How to Make a Molten Lava Cake - Kitchen Conundrums with Thomas Joseph
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00:00 [upbeat music]
00:02 - Hey everybody, Thomas Joseph here
00:12 with another kitchen conundrum for you.
00:14 We've asked the question, what would you like to see?
00:17 A chocolate souffle or a molten chocolate cake
00:20 for this Valentine's Day?
00:22 And the overwhelming responses have been
00:24 that everybody wants to know the trick
00:26 and the secrets behind a molten chocolate cake.
00:29 I think most people are intimidated
00:31 by a molten chocolate cake because it's something
00:33 that they get in the restaurants
00:34 and they think that there's something special about it,
00:37 there's a trick that goes along with it,
00:38 but there really isn't, it's pretty simple to make.
00:41 And I think something else people run into
00:43 when they do try and make molten chocolate cakes
00:45 is that the center isn't ooey and gooey
00:48 like this version here.
00:49 Today I'm gonna show you a simple recipe
00:52 for molten chocolate cakes,
00:53 and you will be making these for Valentine's Day,
00:56 I am sure of it.
00:57 The most important part is, of course, the chocolate,
00:59 and I'm using a very good quality semi-sweet chocolate.
01:02 A semi-sweet chocolate is around 54% cocoa.
01:05 There are other versions of chocolate out there,
01:07 dark chocolate, bittersweet chocolate
01:10 that are around 70% cocoa.
01:12 The higher the ratio of chocolate,
01:14 the more bitter or less sugar there is
01:16 in the chocolate itself.
01:18 For this recipe, use a good quality semi-sweet chocolate.
01:21 Make sure whenever you're cutting chocolate
01:23 that you use serrated knives
01:24 so that it actually chips the chocolate
01:26 into nice uniform sizes.
01:29 So that it melts evenly.
01:31 And I'm going to place this into a bowl
01:34 set over some simmering water.
01:36 To my four ounces of chocolate,
01:37 I'm gonna add one stick of unsalted butter
01:40 that's cut into half-inch cubes.
01:42 And this will get melted together.
01:45 Stir it occasionally until it's nicely blended.
01:49 You don't want it to be too, too hot,
01:50 so once it's perfectly melted together, turn off the heat.
01:54 While this is melting,
01:55 I'm going to beat together my eggs and my sugar.
01:58 So for this recipe, I need two egg yolks
02:00 and two whole eggs.
02:02 Whenever you're baking,
02:02 make sure that your ingredients are at room temperature.
02:05 So into a stand mixer here with a whisk attachment,
02:09 the two eggs and two yolks.
02:11 And I'm going to start whipping this up on medium speed
02:14 with a quarter of a cup of granulated sugar.
02:17 [mixer whirring]
02:20 While the egg yolks are whipping
02:23 and the chocolate and the butter is melting together,
02:25 I'm gonna prepare the ramekins.
02:28 Now, I'm using four-ounce ramekins here.
02:30 It's a nice individual-sized portion.
02:33 Generously brush the interior of the ramekin
02:36 with some softened butter.
02:37 And once it's brushed a little bit of flour in the bottom,
02:42 and this is preparing the ramekin for the batter
02:45 so that when they are baked and finished,
02:46 they come easily out of the ramekin.
02:49 Make sure that you discard any extra flour
02:52 and give the ramekin a good tap upside down
02:55 to get out any excess flour.
02:58 'Cause if there is excess flour,
02:59 you're gonna end up with a chalky exterior
03:02 to your molten chocolate cake.
03:04 The chocolate is nicely melted,
03:06 so I'm gonna turn the heat off.
03:07 I'm gonna remove this from the heat
03:09 onto a towel to catch any of that condensation
03:13 underneath the bowl.
03:14 Our sugar and egg mixture is nice and light and thick.
03:18 It has almost tripled in volume.
03:21 And I'm gonna reduce the speed a little bit.
03:24 Swipe the bowl so no moisture gets into the cake.
03:27 And now slowly pour this into the egg mixture.
03:31 You don't wanna dump it in all at once
03:33 because the chocolate is a little warm.
03:35 If you add it too quickly, it will deflate the egg mixture.
03:40 So I'm gonna give the side of the bowl
03:45 a little bit of a scrape so it's nice
03:48 and evenly incorporated.
03:50 And add two teaspoons of all-purpose flour.
03:53 And just gently stir this together
03:55 until it's nice and combined.
03:56 Now the all-purpose flour is what keeps
03:59 the structure of the cake.
04:00 Just gonna stir together any of the flour
04:05 that might be up on the side of the bowl.
04:07 Just make sure it's nice and evenly incorporated.
04:10 Give it a good scrape.
04:12 Now make sure your oven is preheated to 450 degrees.
04:15 Molten chocolate cakes, they're so small,
04:17 they bake at a hot, hot temperature
04:19 for only a short period of time.
04:21 I like to use an ice cream scoop here,
04:23 but you could certainly ladle this into the bowls
04:25 or you could eyeball it.
04:26 This is about a three ounce scoop.
04:29 What's really great about this recipe
04:30 is that you can make this batter
04:32 in advance of your dinner party
04:34 and portion out all of the batter
04:37 into the prepared ramekins,
04:39 refrigerate it until you're ready for your dinner party,
04:42 and bring it up to room temperature
04:43 so it's not super cold to go into the oven.
04:45 This goes into a 450 degree oven
04:48 for about seven to eight minutes.
04:50 The longer they cook, the less molten they become.
04:53 So make sure that you take them out
04:55 around seven to eight minutes
04:57 for the perfect molten interior.
04:59 So I'm gonna put these into the oven.
05:01 Our molten chocolate cakes have been in the oven
05:05 for eight minutes.
05:06 You can see they souffle up a little bit,
05:09 not too much, not like a chocolate souffle.
05:11 Here's a little trick for you.
05:13 Tongs, wrap a piece of paper towel
05:15 around each side of the tong
05:16 and use some rubber bands to secure the paper towels
05:19 to the tongs so that it's easy
05:21 to flip over the ramekins here.
05:24 I'm gonna place it on the counter,
05:25 place the plate on top,
05:27 give it a good flip,
05:30 and the paper towel really helps here
05:33 in gripping the ramekin,
05:35 and that is perfect.
05:37 A little bit of whipped cream here,
05:40 just off to the side,
05:42 and let's see if we did the job here,
05:44 if that center is nice and gooey and molten,
05:48 which it is, perfect for Valentine's Day.
05:52 If you have any kitchen conundrums that you need solved,
05:54 write in the comments section below
05:56 or reach out to us using the hashtag #KitchenConundrums
05:59 and we will answer whatever conundrums you throw our way.
06:03 Enjoy.
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