Beyond sexy chocolate lava cakes

This dessert is made to impress. It is the kind of food that will not only get you lots of compliments and moans of pleasure at your table, but even wedding proposals.

It has taken me a lot of time and experimenting to achieve what I think is the perfect lava cake and I really hope you give my recipe a try.

For four ramekins (7 cm diameter) you will need:

120 g dark chocolate (about 70% cocoa solids)

80 g butter (+ another tbsp for greasing)

3 tsp cocoa powder

50 g flour

3 tbsp brown sugar

1 package vanilla sugar (or 1 tbsp sugar + 1 tsp vanilla extract)

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

a pinch of salt

Grease the ramekins very generously with butter.

Melt the chocolate and butter over a pot of boiling water or in a microwave.

With an electric mixer beat the eggs, egg yolks, sugar and vanilla sugar for a few minutes or until it gets pale and foamy. Add the chocolate mixture and a pinch of salt and mix it again. Sift in the flour and cocoa powder. Mix it until all the ingredients have come together.

 

Divide the mixture between the ramekins, then cover them with plastic foil and put them in the fridge for half an hour.

Preheat your oven to 200°C and bake for about 11 or 12 minutes.

Let them rest for about 15 minutes before you serve them. Then flip them out of the ramekins and onto a plate, sift with confectioner’s sugar and serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

NOTE: The baking time really depends on your oven so you will have to figure out your perfect baking time for yourself. The good news is that even if you overcook them, these lava cakes will still be highly edible and delicious. If you undercook them, they won’t come out of the ramekins so when you're making them for the first time and you aren’t sure if they are cooked or not, it might be a good idea to serve them in the ramekins.

You can prepare these in advance and leave them in the fridge for up to two days (more might still work, but two days is the most I have done and can vouch for) and bake them before you wish to serve them. If they sit in the fridge for a long time they will probably take two or three minutes more to bake than usual.