Individual Molten Chocolate Cakes
This is my third time making this cake. The first time was when my oven was broken. Suffice to say, I couldn’t get the timing right. The second time I made this was when I was away on vacation in Costa Rica. It was my night for dinner and I was cooking for seven. Clearly being in paradise, I didn’t want to spend all day in the kitchen. So I made Argentine Steak with Chimichurri and Papas Fritas for dinner and I made these individual cakes for dessert.
It was perfect… I made the cakes in the morning (in relatively no time) and put them in the fridge. I then hit the golf course and scored the best round of my life - 91, then hit the beach, and then got back to make dinner. As we were just finishing up eating dinner, I snuck back into the kitchen, popped the cakes in the oven for 8 minutes, took them out, and voila! They were an incredible hit, and I got a lot more credit for them than I deserved. They were just so simple to make.
These cakes are just so gushingly wonderous. The cakey part of them is moist and rich in dark chocolate and the molten center is warm and velvety. Mixed together on your tongue they create a power combo of textures. The flavor is mesmerizing… I should mention that conversation might just stop during dessert except for the sighs and moans of oohs and ahhs.
I highly recommend this for a dinner party. It will surely wow your guests, and give you tons of time to socialize. You wont be locked up in the kitchen all night prepping and cooking. Serve this sprinkled with sifted powdered sugar or whipped cream.
I got this recipe from MarthaStewart.com which was contributed by Ralph Rucci. I modified it to serve 2 people as shown below. Enjoy!
Recipe: Individual Chocolate Cake with Whipped Cream
from MarthaStewart.com by Ralph Rucci
Serves 2
Ingredients: Cake
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
cocoa powder, for dusting molds
2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1/8 cup sugar
1 tsp all-purpose flour
Confectioners sugar, if desired for dusting finished cake
Ingredients: Whipped Cream
1 cup whipping cream
2 tbls sugar
Directions: Cake
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Butter the 2 - 4 ounce ramekins and lightly dust the inside of each with cocoa powder, tapping out excess. Heat butter and chocolate in heat proof bowl set over (but not touching) simmering water until chocolate is almost completely melted. Meanwhile, in the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk egg, egg yolk, and sugar until light and thick. Slowly add butter mixture to mixer, add flour and mix until combined. Divide batter between ramekins. Place on a baking sheet and transfer to oven. Cook for 7 - 10 minutes - sides should be set and center soft.
Direction: Whipped Cream
Take whipping cream and whip it using an electric mixer until firm and creating peaks. Add the sugar and beat again.
Serve whipped cream aside the warm cake - dust cake with confectioners sugar if desired.
Sinfully delicious. They look outstanding. Soo pretty!
Wow that cake looks delicious. I wish I had it next to me right now. I’ll have to try this one… Beautiful!
Fabulous photos! I’m not a fan of chocolate cake but this might sway me over to the er, chocolate side!
~ingrid
i am definately gonna make these!
I love this kind of cakes and your looks absolutely perfect. The first picture speaks for itself!
They look so pretty and delicious!
These are on my to make list and just moved to the top since they will only take about 15 min!!
Thanks so much Donna, Linda, Ingrid, PickCook, ClubsyCookie, and Cathy! Linda, PickCook and Cathy, let me know how they turn out for you all. I’m telling you, whoever you make them for will just melt over them (no pun intended).
Your cakes look absolutely beautiful! I made a similar recipe from Everyday Food that came out quite well.
Thank you Sarah. Recipe Box - she’ll fall in love with you over and over again with these cakes, they’re one of my husbands favorite.
Hi first time here thru tastespotting…n love this place. esp these cakes are adorable…i used to crave them a lot and then Chillies was the place to go..even if it meant late nights…lol.
Navita: Chocolate Cake plus late-night… what a devilishly fantastic combination. Also, thank you for the kind words!
These look great. I’m wondering if they reheat well? I want to make them a day or two in advance, and then heat them up after dinner to serve for an impressive dessert. Will that work? And a few seconds in the microwave?
Hi Mmmmm, I have not tried reheating them as of yet, but I am not exactly sure that that would be the best for them. If you have the time to do this… prepare the batter the day before and refrigerate. Then, about 15 minutes before you would want to serve the cakes… take them out of the fridge and turn on the oven, then ten minutes before serving pop them into the oven. It shouldn’t keep you away from your guests for that long of a time. A good idea too would be to test cooking one the day before just so you can figure out timing with your oven, and then know that cooking multiple cakes at the same time would probably take 1 minute longer than cooking one. Let me know how they turn out and thanks for writing!
These came out great…. and we prepared them before hand and refridgerated them. They couldn’t have been better. I always thought this was one of those special recipes that I could only order at a restaurant, and never actually make. But, they came out perfect, and the recipe was relatively easy.
Oh my God!!! These are fantastic! When I eat out, this is my favorite dessert to order. I never imagined being able to bake them myself. Preparation and bake time is short. A great special dessert to make for guests.
Alright, I just made these, and in one word, wow. Not only are these beauties easy to make, they are delicious!!
The next time I make them however, I shall need to make a couple adjustments:
1. Bake them at 450 for 10 minutes. I took mine out after 8 and they needed to set a couple more minutes. 10 minutes should be perfect.
2. Whipped Cream — Instead of using 1 full cup of cream and 2 tbsp sugar, for these 2 small cakes I would half that amount. So, I will use half cup cream, 1 tbsp sugar next time.
All in all, a very easy to make and delicious treat for two.
Thank You
It was nearly impossible to get them out of the ramekins since they were so hot to touch. But the first one had the melted chocolate and the second didn’t. Probably it too long to get it out that it continued cooking in the ramekin. But I served it with chocolate ice cream in a seperate dish on the plate with the cakes and it was a hit. I’m a diner kind of person so I did it diner style. They were extremely small for my mother so I gave her both. For an early mothers day dessert. Thanks for the recipe.
Perhaps your oven cooks a little bit on the hot side. Next time you make this, try taking it out a couple of minutes earlier, that way as you work to take them out, they can continue to keep cooking to a desired state. Happy you enjoyed it though! Thanks for writing!