Chocolate Molten Cake

You know what I love about the Secret Recipe Club?

That it introduces me to all sorts of blogs that I might have missed otherwise.

Such as my June assignment, Learning Patience, written by the awesome Corey. And when I say awesome, I mean... like... really awesome. For starters, she and her husband live in Trinidad. Well, they live in Trinidad right now. In a week they're moving to London. Seriously. Secondly, she's a runner. I'd say "like me" at the end of that sentence, but she's a much better runner than I am. Thirdly, she's so open and honest and... well... likeable. Her posts are so easy and fun to read. Fourthly, she has awesome taste in food. Like, super yummy stuff.

I had so many of her recipes running through my head to make for this assignment, but kept coming back to the one for Chocolate Molten Cake. I have always wanted to make those little (single serve) molten lava cakes that ooze (in a yummy way, of course) chocolate deliciousness when you cut into them, and this looked like a lava cake's big brother. Or older cousin. Or some other really cool, bigger relative.

That, and the recipe just looked so... different. The way this cake goes together was so interesting. I had to wait until the kids could help me because I knew little miss, in particular, would get a kick out of seeing it come together.

The base batter is pretty standard.

A bunch of dry ingredients...

...get mixed with some wet ingredients. Little miss is doing that on the left here:

And what's little man mixing? One of the next few layers.

See, that batter that little miss put together is spread on the bottom of a pan. Then chocolate chips are sprinkled on top.

Then that mixture that little man was working on gets sprinkled on top of the chips.

And not mixed in.

And to top all of that off, pour some coffee over it.

Well, technically it's supposed to be espresso powder mixed with hot water. But we aren't huge espresso (or coffee...) drinkers here, so I used instant coffee.

And... again... don't mix it in.

Little miss was confused and amused all at the same time.

And, to be honest, so was I.

But then it bakes. And comes out like this:

Nicely baked on the perimeter, but with a little jiggle (sorry, can't see that in a photo...) in the middle.

And is it ooey gooey?

Holy smokes yes, in the yummiest possible way. That coffee settles in and the bottom becomes this... pudding type substance that is just... so delicious. And the cake itself is delicious, too! It tastes amazing with ice cream. Or whipped cream. Or just by itself. 

This really was super fun to make and way too easy to eat. Seriously, you have to try it.

Chocolate Molten Cake

(from Learning Patience)

1 cup flour (I used whole wheat)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (divided)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup brown sugar (divided)

1/2 cup whole milk (I used coconut milk)

4 tablespoons unsalted butted, melted

1 egg yolk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 tablespoon espresso powder (I used instant coffee)

1 cup hot water

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Pre-heat oven to 325.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, 1/4 cup of the cocoa and 1/2 cup of the brown sugar. Whisk until well combined and not clumpy.

Stir in the milk, vanilla, yolk and melted butter.

Spread the mixture into a buttered 9" square pan. I couldn't find my square pan (weird, I know) so used a 9 inch round pan and it worked great.

In a small bowl, combine the remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup of cocoa. Whisk to break up clumps.

Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the cake batter and then sprinkle the cocoa powder and sugar mixture on top of that. Don't stir any of this in.

Combine the espresso powder with the hot water and pour all over the top. Again - do not stir.

Bake for 14 minutes and then start checking cake. Depending on the oven, it could take between 20 to 35 minutes. The edges of the cake should feel baked but the middle should have a gentle jiggle. Mine took about 24 minutes.

The sauce poured on top has now settled to the bottom to create a rich pudding.

Let cool in pan for about 5 minutes and serve, preferably with ice cream.

Enjoy!

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