My chocolatey cure

How can chocolate be so comforting? Its sweet, dark richness never fails to help me when I need to feel better, and I love finding ways to cook, bake and eat chocolate in new ways.

Molten lava cake, otherwise known as chocolate fondant, is one of the simplest and most satisfying chocolate desserts. It is a little bit like a flourless chocolate cake in that it has a similar moist and gooey interior, but it isn’t flourless.

It's made with just a few basic ingredients like chocolate (dark and good quality), butter, sugar, eggs and a little flour. I added some vanilla and a bit of espresso just for a change and an extra kick of caffeine.

These are my delicious little cakes – try them out for yourself, especially on a bad day and I promise you’ll feel better!

chocolate espresso molten cakes

makes two little cakes

*use organic where possible

60g dark chocolate – I used half 85%, half  70%

1 1/2 tbsp butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp espresso powder

2 eggs

1 1/2  tbsp confectionary sugar

2 tbsp plain flour, sifted

Preheat oven to 220 degrees C.

In a double boiler (bain marie) melt chocolate pieces and butter. Take off heat once melted and let cool a little and mix in espresso powder and vanilla.  Prepare two ramekins; grease with butter and dust with flour. In a mixing bowl, add eggs and sugar and beat until fluffy and a little pale in colour – about 3-5 minutes. Gently add in chocolate mix, stir carefully until combined and then fold in sifted flour, one spoon at a time. Pour into ramekins and bake for about 7-9 minutes – watching/checking that outside is cooked but inside still moist and gooey.  Remove and let cool a little before tipping out onto dish. Finish with a dust of cocoa powder and serve with espresso or cappuccino or anything else delicious!

nb: my cakes weren’t as gooey on the inside as I would have liked – I probably left them in the hot ramekins a little too long.