This is the best kind of cake in my book–a “no fuss” kind of cake. The ingredients are minimal, it bakes in about 10 minutes, and you scoop it out with a spoon (no knife required). And lucky for me, warm chocolate cakes go over especially well with my husband. He’s the type of guy that always orders the chocolate dessert at dinner (very predictable)… but I digress.
This dessert is essentially a large molten chocolate cake and is kind of a cross between a cake and a pudding. The edges are more cake-like, while the middle is still soft and gooey.
I often find that the simplest desserts are my favorites and this one couldn’t be simpler. The cake is made from ingredients that I always have on hand: butter, chocolate, eggs, sugar, salt, and the tiniest amount of flour.
First, you melt the chocolate and butter together and add a bit of salt. Then you whip up a couple of eggs and egg yolks with some sugar. Once the eggs are beat to perfection, you add in the melted chocolate mixture, beat in the flour, and then transfer the batter to a baking dish.
After 10 to 12 minutes in the oven, dessert is served!
I always think confectioners sugar makes everything prettier, so I dusted the top of mine. Feel free to skip this step and just dig in.
See that missing piece there? That was my lunch today. This cake would also be perfect to make for that special someone on Valentine’s Day. Just a suggestion!
Warm Soft Chocolate Cake
Adapted from Martha Stewart Living, February 2012
Cooking spray
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate (60 to 70 percent cacao), chopped
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
2 large eggs plus 2 large egg yolks, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
Confectioners sugar, for dusting (optional)
Vanilla ice cream, for serving (mandatory)
Heat the oven to 400 degrees and spray a 6-cup capacity non-metal baking dish with cooking spray.
Place a glass bowl over simmering water to create a double boiler (making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water), and melt the butter and chocolate together. Add the salt and whisk to combine. Take the chocolate mixture off the heat and set aside.
In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, egg yolks, and sugar with a hand mixer on medium speed for 6 to 8 minutes, until light, frothy, and thick. Add the chocolate mixture, and beat to combine. Then add the flour and beat to combine.
Transfer the batter to the prepared dish and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges are set but the center is still soft. Cool on a rack for 3 minutes. If desired, dust with confectioners sugar. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream on the side.
Makes 4 to 6 servings.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
YUM!!! Can’t wait to try it out!
umm, wow, this looks amazing! definitely trying this very soon!
I tripled this recipe to feed a group of 13 very hungry, very opinionated people- it DISAPPEARED! A couple of people begged for the recipe and a handful declared it the best chocolate cake they’d ever had. And it was SO easy, even for a non-baker (read: non-measurer) like myself. Also, I want to note that my store was out of bittersweet chocolate, so I used 2/3 semi-sweet and 1/3 dark chocolate- imagine the compliments had I followed the recipe completely! :)
{ 1 trackback }