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.

UrbanHonking.com and Sweet Tomatoes Present...

Each month the world's greatest buffet restaurant, Sweet Tomatoes, offers a for-a-limited-time-only theme based on a particular ingredient. I don't eat a lot of Pineapple or Lemon, so in my two most recent visits I chose to only eat from these specialty items in order to determine which is the better food, Lemon or Pineapple?

The Meal Of Pineapple

1. Crunchy Island Pineapple
Description: Our most exotic salad. Golden pineapple, crisp carrots and red bell peppers, crunchy wonton strips, and the clincher: A delicious pineapple vinaigrette. Genius.
Rating:

2. Pineapple Coconut Slaw
Description: A tropical vacation for your tastebuds. Sweet, juicy pineapple. Shredded coconut. Crunchy green cabbage. Aloha!
Rating:

3. Pineapple Gelatin
Description: Our pineapple gelatin is made with a combination of pineapple juice and water for an exotic punch of big flavor.
Rating:

4. Fresh Pineapple
Description: Fresh pineapple is an excellent source of vitamin C! Just one serving of fresh pineapple (2 slices) contains 60 calories and 25% of your recommended vitamin C. Sweet.
Rating:

5. Curried Pineapple & Ginger
Description: We combine garlic, curry & fresh ginger along with crunchy carrots, red bell peppers, scallions and sweet pineapple to give it a sweet taste... with a little kick.
Rating:

6. Wowie Maui Focaccia w/ Ham
Description: We top our scratch-made dough with delicious ham, juicy pineapple and mozzarella cheese, then bake it to a tropical, golden brown. Hot diggity!
Rating:

7. Carrot Pineapple Muffin
Description: Send your tastebuds on the ultimate vacation with this tropical oat bran muffin made with pineapple, banana puree, carrots, brown sugar and a hint of vanilla. No ticket required.
Rating:

8. Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
Description: It'll take you away to the islands! Indulge in our made-from-scratch golden brown cake perfectly topped with juicy pineapple and a sweet brown sugar glaze. Oh my!
Rating:

Conclusion: While impressed with an array of eight food items featuring pineapple, including savory options, it felt like they took some shortcuts here. Jello? Fresh Pineapple? C'mon... Plus the flavor of the actual pineapple was not as featured as I had hoped. While I enjoyed the novelty of the meal, over all it felt a little desperate.
Overall Rating:

The Meal Of Lemon

1. Summer Lemon with Spiced Pecans
Description: Bring the taste of summer to any time of year. Tart lemon flavor, sweet caramelized pecans, dried cranberries & blue cheese crumbles... So refreshing, it feels like lunch on the veranda.
Rating:

2. Lemon Rice with Cashews
Description: We combine refreshing lemon juice with toasted cashews, crunchy celery, scallions and tender white rice for a tart & toasty taste!
Rating:

3. Strawberry Lemonade
Description: Made from 100% fresh California Strawberries.
Rating:

4. Lemon Chicken Orzo
Description> Real lemon zest and lemon juice give this soup a subtle tartness. With tender chicken, orzo pasta and fresh herbs, this light, refreshing soup is sure to please!
Rating:

5. Tangy Lemon Muffins
Description: The burst of flavor and the name come the tangy lemonade, real lemon zest and real lemon juice. Tart. Tasty. Terrific.
Rating:

6. Hot Lemon Lava Cake
Description: A warm lemon river erupts from this made-from-scratch lemon lava cake. We bake it to perfection, add our tart lemon glaze, and then sprinkle it with powdered sugar. Pucker up!
Rating:

7. Lemon Gelatin
Description: Get jiggly with it! This lemon gelatin is so refreshing- you'll feel like its summertime again!
Rating:

8. Lemon Cream with Capers
Description: Refreshing and light, we start with tender penne pasta, fold in our subtle cream sauce and accent it with capers. Delicious!
Rating:

Conclusion: Lemons? Really? Wow. I'm sort of surprised with what they have managed to come up with. And the food is noticeably better! The pasta is even good, which is the first time I've ever had pasta I didn't dislike here! Overall I think the tartness of the lemon worked so much better than the sweetness of the pineapple. I really enjoyed this meal, and I loved the Lemon Rice!!
Overall Rating:

Winner: LEMON!

Final Thoughts: What happened? After "Lemon Month" there is no more theme ingredients! Just a few featured items... But I want more than a new item or two, I want to eat novelty based meals! I would return month after month and enjoy the meal regardless of how high or low I rated it. I'm a little bummed out.

Looking for the IFOCE coverage? We moved it from the food blog Digest to the sports blog True Fan.

You can find all the past entries on Digest here.

You can find all the future entries on True Fan here.

After just missing the wild card slot, Erik Denmark was finally able to make his dream come true of making it to the Nathan's table tomorrow, July 4th. He competed in three qualifiers before this one, held today before the Brooklyn Cyclone's game in Coney Island, and came determined to win. And win he did, with an impressive 22.5 HDBs. He competed against eating legends Jammin' Joe LaRue, Don "Moses" Lerman, and Krazy Kevin, but nothing was keeping this Seattlite from earning his place at the 2006 Nathan's competition. Helping him along were other Nathan's eaters, including Rich LeFevre, Pat Bertoletti, Hall Hunt, Bob Shoudt, and Crazy Legs (there as a guest judge), who were parked right up front and shouting encouraging words to all the eaters throughout.

Pics from the qualifier are here, along with some from the weigh-in held earlier in the day.