- Hey bakers, John Kanell from Preppy Kitchen, here.
Today, we're making this decadent chocolate lava cake.
It is so easy.
Comes together in less than 20 minutes
and I mean, this is a chocolate lover's dream.
Let's get started.
First off, let's prep our little ramekins or custard dishes.
All you have to do is just wipe 'em
with butter on the inside.
Wipe, wipe, wipe.
I already wiped these, why am I doing it again?
(John chuckles)
This one was fresh and clean for you.
Okay.
So, just butter the inside.
You want these to release.
You don't want them to stick.
If they stick, all that lava's gonna come pouring out.
What was the point?
That's not romantic.
All right, last one.
I've one big one, I wanna test and see what it's like.
These are super rich.
So the portion size is smaller than you might expect.
Okay now, just tap in a little bit of flour.
A tablespoon.
Kick it around.
Just as though you're buttering and flouring a cake pan.
And then, tap the excess out.
And continue the process.
Now that our ramekins are prepared.
We can melt our chocolate and butter.
I have six ounces of a nice
bittersweet chocolate, that's about a cup or
if you're measuring it grams, it's about a 188.
One stick of unsalted butter at room temperature.
Plopped right in there.
So, elegant.
I could be in the ballet.
All right now, we're gonna microwave this in a couple bursts
and the butter will melt first and it'll warm that up
and then we'll just whisk it up.
While that's in the microwave,
let's get two eggs and two egg yolks.
And a whole lotta shell.
Hello?
I hate how some eggs are like full of membrane
so you can't pry them apart.
While other eggs, just fall apart in an instant.
It's one of my pet peeves.
One egg yolk and two egg yolks.
Set those whites aside.
You can make a merengue later, maybe some macaron.
Our butter has melted and
hmm, I don't wanna burn the chocolate.
Let's just put that there.
I'm adding half a teaspoon of instant espresso in here.
It's totally up optional.
But as you might know, a little bit of coffee
brings out a lot of chocolate flavor.
Let's give this a whisk and see where were at.
I love the way a chocolate ganache comes together.
It goes from being black to this gorgeous, silky, amazing.
Okay.
This chocolate's all nice and melty.
Very beautiful.
Let's deal with the eggs now.
I have my two eggs and two yolks in here.
I'm adding in like maybe almost half a teaspoon of salt.
I like my chocolate to be very salty.
So, if you wanna have less a pinch is fine.
We're gonna whisk this up and I'm gonna do it by hand
because I need the exercise.
Okay.
But now, we're gonna add a quarter cup of sugar in.
And really whisk it up so that it's nice
and like in a lemony yellow color.
Man, I should've used a machine.
You know what, we can use the machine.
I tried to be a big shot.
It didn't work.
Now.
(machine whirring)
Yeah, that was not gonna work by hand.
What was I thinking?
We have this nice, beautiful, light lemon colored mixture.
It's time to fold in our silky chocolate,
flourless chocolate cake.
So just, you know, chocolate and egg
and butter basically
held together with the smallest amount of flour possible.
Let's fold that in.
And now, for the flour.
We use about two tablespoons, maybe two and a half.
Mix.
Sprinkle it in.
And mix.
So now, our batter's all done.
You can see it as like a very rich, silky chocolate batter.
Tastes amazing like so much chocolate.
Let's pour the batter into our prepared dishes.
Put that on the side.
Try and be neat.
Although, it's not so easy, I tell ya.
If you have a secret hint for pouring batter like this,
let me know in the comments.
You're gonna bake these at 450.
(John chuckling)
You're gonna bake these at 450 for about eight to 12 minutes
but it depends on your ramekin size.
If you're using small ramekins
you might wanna bake for seven minutes, six minutes.
It really depends on how much batter is in there.
I would do a test batch first.
Let your cakes cool for just a minute in the ramekin.
And then, place a plate over it.
Invert onto the plate.
Be careful, it's very hot.
Remove the ramekin.
Give it a light dusting of powdered sugar.
You could do anything you want.
You can put ice cream directly on top.
I'm adding a scoop, just to the side.
Garnish with a strawberry, if desired.
And enjoy.
All right, let's take a bite.
Oh my god.
It's like made out of chocolate dream clouds.
It's close to a chocolate souffle
because there's almost no flour in there.
A lot of like airy, lightness
but it's pure, rich chocolate inside.
It's beyond, oh my gosh.
All right, if you like this video,
why not check out my German chocolate cake.
It is so delicious.
It takes longer, I'm not gonna lie.
But it feeds a huge number of people
and it's a special occasion.
And for something totally different,
how about my cake decorating video?
It's already over a million views as I say this
and it's really entertaining to watch.
Check it out.
If you like my videos,
hit that like button and subscribe.