Dark Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes

Happy Monday to you! Well it's almost Tuesday now, but Happy Monday and Happy New Work/School week to you all! I for one had a lovely weekend and a lovely past two days off full of beautiful people and absolutely fabulous food and drinks. I enjoyed some lovely coffee and desserts and delightful conversation with my mom. Something we do weekly, as we both thoroughly enjoy it and it is truly wonderful mother daughter time. Chocolate and coffee are medicine to us both. Physical, mental and emotional medicine. Medicine for the body and soul. Happiness medicine. Stress relief medicine. Medicine medicine. Coffee and chocolate therapy. It was really nice time spent with my mom. We even did a little walking and light local shopping, taking advantage of the somewhat warmer weather before another cold front comes in.

               

  
Yesterday my love and I went out to a late lunch thanks to a gift from a dear friend. We went all out: multiple tropical drinks, appetizers, and entrees; from calamari and pot stickers to fried rice and pad thai. It was such a treat. A foodie's dream to indulge as much as one pleases. Afterwards we embraced our inner child, and went to Gameworks. It was so much fun, playing games and earning tickets so we could get a bunch of candy as our reward. My love tried to win me a teddy bear, but I swear those cranes are hoaxed. We then proceeded to have a lazy night, watched movies, snuggled and played games. Pure perfection.

Today involved more coffee and treats, a little baking as you see above, and a lovely dinner out with my siblings. I had a breaded tilapia sandwich topped with arugula and red onions on a toasted hoagie bun with homemade chips, in a cozy Irish pub. Perfect on a snowy night like tonight with some of the best company a girl could ask for. Next time, I'm going back for bread pudding and a drink made with spiced rum and hot apple cider. I got to have it! I have not been this full in a very, very long time. But might I add that it is incredibly worth it to feel like this, because I thoroughly enjoyed all of the delectable food this weekend. I will be full for days. Tomorrow I shall cleanse, but until then, I will embrace these chocolate lava cakes.

Now chocolate lava cakes: chocolate cake with a melty, oozey center, uhm yeah, I'll take one.

Here I used all dark chocolate, preferably a 65-70% dark and added espresso powder to enhance the chocolate flavor. The result was pure chocolaty goodness! I advise all to eat these warm for the lava effect, however, we tasted them room temperature as well, and they were just as glorious just lacking the melty goodness.

 Dark Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes

1 cup of butter, softened

12oz of dark chocolate, chopped

1 cup of all purpose flour

2 1/4 cups of confectioners sugar

2 tbsp. espresso powder

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

7 large eggs

5 egg yolks

Butter and granulated sugar to grease ramekins, as needed

1) Preheat oven to 400. Grease and sugar 8 ramekin dishes.

2) Melt butter, chocolate and espresso powder over double boiler, stirring frequently, until melted. Cool slightly.

3) Combine flour, confectioners sugar, eggs, yolks and vanilla extract. Whisk until combined and creamy.

4) Carefully add chocolate mixture to egg mixture, stirring constantly. Once combined, pour into prepared ramekins.

5) Bake for about 15min, until tops are stiff, edges are darkened and cakes still slightly jiggle.

6) Cool slightly. Carefully unmold cakes and dust with powdered sugar. Serve warm (and with vanilla ice cream if you please!)

Enjoy!