Molten Lava Cakes
Yes, I know I already made Molten Chocolate Lava Cookies. But these are cakes, so they’re different. I found this recipe in the Food Network Magazine chocolate issue.
Tell me you could stand in the checkout line next to this and not pick it up. C’mon, it’s a whole chocolate issue!
The recipe I made tonight was The Neelys’ Molten Lava Cakes. You can find it online here. I didn’t own any ramekins, so I had to buy some. Actually, what I bought were custard cups, because the ramekins were about 3x more expensive. So they’re not as pretty, but they served the purpose. I began by cutting the recipe in half, because it makes 8 cakes and it was only the four of us for dinner. This recipe is rich; it took 3 eggs + 3 egg yolks. It also called for a pinch of cayenne and a pinch of nutmeg. I omitted both because I didn’t have any cayenne and I’m not really a fan of nutmeg. It also called for both almond and vanilla extract. I think next time I’ll leave out the almond.
The recipe was very easy to mix up. It just took some time to melt the chocolate portion of the mixture. The recommended baking time was 12-14 minutes. I baked mine for about 13 and they were just slightly underdone. When I turned them out onto the plates, the bottom-which-became-the-top was still liquid-y, and not encased in firm cake. It didn’t affect the taste, but kind of took the fun out of giving it that first poke with a spoon to release the lava flow. The kids loved them, but my husband was kind of meh, I think because of the almond extract. There weren’t more than a couple of drops, but it did kind of take over the taste. We will definitely be making these again.
As for the rest of the chocolate issue, some other recipes I’m planning on trying are chocolate ice cubes, candy bar cake, Boston cream pie, chocolate layer cake, chocolate fudge, super-thick hot chocolate, and more. They even have entrees and side dishes using cocoa, such as cocoa-rubbed steak! Hey Kim, let me know what you want to try first when you’re off of that restricted diet!!
Mmmmmm, chocolate!
Therewith to be Content 
After our Carnival cruise a few summers ago, I invested in 8 ramekins and have played around with recipes since to try and capture the chocolate melting cake served on board. I have had to practice getting them to be baked “just enough” to be surrounded by the cake. But even the screw ups are tasty…what’s bad about delicious “mistakes?!” 🙂
This looks so good! I am also not a fan of nutmeg. I’m not really sure why. I think it’s fine in recipes where it belongs, and those are few and far between – gingerbread cookies maybe? But I omit from almost every other recipe too. I’m going to have to try this… or possibly your molten lava cookies… or both.
I didn’t even realize I didn’t like nutmeg until I made something (muffin, maybe) several years ago where it was the dominant seasoning. I took one bite and said, “I guess I don’t like nutmeg!”