Happy New Year!

As promised, here is the revised version of Ricardo's Molten Heart Cakes from my November 23rd post.  I prefer to use chocolate with a higher cocoa content for a more bold and less sweet taste.  This dessert is light yet rich and satisfying for the discriminating palate of chocololics such as myself.  Note:  It is for 4 servings instead of the original 8.

Molten Chocolate Cakes

4 oz. (112 g)  chopped Callebaut 70% bittersweet chocolate

1/3 cup butter

2 eggs at room temperature

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup flour

1/4 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 400°.  Generously butter 4 custard cups and dust the inside with sugar.  Set aside.

Melt chocolate and butter. Set aside to cool.  Meanwhile, in a small mixing bowl, beat eggs and sugar with electric mixer until it turns pale, and doubles in volume, about 6 minutes. On low speed, blend in the melted chocolate mixture and vanilla.  Add the flour and mix for 1 minute.  Divide batter among the cups and place them on a baking sheet. 

Bake for about 15 minutes.  Immediately invert each cake onto a plate and unmold. The center should be slightly runny.

Note: Cake batter can be stored in a sealed container in the fridge for 2-3 days.  The cooking time for cakes with cold batter will be 3-5 minutes longer, directly from freezer 25-28 minutes.