MOLTEN CHOCOLATE BABYCAKES - Food Lovers Recipes

MOLTEN CHOCOLATE BABYCAKES
Serves: 6
These are the acceptable face of culinary cute: their intensity guarantees the triumph of chic over prettiness. And, what’s more, they’re easy to make. You can make the mixture up a few hours in advance and put it ready and waiting in the prepared tins in the fridge until you want to cook them, which must be at the moment you’re ready to eat them. You might think that preparing the tins sounds fiddly, but in fact the job is just demanding enough to make one feel uncharacteristically competent in a Blue Peter kind of a way, but not so much that any actual dexterity is required.

50 g soft unsalted butter (plus more for greasing)
350 g best dark chocolate
150 g caster sugar
4 large eggs (beaten with pinch of salt)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
50 g plain flour (or Italian 00)

You will need 6 individual pudding moulds or ramekins, buttered.

Unless you are making these up in advance, preheat the oven to 200ºC/gas mark 6/400ºF, putting in a baking sheet at the same time. Lay 3 of the moulds on a sheet of doubled baking parchment. Draw round them, remove, and then cut out the discs as marked. Press them all into the base of the tins.
Melt the chocolate and let it cool slightly. Cream together the butter and sugar, and gradually beat in the eggs and salt, then the vanilla. Now add the flour, and when all is smoothly combined scrape in the cooled chocolate, blending it to a smooth batter.
Divide the batter between the 6 moulds, quickly whip the baking sheet out of the oven, arrange the little tins on it and replace in the oven.
Cook for 10-12 minutes (the extra 2 minutes will be needed if the puddings are fridge-cold when you start) and as soon as you take them out of the oven, tip out these luscious babycakes onto small plates or shallow bowls.
Serve these with whipped double cream, the same unwhipped in a jug, creme fraiche, creme anglaise or ice cream.
Recipe: Nigella Lawson recipes
Photo: Petro Borchard
Ek het hierdie al ‘n paar keer gemaak. Die geheim is die tyd in die oond – ‘n minuut te lank en dis net plain chocolate koek – ‘n Baie lekker een, maar maak maar ‘n proeflopie voor die tyd met 1 of 2 bakkies in die oond en kyk hoe die oppervlak lyk wanneer dit reg is, dan kan jy met die vol resep beter beheer uitoefen. Dit is regtig lekker.