Chocolate Molten Lava Cake

[Serena]

Well, I was wondering, which Valrhona chocolate is best for a chocolate molten lava cake? Thank you.

[pastrygirl]

Whichever one you have the most of, or whichever one you like best for eating - the flavor is pretty undiluted in a molten cake. I think I used to use guanaja, but then I haven't made molten cakes in a while, and it may have been all that was available from our supplier.

[Serena]

Thank you for your advice and for answering! I didn't think anybody would.

[lostbaker]

Its my mom's birthday tomorrow, so I thought of making individual chocolate lava cakes for everyone. [she loves them :-)] But all the recipes I found consisted of under-baking the cake, so you can get a gooey center of uncooked batter.

Now don't get me wrong, I love that, I can eat entire batches of uncooked brownie batter, but I just thought that the lava center should be pure chocolate. Anyone have a good recipe, or a way to make them so I could achieve that?

Thanks,

lostbaker

[prasantrin]

I made them once using balls of ganache in the center. They were very rich.

http://www.culinary-yours.com/chocolatelavacake.html is an example of that style.

[lostbaker]

Oh I never thought of using ganache as the center. What a great idea :-)

I'm gonna go look for some recipes, then use ganache, instead. Thanks prasantrin.

Edited January 31, 2009 by lostbaker (log)

[lostbaker]

I'm a little confused, so prasantrin or anyone else, please help :-(

Would I be using the same recipes as for other molten chocolate cakes, or would I use any normal cupcake recipe and just put in the ganache center? Please help :-(

[Chris Hennes]

I would use a "normal" cake recipe -- the molten chocolate cake recipes are specifically designed for that flowing liquid center and I'm not sure how well they would support a "filling". Honestly, though, until you have actually tried one and disliked it, you may have better luck sticking with the normal molten cake recipes. Because of the way they are designed, if you use a good chocolate I don't think there is anything to object to with the filling. It's not like a normal cake batter (at least, not the one I make).

Edited to clarify.

Edited January 31, 2009 by Chris Hennes (log)

[lostbaker]

Could you point me to any recipe I should try? Its my first time making this, and I really don't have time to try various recipes, and fail. Ideally, I'd like to make it so they can eat it in about an hour from now .

[Chris Hennes]

I can't find my recipe at the moment, but it is very similar to this one by Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Mark Bittman. You will note that it has very little flour in it, which is the key. It is almost a chocolate sauce that hardens on the outside when it bakes.

1/2 cup unsalted butter

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate (use your favorite - this is the flavor!)

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

1/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons flour

Melt the butter and chocolate together until the chocolate is just melted: beat it until it is well-emulsified. Combine everything else except the flour thoroughly, and combine with the chocolate mixture. Briefly add the flour, just until combined. Pour into very well greased and floured molds or cake rings and bake at 450°F for 6-7 minutes, until the outside is just set. Remove from the oven and let them sit for ten minutes before unmolding. Serve immediately.

[Lisa Shock]

I learned to make it by taking 2 parts dark chocolate and 1 part cream, you heat the cream to just under a simmer then pour over the broken up chocolate allow to sit for a minute or two, and stir until mixed. (add vanilla or other flavor if desired) Then chill, form into balls about the size of a ping-pong ball and freeze.

Any chocolate cake recipe will do. My husband swears by the Miracle Whip chocolate cake recipe. I prefer American style cocoa cakes made with hot water; there's a great version in Rose Levy Beranbaum's Cake Bible. (and she uses weight measurements) If you need the recipe fast, search for the Hershey's Cocoa cake recipe from the the back of the canister of cocoa. I also adore Rose's Domingo cake, and it should work well as a lava cake.

You mix up the chocolate cake, pour into some sort of small mold, drop a frozen ganache ball in the center of each one and bake. The rising cake will envelop the ball, which will be molten as the cake is cooked through.

[lostbaker]

Thanks for the reply Chris. Since I was in a hurry, I searched online, and made Jean-Georges Vongerichten's recipe. I was so happy to see that you recommended the same recipe. It turned out great, my first time making this was a success :-) Thanks for the help.

And next time, I want to try the frozen ganache method, so thanks Lisa. I learned both ways thanks to you both. I'm thinking of using caramel chocolate ganache, with my go-to chocolate cake recipe. It should be great :-)

Lostbaker

ETA : I just thought I'd click on the link Chris gave, and it turns out I used the same site too :-)

Edited January 31, 2009 by lostbaker (log)

[paulraphael]

I would do a bit of both ... a luscious flourless chocolate cake recipe, and then pop a ball of ganache in the center.

Lava cakes seem really cheesy to me (not in the good way) when they have a firm cake consisteny and then a sudden transition to molten goo. They just seem like some kind of hostess product that's been injected with chocolate sauce.

I like the illusion that the middle of the cake has actually melted.

There's a spectrum of flourless chocolate cake recipes. On one extreme are baked custards that are made without any egg whites at all. These are generally used for the underbaked style cakes where the center is just melted. At the other extreme are baked souflées, which have structure from whipped egg whites that are folded in. These emphasize airiness.

For your purposes, I think what would work well is something closer to the baked custard end ... not entirely without egg whites, but with a proportion of around one whole egg to egg yolk. And of course lots of butter. This will give you enough structure for the thing to hold together, but you should have a nice, smooth transition from solid cake to melted ganache.

I can give you a recipe that I love ... something I worked on for a long time to get it to straddle the fine line between solid and melting. It should adapt well to a dolop of ganache thrown into the middle of a ramekin.

