Cooking the Chronicle – February 28

This week’s recipe was insane. (“Chocolate lava cake,” Feb 28) I literally can only think of one phrase to describe it. Pure decadence.

Where do I begin? Let’s just gush a bit about the end result. This recipe, concocted by Jessica Grann, makes two absolutely heavenly, rich chocolate cakes. Soft and gooey on the inside, served just warm enough that the whip cream begins to melt into the cake. A burst of fresh raspberries brightens the whole thing. Cakes so soft and melty you just want to bury yourself in it and take a nap.

And has there ever been a recipe that my daughter was more interested in? Absolutely not. This easily wins out (so far) as her favorite Cooking the Chronicle recipe.

She was totally all in with melting the chocolate, making the whipped cream, and breaking into the cakes to reveal a gooey center. It was an incredibly messy process, as she insisted on licking every bowl and utensil we used (I mean, who can blame her?)!

I used six inch ramekins, and I doubled this recipe so we ended up with four good sized cakes. I really wouldn’t go any bigger—larger ramekins would end with a dessert almost too rich. If I was up for buying new kitchen equipment, I would actually opt for four inch ramekins for this recipe. I think it would be the perfect size for a sweet bite at the end of an excellent meal.

I think the most genius part of this recipe is actually coating the ramekins in butter and then dusting it in sugar. It meant every cake had this slightly crunchy outer shell, adding some great texture. I ended up cooking these cakes for the full 13 minutes and still had a perfectly lava center. I was able to peek at the cakes starting at 10 minutes to decide when to pull them out of the oven—it became fairly obvious when they were done, so just keep checking and don’t worry about overtaking.

These are the perfect special occasion dessert, and just simple and easy to make with basic ingredients. Perfect for any chocoholic in your life, any simcha you’re celebrating, or just a “treat yourself” moment when life gets hard.

Currently drooling thinking about them. Please stop what you’re doing and make these!