valentines: molten chocolate cake

I was going to make my souffle cupcakes with white chocolate cream for my special valentine's dessert, but as I'm not very observant, I ended up having 2 kinds of chocolate and 0 kinds of white chocolate in the pantry. And as much as I wanted to make my boyfriend an incredible dessert, I wasn't going to the grocery store at 5 pm on v-day. So I spent about 20 minutes prowling the interwebs for a good chocolatey recipe (little did I realize that our dinner would be straight out of Chocolat) and found this one for a molten chocolate cake. First of all, it was delicious and I was very proud of it. Second of all, it was very easy. Third of all, I sort of expected that lava centered melted explosion to happen, but that is not this cake. It is denser and moister in the middle, so I can see the "molten" part, but if you want the chocolate to come pouring out, I don't know. Find a different recipe, I guess. My boyfriend suggested that you have to stick a hershey's kiss or something in the middle, but I haven't tested that theory yet.

*I make 1/2 the recipe for 2 servings, below is the full recipe


1 stick unsalted butter, plus melted butter for brushing
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
6 ounces dark chocolate (70 percent cacao), chopped
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
Pinch of salt
Confectioners' sugar for sprinkling


Preheat the oven to 425°. Brush four 6-ounce ramekins with melted butter. In a small bowl, whisk the cocoa powder with 1 tablespoon of the flour; dust the ramekins with the cocoa mixture, tapping out the excess. Transfer the ramekins to a sturdy baking sheet.

In a medium saucepan, melt 1 stick of butter with the chocolate over very low heat, stirring occasionally. Let cool slightly.

In a bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the granulated sugar with the eggs and salt at medium-high speed until thick and pale yellow, 3 minutes. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the melted chocolate until no streaks remain. Fold in the 1/4 cup of flour. [We ended up having a lot of time left to cook dinner and this was already ready, but I knew I wanted to serve it warm. I let it sit out for a while and then refrigerated it for a while, and there didn't seem to be any problem - just in case you find you need to do the same. It's definitely key to serve it warm. And probably with whipped cream or ice cream, even though it is crazy dense and filling.]

Spoon the batter into the prepared ramekins. Bake in the center of the oven for 16 minutes, until the tops are cracked but the centers are still slightly jiggly. Transfer the ramekins to a rack and let cool for 5 to 8 minutes.

Run the tip of a small knife around each cake to loosen. Invert a small plate over each cake and, using pot holders, invert again. Carefully lift off the ramekins. Dust the warm cakes with confectioners’ sugar and serve immediately.

valentines: chocolate covered strawberries

Enter recipe 1 from the Valentine's Day extravaganza!! Okay, it wasn't an extravaganza, but it was extra delicious and sweet and so much better than going out or doing anything else. My boyfriend made me dinner (we'll get to that in another post, but basically, mind=blown) and I made desserts. Item 1 was chocolate covered strawberries. Everyone was selling them (I didn't realize that was the v-day option, other than flowers and chocolates), so I thought, why don't I make some myself? Not only was it less expensive (not that that's why), but I love new cooking projects and this was super easy. Do you have dark chocolate and strawberries? Oh okay, you're pretty much there.

Okay, there isn't really a recipe. Basically, use semisweet chocolate (I used Baker's baking chocolate) and white chocolate (I thought I had some and didn't want to mess with the hordes at the grocery store, so we did without, but I would have liked some). I made about 10-12 strawberries with 4 or 5 oz of chocolate (I started with 3 oz added more later and now I can't remember how much).

Use a double boiler (say whaaat???) to heat the chocolate. In case you don't have one (like me), it's so easy to replicate that it's almost silly. Get a saucepan and put some water in it. Put a bowl in the saucepan that can get hot (like glass) that will sit above the water (so not sitting in it but resting on the sides). [See pictures below.] Turn the heat on the stove to high to get the water boiling. This creates a nice, warm, but not aggressive environment to heat up things like chocolate in.

Then you just dip your strawberries into the melted chocolate. After they are dipped, point them up to the ceiling a bit to get the chocolate to set before placing them on parchment paper. While they are still wet, you can sprinkle shredded coconut or grate nutmeg or pistachios (I did this because my boyfriend loves loves loves pistachios - you can't really taste it but the green looks pretty) or whatever floats your boat.

If you, unlike me, remember white chocolate, melt it in the same way as the dark, using a double boiler. Then you can do all sorts of fun stuff like drizzling the white chocolate over the dark or dipping strawberries half in one and half in the other (you should wait for one to dry first, but you knew that) or making cute designs or writing stuff (like I wanted to). Then put them in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to harden and voila!

What matters most is that they are delicious, pretty, and for some reason, very romantic and exciting (I'm not arguing but it doesn't make much since - they are so simple!). I decorated my valentine's table like this so that when my boyfriend got home from working out, I had a little romantic set-up for us. Luckily, he liked it and didn't think it was too cheesy (or was sweet enough not to say so). The pink roses are from him. <3

Don't forget to read about dinner! It was incredible!
[note: does anyone play that Zynga Scramble game? If so, you will know what I mean about that voice and how it says amazing! incredible! etc and that's now how my brain says it.]