Molten Lava Cake
Dark chocolate and butter are melted together, combined with eggs, sugar, and a scant amount of flour, poured into ramekins, and baked just long enough for the outside to set into a thin, cake-like wall while the center remains liquid. Cutting into the dome releases a slow river of molten chocolate that pools on the plate - the defining moment of the dish and the reason timing in the oven is measured in single minutes rather than approximate ranges. Using chocolate with sixty percent cacao or higher pushes the flavor toward a deep, grown-up bitterness that resists becoming cloying. A ball of vanilla ice cream placed beside the freshly unmolded cake creates a dramatic temperature contrast: the hot chocolate and cold cream collide on the spoon, and neither lasts long enough to reach room temperature.
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Instructions
- 1
Preheat oven to 220C and butter-flour ramekins.
- 2
Melt chocolate and butter together.
- 3
Whisk eggs, yolks, and sugar, then combine with chocolate.
- 4
Fold in flour just until combined.
- 5
Fill ramekins, bake 10-12 minutes, and unmold immediately.
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