Molten Lava Babycakes=Pure Romance

I meant to post this for Valentines Day, but time (and pasta) got in my way!

One of John's favorite things in the world is chocolate...which is true for so many people.  I would like to say he is extremely picky, but that would be lying.  He will eat and enjoy nearly anything with cocoa in it.  This includes but is not limited to Hersheys, mexican mole sauce, Valrhona chocolates, cake, hot cocoa, brownies (homemade or boxed it matters not) and chocolate milk is a particular favorite!  The beauty of John's love affair with chocolate is that it trancends to me with every chocolate dish I prepare!  Nifty huh?

Molten Lava Babycakes are a particular favorite and so easy to make.  It's a lovely chemical reaction that allows the interior to stay so gooey and soft, yet the outer cake is perfectly delicate and spongy!  A few raspberries (thank you California,USA) and whipped cream are the perfect complement! 

Molten Lava Babycakes

5 ounces Bittersweet Chocolate (I used Callebaut 66%)
10 Tablespoons Butter
3 eggs
3 egg yolks
1 1/2 cups Powdered  Sugar
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 Tablespoon Espresso Powder
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
In a small saucepan, melt chocolate and butter together, stir until smooth and let cool about 15 minutes.

Butter 6 ramekins generously and sprinkle with sugar to coat entire interior.

Beat eggs and egg yolks until smooth and stir in powdered sugar, flour, espresso powder and salt.  Fold in cooled chocolate mixture until just combined.

Pour into ramekins until about 3/4 full.  Place ramekins on a baking sheet and bake about 15 minutes until edges are firm, but center still have a bit of jiggle.  DO NOT OVER BAKE!!

Remove from oven and let cool about 5 minutes.  Loosen the sides of each cake with a sharp knife and turn out onto a serving plate.  Garnish with raspberries, strawberries or bananas and whipped cream.


I often put these together in the morning, and pop in fridge until I get home from work.  An extra 2 minutes in the oven is all they need! 

Banana Bread a la Orangette

I am the type of person who will not throw out food! I collect it from many sources and people, occasionally hoard it, find recipes for it and always end up creating something with it! It's seriously too much invested time just to throw into the compost or trash! So the family has been giving me a really hard time all week over the black bananas in the fridge, until yesterday...

I purchased "A Homemade Life" written by the creator of Orangette blog in June and had a few recipes marked to try. While the internet is an awesome source for recipes, I love books! I enjoyed "A Homemade Life" both the reading and recipes that I have tried, I can see why the blog has such an enormous following as well!

So for the black bananas I tried pg 26, Banana Bread with chocolate and crystallized ginger. It was made entirely with butter (my pre requisite for quick breads) QUICK and it didn't make 27 loaves of bread! Honestly, I just want one loaf...so this was the perfect recipe for me! Delicious, easy, delicious...no one has mentioned the black bananas since! the Boulevard market carries a nice crystallized ginger sold by weight if you have a hard time finding it. It was the magic of this recipe by adding just a bit of zing that quick breads sometimes lack! Enjoy and thank Molly Wizenberg for such a great recipe!

6 Tablespoons unsalted butter melted
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup chopped semi sweet chocolate (Callebaut or chocolate chips)
1/3 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cup mashed bananas
1/4 cup plain WHOLE FAT yogurt (I used four Corners Creamery...duh for me!)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9X5 loaf pan.

In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, soda, salt, chocolate and ginger. Set aside. In a medium bowl, lightly beat eggs with a fork. Add bananas, yogurt, butter and vanilla and mix well. Pour the banana mixture into the dry ingredients and stir gently with a rubber spatula until just combined but no unincorporated flour remains. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 50 minutes - 1 hour until deep golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes in pan and then turn out to cool. I couldn't help myself, I cut it warm and ate it for breakfast! Molly does say this "freezes beautifully".