Molten Chocolate Cakes

Today was a snow day!  Snow days always put me in the mood for cooking.  After dinner tonight, I prepared these molten chocolate cakes (one for each of us) and served them with vanilla bean ice cream.  What a decadent treat.  Every time I’ve made these, they’ve been a big hit.  They are unbelievably good.  Though they appear to be difficult and time-consuming, they are actually very easy to make and use basic ingredients.  From start to finish, these took me less than 45 minutes to make.

Ingredients:

4 squares semi-sweet baking chocolate

1/2 cup butter  (1 stick) don’t use margarine

1 cup powdered sugar

2 eggs plus 2 egg yolks

6 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

6 custard dishes or small souffle dishes

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Butter 6 custard cups on the inside.  Place on a cookie sheet.

Place the stick of butter (not margarine)and chocolate in a large microwaveable bowl.

Microwave on high for one minute.  After a minute, it’ll look like this:

Stir it with a wire whisk until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth.

Stir in 1 cup powdered sugar until well blended.

Crack two eggs into a small bowl, then add two egg yolks by separating the yolk from the whites.

Whisk in eggs and egg yolks.  Whisk until well blended.

Add the flour and whisk until smooth.

Divide mixture between the prepared custard dishes.  I was able to fill 6 custard dishes with this recipe, but depending on how full you fill them, you may get less.

Bake for 13-14 minutes until sides or firm but center will still appear to be soft.

Remove from oven and let stand for a minute or so.  Carefully run a thin sharp knife around the edges to loosen.

Invert cakes onto individual serving dishes.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with ice cream or whipped cream.