You'll know it as a molten chocolate cake, a chocolate lava cake or a chocolate souffle tart. While there are always slight nuances in a recipe, this delicious eruption of hot chocolate in the center of a warm chocolate cake is tantalizing no matter what name it masquerades under. We'll just call it Sugar Lovin' delightful.
Now a restaurant go-to dessert menu item, this decadent variation on chocolate cake, brownie, souffle, mousse or pudding is accredited to New York Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. In 1987, he was in a hurry to finish a dessert and pulled a chocolate cake out too soon. The rest is molten delicious history.
This is not the type of dessert you'll find in many bakeries. Given the need to serve it hot to truly capitalize on the effect of the gooey center, you'll often only see it on restaurant menus, often served with fresh whipped cream or ice cream of some sort.
The basic methodology remains the same for any recipe you might find. First, you melt the butter and chocolate in a bowl over simmering water. Next, you beat your eggs and sugar until they are tripled in volume and then gently fold the eggs into the chocolate, one third at a time. Depending on the recipe, you might add a small amount of flour before pouring the mixture into ramekins, mini-foil pie pans, or cupcake molds. Again, depending on the specific recipe, your oven temperature and time will vary a bit, but these cakes should not bake for more than 15 minutes.
The beautiful thing about making molten chocolate cakes at home is that they are easy and still seem fancy. The key is to get the basic recipe down and then allow yourself to play with complementary flavor. Here's a good basic recipe to get you started from the Joy of Baking. I like this because it accurately describes some key techniques in nailing a killer molten cake at home. Once you've got the basic recipe down, you can play with flavors- like mint, cayenne pepper, ginger, coffee, etc simply by adding a little bit of spice or fresh herbs to your batter or flavor extract.
This weekend, I was granted the lucky opportunity to visit the Hot Chocolate restaurant in Chicago, IL. Mindy Segal, one of the owners, has been a James Beard Award for Oustanding Pastry Chef nominee four years running and has her own bakery and restaurant in the Wicker Park neighborhood. Her signature dessert called Chocolate #1 is a chocolate souffle tart (a variation of molten chocolate cake that is baked in chocolate pie-like crust) served with a homemade pretzel and salted caramel ice cream. The ingenuity of flavor, the texture and the presentation were simply outstanding.
However the flavor balance and complexity was off. The tart itself just felt as if it were missing a crucial layer to tie it all together and the ice cream and pretzel weren't helping it get quite there. Molten chocolate cake from Grand Lux Cafe (a chain and sister restaurant to the better known Cheesecake Factory) was more satisfying. The other desserts at our table were simply outstanding and I wouldn't want it to appear as if Hot Chocolate's desserts weren't top notch- the chocolate souffle tart just wasn't the best thing on that particular menu.
Here in Pittsburgh, I'd recommend Eleven's version of the molten chocolate cake. It's fairly straightforward, but its simplicity helps enhance your appreciation of the fine dessert. You can also find a gluten-free version of this cake at Tusca, at the Southside Works.
Sugar Loving cravings delight in a molten chocolate souffle lava wonderland!
Hot Chocolate's Chocolate #1 on the Sugar Love Scale
Texture ♥♥♥♥
Appearance ♥♥♥♥
Overall ♥♥♥.5
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