twd: gooey chocolate cake

because i can't just get enough, i've just signed up for tuesdays with dorie. my first recipe was for gooey chocolate cake, a perennial favorite of chocoholics everywhere! good luck for mr. mimi, as he, too, very much likes this dessert.

this recipe is super easy to whip up, and more than likely you already have all the standard ingredients on hand. because it's so easy, this would make a great dinner party dessert.


we ate them right away, but i think thirteen minutes was a bit too long in the oven. it was very soft and slightly gooey inside, but it wasn't the real gooey lava. next time, i would probably cut off a minute or two (or three).

but with that said, we served them up with a scoop of soy ice cream (to make us feel just a wee less indulgent) and they were delish!! although not very photogenic :)

gooey chocolate cakes: serves 6
adapted from dorie's baking from my home to yours (2006, p. 261)

1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 tb unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
5 oz bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 stick butter, cut into 8 pieces
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
6 tb of sugar

1. preheat oven to 400F. spray 6 cups of a regular size muffin pan, dust the insides with flour and tap out excess. i used the disposable aluminum foils (as recommended by dorie) so that they would pop out easier.

2. sift the flour, cocoa. and salt together.

3. set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water, put the coarsely chopped chocolate and the butter in the bowl and stir occasionally over the simmering water just until they are melted – you don’t want them to get so hot that the butter separates. remove the bowl from the pan of water.

4. in a large bowl, whisk the eggs and yolk until homogenous. add the sugar and whisk until well blended, about 2 minutes. add the dry ingredients and, still using the whisk, stir (don’t beat) them into the eggs. slowly and lightly stir in the melted chocolate and butter. divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.

5. bake the cakes for 13 minutes (i suggest a shorter time if you want real gooey cakes). transfer them, still on the baking sheet, to a rack to cool for 3 minutes.

6. unmold cakes onto dessert plates and serve with a glass of milk or scoop of ice cream!