A melt cake, most famously known as the Chocolate Melting Cake or Molten Lava Cake—is a decadent dessert featuring firm, fudgy outer edges and a rich, warm, liquid chocolate center.
Like most culinary recipes, thi too has a history even though it is strongly debated on which sticks better to the first creator.
It is known as petit gateau or gateau fondant au chocolat in France and Brazil which translates to melting chocolate cake.
Ingredients:
- Unsalted Butter ½ cup (113g or 1 stick), cubed.
- Bittersweet Chocolate 6 ounces (170g), high-quality chopped bar or chips (60% to 70% cacao).
- Whole Eggs 2 large, room temperature.
- Egg Yolks 2 large, room temperature.
- Granulated Sugar: ¼ cup (50g).
- All-Purpose Flour: 2 tablespoons.
- Kosher Salt: ⅛ teaspoon.
- 1 tablespoon softened butter and 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder (to coat ramekins)
Procedure
To get the perfect melt cake result, follow the short and simple steps below.
1- First you will want to prepare your oven and ramekins or baking pans. Pre-heat your oven to 425ºF or 218 ºC . Thoroughly grease four 6 ounce-180ml ramekins with softened butter and dust the inside with cocoa powder, tapping out the excess afterwards (this hack prevents the cake from sticking to the ramekins while keeping the outer part beautifully dark and adding more cocoa flavor.
2- The second step is to melt the chocolate and the butter by placing the chopped chocolate and cubed butter into a heatproof bowl. Place the bowl on a saucepan and set in the middle over simmering water to double boil it. Make sure to stir it occassionally until completely smooth and melted, then remove from heat and allow it cool for a bit.
3- Next we whip the eggs and sugar by adding 2 whole eggs, 2 egg yolks, granulated sugar and salt into a medium mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer or a vigorous hand whisk, beat the mixture for about 2-3 minutes until it becomes pale yellow, thick and has doubled in size or volume.
4- Next we will combine our chocolate and egg mixture by gently pouring our already cooled melted chocolate mixture into the whipped eggs and sifting just 2 tablespoons of all purpose flour directly over our batter. We will then go ahead to use a spatula to gently fold in the mixed ingredients together until well combined (stop mixing just after the last streak of flour disappears so we won’t over mix and harden our cake).
5- Divide the batter evenly among the already greased ramekins, line your baking tray with baking sheets and insert them into the oven. Bake them for 10-12 minutes making sure that the edges look firm while the center still has a wobbly texture.
6- After a successfull baking time, remove from the oven and let them sit and cool for a minute. Then go ahead to place an inverted or flat dessert plat over the top of the ramekins, carefully flip over together and let it sit like that for like 10-15 seconds.
7. Next you will gently release the cake, dust with some powdered powder or cocoa powder and serve them immediately while the center is perfectly melted.
8- You can enjoy this with a cup of Americano coffee or a cold glass of milk or vanilla ice cream which it is commonly served with.
9- Whether it’s a coconut pound cake , vanilla cup cake or melt cake, cakes are generally a good and go to idea for the perfect dessert option for every event.
Enjoy!