[djyee100]

A recipe for chocolate cakes stuffed with frozen ganache, Alice Medrich's recipe for Molten Chocolate Raspberry Cakes in Bittersweet.

On this blog. Ingredients are the same, the instructions have been rewritten.

http://joakitchen.blogspot.com/2007/12/mol...erry-cakes.html

I haven't made these cakes, but I've tasted them, and they're delish.

[LucyInAust]

The Michel Bras Chocolate Coulant uses a frozen ganache centre:

http://www.chocolatetradingco.com/magazine...ection=28&id=36

I've done this recipe without the coffee extract using iceblock tray as the mould.

[prasantrin]

Could you point me to any recipe I should try? Its my first time making this, and I really don't have time to try various recipes, and fail. Ideally, I'd like to make it so they can eat it in about an hour from now .

←

The link I posted was for a recipe. Did you even look at it?

Edited February 1, 2009 by prasantrin (log)

[lostbaker]

Paulraphael - I would love to get your recipe. I agree that I don't like the sudden transition between baked and liquid. A gradual progress would be better, though considering my skills as a baker, I'd say I'm trying to over-achieve.

LucyinAust - Great looking recipe, hats off to your baking considering you said you make it. Its looks wayy too complicated for a novice like me. Maybe someday, I hope I'll be able to make it.

Djyee100 - Thanks for the link, I wish I'd seen it sooner. That looks like something I could do.

Prasantrin - I did see the link, and it was very helpful in explaining how to do the ganache centres :-) And this just may be me, since I tend to judge recipes on the pictures, but to be frank, I just didn't like the way it seemed like a hole out of which the melted ganache was flowing out. It just wasn't what I wanted, or what my mom would like. Thanks anyway.

ETA reviews on the recipe by Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Mark Bittman. It tasted amazingly good. Everyone loved it. Thanks Chris :-)

Edited February 1, 2009 by lostbaker (log)

[mostlylana]

I would do a bit of both ... a luscious flourless chocolate cake recipe, and then pop a ball of ganache in the center.

I like the illusion that the middle of the cake has actually melted.

... you should have a nice, smooth transition from solid cake to melted ganache.

←

My goodness, I just had to eat tablespoons of ganache after reading this post! I want that recipe! You should consider a second career as a food writer. You brought that cake to life. It's a good thing the ganache has appeased me for now...

[Aza]

paulraphael-

I would love to get that recipe as well, if you'd not mind sharing w/another. I got a request from a friend- I bake friends pretty much whatever they ask for on their birthdays- for not a lava cake per se, but exactly what you describe. And it sounds amazingly good! Mostlylana is right, your description made it irresistable. I've never been asked for anything like this though and had never really thought to try it. Till now, lol.

Her birthday is today, I had hoped to have something worked out yet this weekend to take to her. She's out of town celebrating right now so I got a few days' grace. I will probably tinker with the other recipes posted here but that one just sounds... soooooo good!

[paulraphael]

I put the recipe for my plain flourless chocolate cake here on recipe gullet.

I haven't tried making a lava version, but if you're willing to experiment, I can tell you what I'd do, and maybe you can let me know how it went?

First, you'd want to divide into small ramekins. Then prepare ganache, about an ounce per person. My instinct is to use about 1:2 chocolate to cream, and to refrigerate it until firm. But I'd also take a look at the Michael Bras recipe referenced earlier in the thread, which includes water, and freezing.

I would pour the mix into the ramekins and plop a round scoop of the refrigerated ganache into the middle of each one.

I would dispense with the immersed cheesecake style baking of my recipe if doing a melted center. I think just putting it in a 300 to 325 oven until only the center jiggles would work.

Personally, I've always made it without a melted center because I've had so many lava cakes at restaurants that the novelty wore off. What I really get into is a cake with an amazing melting texture.

[judec]

I've also made ganache-filled cupcakes. The recipe was from Wayne Gisslen's baking book. I think the cake base was devil's food.

[Aza]

I just made plans for Friday, so I'm hoping for Monday or Tuesday- with the ganache. I can't wait!!

[mostlylana]

I put the recipe for my plain flourless chocolate cake here on recipe gullet.

←

Thank you so much for posting your recipe and recommendations. I will definitely try it after the mad Valentine's Day craze. I'll let you know how it goes!

[Rana]

Yeah yeah I know I can google it, but let me tell you I LOST COUNT of how many recipes I tried online, and none gave me the result I want. It is either thick cake and little pudding like inside, or filling is only down and up is all cake, or it breaks down, and yes I do follow the measurements and they come out right but NOT the result I want, not only that but I tried to modify in the recipe once I see a flaw, but the result isn't what I want.

[LIKE THIS ONE] What I want is a think crust with LOTS of fiiling, and exactly this size (Got the rings)

Note: I try a recipe every week and luckily my brother is my experiment rat. He eats all the results (says it is yummy but surely not to be served for guests)

Thank you in advance you guys!

Edited March 21, 2013 by Rana (log)

[FrogPrincesse]

I make something similar. I posted the details in the Daily Sweets thread a while back - I am copying my original post below. I hope that you will find a recipe that works for you!

My husband had a craving for chocolate so I made soft chocolate cakes with Valrhona chocolate.




The recipe is here; I've been using it for years. Instead of ramekins, I bake them in muffin tins lined with paper cups. They cook very fast and are ready in less than 10 minutes typically.

Edited March 21, 2013 by FrogPrincesse (log)