NuM NuM

At almost every restaurant today they always have some sort of lava cake on the dessert menu. You know which one I'm talking about. That warm chocolate cake with the ooey, gooey melted chocolate center. The kind when you break into it and the chocolate just flows like lava in a volcano. The kind of lava I would looove to bathe in :) Okay, sorry for the visual, but holy mother this dessert is sooooo good and decadent and a chocolate lovers dream come true. Soooo good it makes you want to roll your eyes back....yes, it's that good. Best of all, it has less calories then a regular lava cake so that means more room for ice cream :) (Love how I can justify things) You could probably get three servings out of this because it's so rich and it would completely satisfy your sweet tooth. I shouldn't even be sharing this recipe with you b/c I want to hoard it for myself but OMG...NUM NUM NUM you too will be doing the happy dance soon after eating this. Try it, you won't be sorry!


Hot Chocolate Fudge Cakes
2 servings
390 calories each
Adapted from here

• 3 tbs all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 tbs unsweetened cocoa
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1 tbs unsalted butter, softened
• 2 1/2 tbs granulated sugar
• 2 1/2 packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 oz bar dark (71% cocoa) chocolate (such as Valrhona Le Noir Amer) or semi sweet chocolate, chopped into chunks

Preparation
1. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Sift together flour, cocoa, espresso powder, baking powder, and salt.
2. Place butter in a large bowl; beat with a hand mixer at medium speed 1 minute. Add granulated and brown sugars, beating until well blended (about 2 minutes). Add egg and vanilla, beating until well blended. Fold flour mixture into sugar mixture until fully incorporated and nice and glossy; fold in chocolate. Divide batter evenly among 2 (4-ounce) ramekins; arrange ramekins on a jelly-roll pan. Cover and refrigerate 4 hours or up to 2 days.
3. Preheat oven to 350°.
4. Let ramekins stand at room temperature 10-12 minutes. Uncover and bake at 350° for 12-13 minutes or until cakes are puffy and look the tiniest bit underdone in the center, center should be soft and not jiggly. Serve immediately with ice cream.

**Next time I will try and invert these onto a plate like a traditional lava cake. To do that, you can butter the ramekins and lightly flour. Tap out the excess flour, then butter and flour them again. Divide the batter among the molds, bake and invert each ramekin onto a plate and let sit for 10 seconds, unmold by lifting up one corner of the mold; the cake will fall out onto the plate. Serve immediately. (NOTE: I have not tried this and can't guarantee it will work but if all else fails, you can just eat them straight out of the ramekins like we did)