Molten Cake Monsters

I have something of a cookbook obsession. Probably not like most people, though. I rarely cook from them, and I almost never buy them. I do, however, blitz the stacks at the local library and come out with an armload of cookbooks. I always get smiles from the librarians (I think they're hoping I'll bring the books back with plates of food) and occasionally confused looks when I drop them off two days later. Confession: It usually only takes me a day, but I wait another day to preserve my image. That's a day in the life of my bookshelf. But a book I picked up recently is making an extended stay: Jacques Torres' A Year in Chocolate: 80 Recipes for Holidays and Special Occasions. The first recipe I've baked from this book is Torres's Chocolate Indulgence, known to most of us as molten cake. This recipe was 1) easy and 2) delicious. This literally took 10 minutes (20 with baking time) to make.

I also wanted this dessert to be kind of fun. I know molten cakes are usually a "fancy" dessert, but I've never been one to put desserts on a pedestal. So I decided to turn these cakes into cute little monsters with chocolate features. So without further ado, Jacques Torres's recipe for molten cakes (it makes 4)....

Ingredients:

• 6 oz bittersweet chocolate
• 6 tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp AP flour
• Dark and white chocolate (for piping) - probably around 2 oz of each

Directions:

1. First, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Then combine the chocolate, butter, and sugar in the top of a double boiler and stir until melted and smooth.
3. The whisk in the eggs and flour.
4. Pour the batter into four greased ramekins.
5. Bake for 9-11 minutes, until the center is still wobbly, but the edges are set.
6. While this bakes, melt your white chocolate in the microwave and prepare a parchment cone.
7. Pipe rounds roughly the size of a nickel, as shown. Smooth them out with an offset spatula or a spoon, and then smooth down the tips with a wet finger.
8. Then, melt your dark chocolate and prepare another piping bag.
9. First pipe little eyeballs onto your white chocolate disks, then begin piping arms. I like to make a few passes for each section of the arms, then a pass back and forth for each of the fingers. Don't worry if they don't look perfect. It'll just lend them a more monstrous quality. Pipe 4 sets of arms.
10. Then, with your leftover chocolate, you can pipe little horns, mustaches, etc.
11. When the cakes come out of the oven, you've got to work fast to assemble them. Mostly because they're delicious when they're warm, but also because as soon as your chocolate appendages touch the cake, they'll start to melt. Once the ramekins are cooled a bit, but still warm, run a knife around the edges and turn the cakes out onto small plates. Stick the arms on and attach the eyes with a bit of your chocolate (or just rest them against the cake) and dig in.

Do you have any cookbooks you're big on currently? 

Share on Tumblr