Gooey Chocolate Cakes

The title says gooey, but gooey they are not.

This week’s Tuesdays With Dorie‘s assignment was to make Gooey Chocolate Cakes, and Dorie’s description claims they are “small, dark and warm, with a lava-like runny center.” They were certainly small, dark and warm, but the centers were lacking the promised chocolate lava. I followed the recipe exactly, so I can’t guess at what the problem could’ve been.

Not that they weren’t tasty though! Fresh out of the oven, they are slightly underbaked, rich and packed with chocolate flavour. Perhaps too much so – I found the first bite to be great, but they quickly became too one-dimensional for me. If I decide to ever make them again, I’ll definitely add some flavour to them, like peppermint or orange extract. A fruit coulis would be nice as well – anything to add a bit of a kick to them.

They were nice and easy to make, so it’s nice to have a quick dessert recipe that can be whipped up anytime dessert is needed. Add a scoop of ice cream, a drizzle of raspberry coulis, and you’re all set.

Gooey Chocolate Cakes

Gooey Chocolate Cakes
adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours
Makes 6 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

1. 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.

2. Sift the flour, cocoa and salt together.

3. 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.

Gooey Chocolate Cakes

4. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and yolk until homogenous. 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.

5. 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.)

6. 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.

Gooey Chocolate Cakes

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