BUT this recipe is delicious and I love making it. B.T.W Im like eleven so don't judge me. I'm still learning about conjigating verbs in Spanish.

For a dinner party, what's the order of march? Have the ramekins filled and chilled early in the day, take them out to come to room temp while eating dinner, then bake just before serving? I'd love to hear some real-life stories of how it all goes.

Totally delicious but needs salt! I have made these several times and bake them for 8.5 minutes at 450, ensuring that my oven is indeed 450. They are always perfectly gooey inside with a sufficient layer of cake on the outside. The quality of the chocolate and butter is paramount.

Made these tonight and they were perfect at 8 min. I used 6oz of Valrhona 66% cacao after finding several other recipes online (specifically for Jean-Georges’ molten lava cakes), which all called for 6oz of chocolate. This is also what he states in the video. I wonder if the 4oz listed in this recipe is an error?

My Secret Revealed

Make extra. Remove from ramikin as normal but put directly in fridge. After overnight in the fridge the next day it is a thick chewy chocolate decadence cake. I was amazed. Two deserts from same process

I added a couple tablespoons of espresso to mine. Delish!

This is delicious. I made it in ramekins because this is what I had. In that spirit, let me say that it is offensive to read "discard the extra egg whites." What world do you people live in that you would throw away good food--and egg whites at that! You can save extra egg whites, whip them up and cook them in butter with herbs and cheese for a delicious breakfast. I did that just this morning. Or make them into simple meringue. Or add another couple of eggs and make a souffle. Discard them? No.

Just before baking add a sprinkle of coarse sea salt on top. Really makes a difference and adds eye appeal as well.

I use Valrhona Noir Amer (71%) chocolate bars for this recipe. This is a high quality French chocolate that is very reasonably priced - at Trader Joe's. I think it was $3 for a 3.5 oz bar. That's cheaper than you'll find it in France. Incidentally, you can pretty much ignore the "use by" dates on really good, dark chocolate. They will last for years without spoiling because they have no dairy in them.

Silicon molds work really well if you want an easy unmolding, plus I sprayed the molds with a flour cooking spray, no tearing or pushing , they just slid out of the molds perfectly

Based on reviewers I made a few adjustments.
sugar; I increased by 1 Tsp.
freeze dried espresso: added 1/2 Tsp.
Added 8 choc. chips to each cup AFTER adding batter, pushing into batter w/toothpick.
In one cup the chips were room temp. In another I froze the chips. In another I used SWEET chips and another used White Chocolate chips.
I served the cake on a pool of raspberry sauce and sprinkled with powered sugar. My family Loved it and DEMANDS to include in my dessert repertoire.

Sift cocoa into greased ramekins.

Made this for a casual Thursday dinner party after work. Everyone raved about them! I prepped the day before, soooo very quick to make. i used bakers spray on the ramekins which easily released with no flour marks. I wrapped each ramekin in plastic wrap and froze, put them on their baking sheet on the counter as I finished cooking dinner, and when we were ready for dessert just baked an extra few minutes. Little effort for amazing dessert.