Thursday, February 14, 2008

Individual Warm, Soft Chocolate Cake


HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!!!!
Since it is Valentine's Day and chocolate is considered an aphrodisiac I thought this recipe might get you in the mood.....
I would like to give professional chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten full credit for this one. I have made this recipe MANY MANY times and it is always a huge hit.

Ingredients:
4 4 oz. ramekin molds
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, keep some extra butter on the side to coat the ramekin molds.
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, Ghirandelli works well but Jean-George recommends Valrhona (too hard to find)
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons floor

Place a metal bowl over a pot of simmering water. Heat the chocolate and butter together until everything is completely melted. Set aside.

Beat the eggs in a separate bowl. Then add the sugar and whisk by hand or with an electric beater until light and thick.

Pour the egg mixture into the chocolate and quickly mix in the flour. Mix until combined.

Butter the four ramekins. Make sure you cover the entire inside of the ramekin completely. (You can refrigerate the desserts at this point. But you MUST bring them back to room temperature before baking.)

Preheat the oven to 450 degree F.

Put the molds on to a try and place them in the oven. Bake for ONLY 7 minutes. You may feel the need to bake for more because they might not look done, but DON'T! Take them out after 7 minutes and let stand for 2 minutes.

Invert each mold onto a plate and let sit for about 10 seconds. Unmold by lifting up one corner of the mold as the cake falls out on the plate. Serve immediately.

Since I like to add my own touch to most recipes. I will give you some of my suggestions for spicing up this dessert:
1. You can add 1 tablespoon of any coffee liquor like Kahlua to the chocolate mixture before you add the eggs.
2. Cut up some strawberries and place them on the side of the finish dessert. Then sprinkle some confectioner's sugar on top.
The dessert will look like it has snow on it.

If you want to give your dessert a tropical twist try the following:
1. Instead of adding coffee liquor add 1 tablespoon of a coconut liquor. Then sprinkle coconut flakes on top instead of the confectioner's sugar.

HEALTHY/LITE VERSION:
Are you kidding me?

Here is Jean-Georges' cooking book for reference.

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