Molten Chocolate Cake

A couple months ago, my mom came to town and we took a baking class at the Institute of Culinary Education. A chocolate baking class. We made a ton of stuff, but the individual molten chocolate cakes were really out of this world. It's one of those desserts you only get when you're eating out, mostly because it seems so extravagant that you don't think of it as a make-at-home dessert. Well, let me tell you: it couldn't be easier. This was by far the most simple, and most chocolaty, thing we made in class. So simple, I wanted to share it with you so you could have a trick up your sleeve for your next dinner party. The original recipe calls for a vanilla sauce over the top, but I think it would go better with a little dollop of whip cream, some fresh raspberries, or even a small scoop of ice cream.

You can make this ahead of time and pour the batter into the molds, baking just before presentation. We brought home one from the class and heated it up the next day and it was still really good. It's a surprisingly resilient recipe.

5 oz. bittersweet chocolate, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
10 T. unsalted butter
3 eggs
3 egg yolks
2/3 C. sugar
1/2 C. all-purpose flour

Seven 4-ounce aluminum foil molds (the cheapy ones you can buy at the store, or ramekins), buttered and floured. Don't flour too heavily or outside of cakes will be white.

Set the oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees.

Fill a saucepan with water and bring to a boil; turn off heat. Combine chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and place over hot water. Stir occasionally until melted. (Melting with double boiler also okay.)

Whisk eggs and yolks together with electric mixer. Whisk in sugar, then butter and chocolate mixture. Mix for a minute on medium speed. Fold in flour.

Fill the molds to within a quarter inch of the top. Bake for 10-12 minutes, then unmold onto plates. You can test one if you're not sure at the end of the bake time. The outside should be cooked, but the middle all liquid yumminess.