Monday, June 16, 2014

Chocolate Lava Cake -- for Father's Day

Yesterday, Big Sis made Chocolate Lava Cake. For Father's Day. LS was supposed to help her make it but she didn't. The day before she had done the grocery run with me getting the supplies so probably she felt she had done her part.

Thankfully, though it was Daddy's Day, BS made four lava cakes, one for each of us.

I wouldn't have helped her otherwise.I love cakes with soft gooey chocolate-y centers.

And if I had not helped her, those Lava cakes would have been perfect. But then who is perfect ? Not me atleast.



In my usual "not-glancing-at-inconsequential-details" nature I put the oven temperature at the regular temp for all cakes. Only when the cakes looked ah-well a little under-cooked did we realize that Lava Cakes require a higher temperature of around 425F. That helps to cook the exterior fast while the inside is still soft and gooey. Yeah, basic science.

So, anyway we raised the oven temp and let the cakes bake for few minutes more. This time they came out perfect. Almost. I mean they would have had a more gooey center had I not acted "oven-temp-know-all" in the first place.




After those delicious cakes and vanilla ice cream for breakfast, the kids gave their Dad gifts. Which included lots of cards and coupons. While last year, I had to help LS with her coupons, this year she did them on her own and was mighty excited about it. The coupons included favors which ranged from "a chance to listen to your own radio channel", " coupon for one breakfast ", "will let you win the milk race", "a free tickle", and "a free gujuguju". Guju-guju is LS speak for nuzzling and tickling which her Dad does a lot. She usually screams crazy and makes a whole scene when he tries to do that but apparently loves the act and so made a coupon giving dad the privilege. Very exciting.

Then we went for a picnic at the park. A picnic on Father's Day is slowly becoming a tradition in our house. It had originally started on Mother's Day, but then May is "sneezing" month for me and BS so now we do it on the third Sunday of June. I mean we could have done it any other day in summer and the girls would love their Dad as much but it is nice to get them perked up about a picnic BECAUSE it is Father's Day and then make them do a lot of grunt work.



There was lot of biking, walking and playing at the park. Little Sis can now bike without her training wheels and is very proud of it. She even managed to ride through all the ups and downs of the trail in the park. And Big Sis really loves to bike. Any chance she gets, she is out riding around our development and so a long ride along the trail was just the thing for her.

We had spicy egg sandwiches, a greek salad and some home made kababs for lunch. To wrap up were strawberries a friend had shared from her CSA haul. It was a good day celebrating Dads.

And now here is how Big Sis made the Chocolate Lava Cakes. She had seen it on Pioneer Woman in Food Network and followed similar method but the measures we followed were from Edible Garden. For the larger part it is really a simple dessert to make for 10 year and older kids. However once the ramekins are ready to go in the hot oven, it is no longer a child's play. Things get really super hot and even the adults should be careful.

Chocolate Lava Cake

Pre-heat oven to 425F.  This is where we went wrong and pre-heated oven to 350F so make sure.

Grease 4 ramekins generously with baking spray or butter.

In a small bowl beat two large eggs and keep aside.

In a microwave safe bowl add
4 oz semi-sweet chocolate (we used Ghiradelli semi-sweet chocolate)
5 tbsp butter(a little more than half a stick)


Microwave for a minute. Now whisk the butter and chocolate till they combine.



Ooyey-Gooyey goodness.


To the melted butter-chocolate, stir in 1/3 Cup of powdered sugar.

Next add the eggs gradually to the melted chocolate, mixing it with the whisk. We were afraid that eggs might cook if chocolate is too hot so we waited a bit before adding the eggs and did so very gradually.

Add a few drops of Vanilla

Next add 1/4th cup of All-Purpose flour/maida, mixing it all, until it is nicely incorporated.



Divide the batter in the four ramekins, place the ramekins in an oven safe tray or bowl and put them in the oven.

Check around 13-14 minutes to see if cake is done.You will see a crust form and the top rise.

Take the ramekins out of the oven and let them rest for a minute. They will be very hot, so careful.



Now put a plate on top of a ramkein and then flip. The cake will slide out onto the plate.

Serve with some plain vanilla ice cream. Oh, so good.


Test

5 comments:

  1. It looks yummy, I am not very expert with baking, I always goof up, but this one surely deserves a try

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  2. I love the tradition of a Father's Day picnic! We had a pancake breakfast. The kids look so happy riding along on their bikes.

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  3. Love this, the girl's and the mom's effort! What is the dad's comment about it?

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  4. I made this for dessert today. It's probably the most delicious and quickest dessert I've ever made! Thanks for the recipe!

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  5. Wow. Real gooey. I made it in a similar way but also added 1 tbspn cocoa powder and 2 tbspn powdered sugar over and above the 1/3 rd cup. Then I spread 2 tbspn batter on the ramekins and spread a spoonful of cjocolate chips on the batter. Then covered the chips with more batter. Baked at 200 celsius for 15 min. The centre was gooey and moist but not runny. Eady to handle. Tasted very good. My compliments to BS on her first cooking ( is it? ) venture

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